Different places in the music spectrum

&

It snows in Wales

Well of course it bloody does!
And people don't half panic.
I'm not saying you head out on the highways of the UK as you would during the height of a dry summer but a little bit of common sense goes a long way and, thus, enables you to go a long way - or however far you wish to go
Be it in a 2FWD Renault Master or a 2 RWD sports car things can be achieved. Be realistic. Think things out and expect the unexpected. Sorted. Know when you're beaten before you need to have your panels beaten ... out!

east Radnor 02:30 ~ virgin snow

cosy under her winter blanket STORM waits in anticipation for the next leg in the
Powys Tobogganing Championships

~snowy home road~

Above are the early morning shots
Below are just a couple of shots from mid morning

~across the meadow~

~so right at this time of year~

Snow Joke

Just a shorty.
Rural Powys - despite limited need re snow would it not be sensible to have 4x4 ambulances available?
after all, 2WD not too hot on mud, snow,deep water - all year 'round
4WD good at aforementioned and still usable when the weather is fine.
Doesn't take much to work out - does it?... does it? ;0)

Finding direction

Finally, distinctly less rain. Beautifully, much frost and some snow and a bitter wind howling in from Siberia.
Temps. bouncing between 0Celsius and -8C.
-8C is fine. It's scary when it warms to zero as things melt. Then the temperature drops again so freezing the meltwater from before. Gritting only partially deals with things so leaving the roads quite treacherous.

Now mentioning wind and it's source.
If a wind comes from the North it is the NORTH wind.
Thus it is NOT a northerly wind as that says in which direction it is travelling. A wind travelling norther is not southerly. It is NORTHERLY. Get it? cos the Met Office obviously doesn't.

Policebod: In which direction were you travelling along the road, sir/madam?
Driver: Northerly
Policeebod: Ah! so you were on the A1 going from York to Leeds.
Driver: Eh? no officer i was travelling from Leeds to York.

You catch ma drift?

Sadly, such conditions do catch out people of the road. Whether pedestrian or driver of some form of vehicle.
Taken from an ambulance forum

-A pedestrian has died after she was hit by an ambulance answering a 999 call in south Lincolnshire.

Two paramedics in the ambulance were hurt and taken to Peterborough District Hospital with minor injuries.

The ambulance was on its way to a road accident when it crashed and overturned at Stowe Road, Langtoft, at 0700 GMT.

The 39-year-old pedestrian has not been named but police said she was from the local area. The road was closed to allow forensic examinations.

The two ambulance crew were treated and later released, a police spokesman said.

Icy conditions

Drivers were urged to avoid the area.

A statement from East Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Tragically, the pedestrian has since passed away and we offer family and friends our deepest sympathies.

"We are working with the police to assist them with their investigation."

Sgt Ewan Gell, of Lincolnshire Police, is investigating what happened.

He said: "It was very frosty here this morning, there were a number of accidents in the area where people had slipped on the ice and gone into dykes or crashed their vehicles.

"So that is one of the things we are looking at but also it is early days yet and we have a lot of investigating to do before we come up with a conclusion as to what happened here." -

My thoughts go to all the families of those involved.
I wouldn't know what to do if i had been the driver at that time.
I wish the crew a speedy recovery tho' know that the mental anguish will remain for a long time yet regardless of the whys and wherefores.

So - Christmas is looming. It comes 'round so often. Every year. Bank balances shudder as October hoves in to sight. Credit Cards take a bashing. All for, essentially, less then 24 hours.
I have said before and i shall it again.
Christmas is 12 days. Why don't we utilise those 12 days?
Now i am not saying we should party for the complete 12 days - not my bag anyway - but why try to shove it all in to one day?
there's so much pressure to do it 'just so'. The stress when we should be chilling and having some fun and being happy in company of those we love. Oh - and our families ;0)... LOL!!!

Next - what is it with wanting to get drunk? wanting? get over it. It is childish banal, idotic, irresponsible and tedious.
Judge? moi? too flippin' right. I really do not get it. Now some would say i do not have to get it. Walk away - i do not have to have anything to do with other people 'having fun' by getting drunk.
Ahem! yes i do - or, more to the point, i can.
I resent having to deal with drunks and drugees when there are people out there in need of attention thro' no fault of their own.

Kiljoy?
Look - go! have fun! drink a few. Get merry. Have a laugh! Be sober! Go skydiving, whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, abseilling, horse riding, quad biking... yeah?
Do it responsibly.
Fun does not mean abrogating responsibility to the world around you.
Taking responsibility does not exclude fun and laughs from your life.
You can lose yourself in so many thrills without losing your self respect.
Go on try it. Give it a whirl.
It's pretty cool!
And if you break a leg or bloody your nose in the process so be it.
Do it so you know you're doing it - do it so you're not abusing parts of your body that really will come back and bite you in the posterior when you get older.
Do not expect the world and his or her wife to save your scrawny butt 'cos you're too damn lazy and pig-ignorant to think before you screw up.
Live and let live!

Ice Ice Baby

We have had 6 weeks of rain non-stop - pretty much.
The Met Office had promised freezing temperatures over last night. This looked like the opportunity to do what i had considered.
It was to be an early start.
And it was - i quit the warmth of my house at 06.20 and headed south west towards Llandovery.
My last visit to Llyn Brianne i had hug a right at Beulah and approahed it via the Abergwesyn Pass. I considered the strong possibility that the pass would be icey and that approaching from the south east would be safer.
This proved to be a wise decision. I have them now and again :0)
there was alot of traffic about for the time of day tho' it was the 2nd day of the Winter Fair (llanelwedd) so maybe there were stallholders turning out early who weren't on-site.
The road up from Llandovery was icey in patches but taken sensibly it was fine and i arrived at Llyn Brianne in one piece - as was Storm.

Having taken some time around the dam it was time to head up the eastern side of the lake.
It was a great run tho' filled with icey patches so moving on at a steady good pace was a no-no.
The last time (and only time) i was here i was comfortable in a t-shirt.
Below shows where i'd parked before and taken the self-shot of me parked on a boulder.
Whilst i took another photo today i did not linger on the freezing boulder and my feeling chill is rather obvious in the shot. Brrr!


Entering the forestry above Llyn Brianne i was listening to Terry Wogan. Second day of his last week doing the breakfast show for which he is so famous.
I was traversing a beautiful bit of Wales (as is so much of my fair country) and Tel played a great song by a great welsh artist.
TJ
Up went the volume - both from the ICE and my own vocals.
It felt so powerful and all encompassing.
Anyway i reached the Abergwesyn road and worked my way east.
Now this was very slippery. Very very slippery.
With an ice patch on a bend on the descent in to the valley i had a sense of foreboding about ending up with a very dented car.
This did not appeal to me. It was time to bid a steady retreat to a safer way out. It was tie to take the Tregaron run out.
Despite an older gent decieding to treat the road as if it was his personal driveway i realised that this road would be added to the 'great roads' list. Again, there were patches of ice which had to be negotiated with care.



On the route north i was reminded of the existence of Strata Florida. Ruins of an abbey from the time when Cistercian monks hung around in the area.
The National Trust now look after it but there was no one to prise the £3.00 asking price from me. Not surprising. Anyone hanging about probably suffer hypothermia and/or frostbite





I entered the Ystwyth valley and so it felt like i was on home territory.
It was a good and very cold day.
Now - the rain is back. Sometimes one has to grab the nettle when it's presented even if there may be some occasional stings.