A room with a view
I love the way the view from my window changes.
This is how it looked earlier today:
And here it is this evening:
And, erm, that’s it for today. It being a lazy Sunday, an’ all. Unless I have anything interesting to say about Vantage Point, that is - which I’m going to see tonight, at the cinema next door.
March 9th, 2008 at 8.20pm
what beautiful shots. It is lovely here in Oxford too. We are sitting in the garden in the sun and it is very spring-like.
March 9th, 2008 at 8.40pm
ooh how lovely :-). I really must come and visit you guys when I get back!
March 9th, 2008 at 9.07pm
In Canada,on the other hand, we have just had one of the biggest snowfalls of the (already record-breaking) year. It’s about a foot deep at the back door, and there is no way we are going anywhere till the neighbour comes with his excavator and shifts the snow from the drive and adds it to the 10 foot high pile in the back garden! But I think we are sending the storm to the UK, if what I hear about high winds and potential flooding, is right. But it is the most beautiful sight out in the garden, even if it is over my wellies when I go out there!!
I’s insert a picture but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that.
March 9th, 2008 at 10.06pm
well, I have a four year old here wwho would gladly swap spring for snow! My oldest son is snowboarding in canada at the moment so he is happy too.
Andrea Yes, do come and see us for a Penang de-briefing, though that sounds rude now I look at it.
March 9th, 2008 at 10.07pm
Oh hang-on. Your picture at the top of the Blog is a Penang de-breifing already I suppose.
hey, what has happened to Sarah? she hasn’t commented for days.
March 9th, 2008 at 10.47pm
Well, this is my first Canadian winter, so I guess if you have to learn how to cope with Canadian winters, this is a good way to start - we have had snow on the ground continuously since before Christmas. Last year they had no snow until February and then only for a couple of weeks. The kids here are having a great time - more skiing and tobogganing than for many years!
March 10th, 2008 at 12.59am
crikey, Andrew! and how about you? are you having more fun than for many years?!
Peter - a Penang de-briefing, indeed. although more of a briefing than a de-briefing, as B actually made those knickers more opaque in Photoshop :-). as for Sarah: she only pops on here occasionally!
March 10th, 2008 at 1.28am
I am having lots of fun, except when I have to dig us out of the snow! Actually it is breathtakingly beautiful to wake up to this snow - as long as you don’t have to go to work! I love it here - and the people are so warm and friendly - and the cost of living is so much lower than the UK, which means the pension goes further too! Next month we should be moving to a house we are renovating from top to bottom. It is in a lovely small town (with a theatre) on a cul de sac in the centre of town, 5 minutes from the theatre and the shps and is on almost 2 acres of land, with a creek running through the bottom of it. By the time we have finished all the work (which is pretty extensive) the total cost of the house and land, purchase and renovation, will have been uinder UK pounds (no symbol on this canadian computer) 200,000. What could you get for that in the UK?
March 10th, 2008 at 1.38am
erm.. is the answer: my one-bedroom flat in East Dulwich?
seriously: that sounds idyllic, Andrew. and a creek runs through it! just like in the film.
does the theatre have a rep company?!
March 10th, 2008 at 6.08am
Yes, it does! They do about 6 shows a year in the summer, a panto at Christmas and then they have a lot of touring shows coming too (including some jazz!!). It’s a great little theatre. When you do your Canadian tour, come visit.
March 10th, 2008 at 4.32pm
And there I was thiking that Andrew was breaking the mould for being the only Canadian I know who is not called Donald or McDonald. You’re British! Of course, therefore much discussion of weather.
For a small island that has so much of it I am always amazed that we’re so surprised when we get some. As if winter doesn’t bring snow, wind, rain etc. The Prime Minister (or Sub-Prime as Peter would have it) was briefed (or possibly y-fronted) last night about the storm.
The news this morning is that planes from northern America are arriving early and that Abergavenny has a power cut.
There was a very good bit on the News Quiz about the Earthquake: “And now to our news team in the helicopter somewhere in Lincolnshire … ‘Thank you Ed, yes indeed we are hovering here over Acacia Gardens at number 3 and can see the extent of the damage; a couple of gnomes have fallen over and I’d assess damage at numbers 4 and 5 to be in the region of £16′. Thanks, and now to our team in Hull who also have news of dramatic scenes there.”
Weather report from Loughborough: raining.
March 10th, 2008 at 4.38pm
I’d still swap the view from my window here for Andrea’s without too much persuasion. Although I do like watching the squirrels hopping about and a black cat has just started making the occasional visit. I’ll not post pictures though. This time last year I had just flown back to the UK from South America, via TORONTO, which involved a temperature change from 25 degrees c to about minus one zillion (we got Lost In Transit in the new terminal and found ourselves outside in one of the snow drifts that were about as high as the plane on the runway)
March 10th, 2008 at 6.03pm
I think we talk about the weather in Britain so much because it’s so unpredictable, and you can therefore experience four seasons in one day. as Crowded House said.
if we lived in California it would be a bit dull. ‘Nice weather today, isn’t it? ’see? it just doesn’t work…
‘Lost In Transit’ could be another good blog title.
March 10th, 2008 at 6.19pm
Hey, Rachel, did you see that I got the Sub-Prime minister thing into the Guardian letters page!
March 10th, 2008 at 6.22pm
No I meant to ask … when? Any humourous follow ups?
A - which seems preferable: a conversation about boring weather or a boring conversation about weather. Can a conversation about weather be gripping? Would it depend on whether the weather is gripping?
Weather report from Loughborough (or Lugabaruga as Americans have been known to pronounce it, apparently): It’s sunny now. Unpredictably
March 10th, 2008 at 6.57pm
R - a conversation about boring weather, most definitely. that could be quite interesting.
March 10th, 2008 at 9.58pm
it was in the saturday before last. Just a one-line letter, but as usual, I have had more comment about it than all my academic work put together.
March 10th, 2008 at 10.04pm
ooh they like pithy one-liners, those letters editors ;-). what was the line?
March 10th, 2008 at 11.35pm
It simply asked “is Gordon brown a Sub-Prime Minister?” Cheap shot, but there it is.