Today Will Be Mostly Cloudy With a Chance of Phwoar Developing in the Afternoon.

Remember when weathermen wore corduroy trousers, were slightly balding, had terrible side burns and equally as terrible moustaches...Oh, how times have changed....

Meet Thomasz Schafernaker....

He can forecast my rampant showers whenever he likes...And he's not afraid to have a good old chuckle on air either:

Snow Day!...Again

Most of the country is still snow bound, we really don't handle even a light dusting of the white stuff too well on these shores...Oh, how Canadians and Scadanavians must be chortling at our British uselessness.  Schools are still closed, many roads are still impassable, pavements are a lawsuit waiting to happen and services are limited (we've had no post since last Tuesday, all rubbish collections are off kilter), salt for the roads are in desperate short supply in some areas, shops have little but sprouts to offer (which may lead to further disruptions....Greenhouse gas, weird weather, Arctic winter in UK, nothing but sprouts in shops....Greenhouse Gas etc) and still those pesky Arctic conditions refuse to loosen their grip.

Today I managed to leave the house and venture to one of my most favourite places, and one which I have never seen in such conditions...mainly because in my 30 years I have NEVER seen such conditions...so, to Kingley Vale where I ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the scenery, engaged in some snow realted activites and completely pummled dear 'ol dad with snowballs:

In the summer it looks like this...

And today...

 

 

 

 

 

 Assortment of wintery scenes.....

 

 

 

 

Not my handywork, but this was a full size Igloo

 

My attempt at a snow Dalek....didn't really have the right utensils (ie a couple of plungers and a whisk)

 

 

Crikey...those drifts are deep....

 

Actually the snow was about 8-10 inches and my tomfoolary led to the following situation....

People Say The Funniest Things....In Their Sleep

Largely the internet is filled with the type of gumpfy stuff you find in magazines or in the morning post which you completely bypass and stick in the recycling bin. On occasion however you stop and have a gander and chuckle to yourself about the pure absurdity of the thing.  Today was one of those days and fellow blogger Kim (hello to a unseasonably frozen Florida) found one of the highly chucklesome gems in amongst the general fodder...I wish to pay it forward here and urge you to spend a while at Sleep Talkin' Man .  There is an air of genius to this little Blog...Kudos to the bloke's wife for having the gumption to share what spews forth from the mouth of her sleeping husband and to the fella himself for not spitting the dummy about having his midnight musings spread across the world wide web.  A few of my favourites:

"Look Out! Marshmallows"

"Stupid fucking fishcakes!"

"Don't talk to me like that. I'm just gonna throw up in your face. Eat the carrots."

"Don't leave the duck there. It's totally irresponsible. Put it on the swing, it'll have much more fun."

"Vampire penguins? Zombie guinea pigs? We're done for.... done for." 

"I haven't put on weight. Your eyes are fat."

And the one which I most want to have on a T-shirt

"I can't control the kittens. Too many whiskers! Too many whiskers!"

The Big Freeze

It's only 2 degrees warmer than the South Pole in some areas of the UK as 'The Big Freeze' continues, I've never known such a continuous cold snap in my lifetime...and, all travel, power and food issues aside, I must say I much prefer it to the copious amounts of rain we experienced a couple of months ago....* I reserve the right to change my mind when I can no longer feel my toes.

Britain from space 7th January 2010

Dad and I ventured out today locally it dropped to -7 last night and all the snow has now turned to compacted ice, but the sun had his hat on and it was all sparkling like glitter.  Many roads are closed up to the Downs National Park area, so we decided not to chance it, instead we wandered over to Pagham Nature Reserve....somewhere I frequent during the summer months due to it's peace and quiet

This was the view from my bedroom window on Tuesday evening

Looking towards the Downs from Pagham Harbour

 

At low tide the Harbour is frozen solid

 

Icicles hanging off my favourite bench

 

 

Nearby fields

 

Snow covered Goodwood visible in the distance

 

My favourite spot to sit in the summertime

 

 

My view after I slipped and fell on my arse.....

 

Actually I managed to stay upright and would have bounced anyway since I was wrapped up in many many layers, it's bloomin' taters in the mould

 

I'm sure the sunset was amazing but I was beginning to lose the feeling in my fingers and toes so opted not to hang about

The resident pony.....

Who wanted to eat my scarf

 

Careful What You Wish For....

Right then, I'm a right child when it comes to aptly wintery conditions in winter, sledging, snowball fights, building snowmen....I'm your girl, therefore the worst snow storm to hit for nearly 30 years....my fault.

We got off rather lightly in Bognor or should I say covered rather lightly.....Though I haven't even been out to have a proper explore yet, you know me and walking on perfectly flat and un-slidey pavements so tempting fate on uber icy ones...I don't think so.  Though I must say I'm absoultely itching to get up on the downs to have a proper look.

Apparently, there are down sides to this much snow covering the land, over 1,000 people were stranded overnight in their cars on a local motorway (my sister herself very, nearly had to abandon her own efforts of getting home last night, her journey clocking an epic time of 3 hours to drive abut 20 miles....on a motorway), 3,000 schools shut (only a couple of days after going back after the Christmas break), buses and trains have been running on limited schedules, if at all, all day, powercuts have affected some parts of my county and as for the majority of the roads around these parts...well....skis...snowboards....snow ploughs...hell, even tennis rackets tied to the bottom of your shoes...are modes of transportation which marginally increase the prospect of a person actually reaching their destination.

Basically, we so very rarely get these kind of weather conditions that the country is woefully ill-prepared for the event and thus the entire country pretty much grinds to a halt...meh....all entertaining though, and the weather is set to continue temperatures remaining in the minus figures for the next week at least....I need something (or someone) to snuggle up with.

Until I've managed to get a few snaps myself heres a couple from the Beeb's website.

The Motorway, in Hampshire, which cut off many drivers leaving the poor buggers to spend the night in their cars

Woods in Sussex

The HMS Victory at the Portsmouth Dock yard

Sunset in snow covered Sussex

Geronimo!

Happy New Year...It's not a holiday I tend to take much pleasure in celebrating...all a bit of a hoopla if you ask me..I did however ocme across this today and thought I'd share.



So, what do ya think? A more actiony Doctor? Daleks, Weeping Angels and River Song back for another bout? and was that a glimpse at the new T.A.R.D.I.S at 20 seconds?