Today's Walk - Loch Clunie (again)

Loch frozen over (all but), geese huddled on the far side, buzzards keening to each other in the freezing cold.  Lots and lots of snowdrops.
Blue sky reflected in the ice.  The air was very still.  We threw stones onto the ice and there was a ringing echo.
I go here a lot and I've described this place before, so I won't go into it all again.  Click on the links below if you'd like to know more.

Quote of the day: from TS Eliot's The Journey of the Magi

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey,  and such a long journey:
The ways deep, and the weather sharp,

The very dead of winter.'

Photos from last day of the year

Stay warm, stay safe - STAY IN!!!!

Need I say more? Here we are, surrounded by icy trackless wastes and no end in sight. Temperatures refusing to rise much above minus freakin' ten. Piles of frozen snow heaped up depressingly on every corner. Everything underfoot seemingly sheet ice and impossible to walk on. The "sun" or what passes for such, crawling along the horizon as if it's suffering from a bad hangover or even a dose of - dare I say it and risk another needle attack by the ghastly Wilson - swine flu.

But there's good news on the health front!! smokers who quit have an 80% higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes. Higher than whom? non-smokers, apparently, according to some insane, shrieking woman on the 24 hour news channel (accessed by us when we're brave enough to totter along the glassy death trap-style path to Apsley and Cherry's heated patio). But it stands to reason that if you DON'T quit, then you must remain at an 80% less chance of developing it, than if you DID? ergo, same as a non-smoker?

Whatever. Pass me the Black Bogey, Geoffrey and let's have another smoke ring blowing contest.

we escape!

Geoffrey just had a brainwave. He began to sing, softly at first, James Grant's Winter, and I joined in. We began to sing more and more loudly. As our voices reached a crescendo, the checkout operator's jaw dropped in amazement as all of a sudden, Spockfingers charged full pelt and singing at the top of his lungs, out of the Speedispend entrance and barged into the gallows, demolishing it completely. We ripped the bags from our heads, flung the nooses aside, jumped on Spockfingers back and galloped off into the gathering dusk...

extraordinary rendition (of a song, not us)

"TRA LA LA LA, TRALALA LALA WINTE-E-E-R..." Yes, it's Spockfingers. We've been in the Speedispend queue for, er, about 24 hours now and we've barely moved an inch. To make matters worse, Spockfingers turned up with a massive trolley and an iPod, and barged along the aisles singing along to James Grant's Winter. Seasonal, I'll give him that. And it's not that Geoffrey and I don't like the song - it's Spockfingers rendition that is, well, "extraordinary". Whip him off to Cuba via Prestwick, and leave him there, somebody, please.

Cuban Heels

Geoffrey and I are heading for Cuba. Anything to get away from this cold, wet, germ-ridden hell-hole. (And that's just our livingroom by the way.)
Yes, the long winter evenings are proving even more of a trial than usual this year, so we're off to the land of cigars and sunshine.
We'll have to use the coracle, of course, as we have to cross the Atlantic in order to get there. However, that's nothing to the likes of us. We'll head off on a cloudless, starry night, and set our course by the Dog Star. (is that the right one? don't suppose it matters much.) Geoffrey's been busy waterproofing with a tin of black gluey tar-like stuff, and we've strapped a length of Willesden canvas over some withy wands to form a cabin-type structure, so I'm sure we'll be fine.
I'm writing a list of comestibles at the moment. Geoffrey's developed a bizarre liking for honey sandwiches, so I dare say we'll have to find room for a few of those. As for me, I'm happy with handy, portable items such as tins and packets.
We'll take the old soup ladle so we can bail if need be, but the coracle's very robust and I hardly think we'll have any trouble...