I am officially annoyed on account of the travesty that is the ConDem government voting in favour of an increase in tuitioin fees.  However, enough banging on about it has ensued in my everyday life and I feel we all need to re-focus our  attentions on the other important issues of the week.

BROKEN BRITAIN IS A FROZEN BRITAIN

CAN'T SEE THE MILK THROUGH THE SNOW

So, we have had some snow then.  What a debacle and how amusing that one of the supposed power houses of the world is brought to its knees by a  bit of winter weather.  The news coverage has been superb entertainment.  Particular highlights for me involved the on location reporters standing on a street corner trying to make a story out of the fact there was a bit of snow and cars where driving quite slowly past them.  Genius.

What tickled me was when I was walking to work last Wednesday morning after the first light dusting of snow had hit the South.  The local news was full of travel chaos stories already and anyone would believe that we were all doomed.  As panicked motorists stood by the cars, head in hands – dreading the journey ahead…I walked past this lonely milk bottle, gently waiting to make someones breakfast – complete with its new hat of snow.  I then realised that whilst all these cars could not get anywhere due to the mildly adverse conditions, an electric milk-float had still delivered its milk in the very cold, very dark, very early hours.

Surely that sums it all up – a milk float can make it, but nobody else can!  God bless us all.

FROST. PARK. BENCH

HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE SNOW?

Following such an epic natural disaster, it is inevitable that people chat about it and wish it away.  Many people wanted the snow gone down here in dear Brighton – but I was firmly in the lets have some more camp.  Snow Days are obviously brilliant as you don’t go to work, but I can’t remember the last time I walked around Brighton and there were people just hanging about in the streets, playing and chatting with strangers and generally running about in a childish delight at nothing more than a bit of exciting weather.  It gave me a warm feeling inside (or was that the constant supply of Whisky Mac!?!?).  Can it ever be a bad thing when something so small makes a great many people very happy and actually get on as a community?

YOU KNOW IT’S COLD WHEN…

FROST COMMUNITY GARDEN

Alas the snow has melted down here, but it has remained rather chilly and the frost has been a constant companion for at least a week.  I love frost and I love walking to work on a clear bright day when there is a deep frost covering everything in sight.  Whenever something happens that changes the everyday face of the routes and paths we tread so often in our  lives, it opens the eyes to something new.  For me at least, I can take a fresh look at things and relate to my surroundings from a new perspective.

FROST STRIPS

We walk through our environments with a slightly blinkered view I think.  Cover that space in frost or snow and we are forced to look at everything with fresh eyes, notice things that have previously gone unseen and get back to that state where our eyes are spoilt for choice at what to take in.

I can’t remember the last time I saw frost so deep that completely coats every visible surface whether it grass, cars, fences, pavements or benches!  The world has looked interestingly monotone, but infinitely interesting.

Whatever you say about the British weather, I for one can never really begrudge the cold and wet for we are privileged to get four very distinct seasons each year.  That means we get to look at and contemplate our environment in at least four different ways each year, I think the cold and wet is a price worth paying for such an aesthetic gift.

FIVE BENCHES

A brief topographical study of benches I pass on my way to work that have been enveloped by old cold Jack.

FROST BENCH 1	FROST BENCH 2	FROST BENCH 3
FROST BENCH 4	FROST BENCH 5

Long live these white cold winters!  I for one am a fan and hope they are here to stay!  Extremes make life more exciting.

Well, well, well. Here we are – putting photos of a sunset up. Does life get any more predictable than this?

At first, all I could do was take out of focus images of people!

Many a year ago – I swore never to take another photo of a Brighton sunset. When I first moved down here and was a regular beach front sunset frequenter, I would take endless rolls of film of the sunset. Occasionally they came out looking A-OK, but generally, they just looked like every other sunset photo in the world. More over, they were quite dull – once you have seen one image of a Brighton sunset…etc…etc…etc

Anyway, to this pledge I stayed true and strong. partly, this was because I started going to the seafront less, partly because I had genuinely bored myself of taking the same photo of the sunset over the crusty pier!

WHAT BROKE THE SILENCE

To be fair, there were a lot of interesting people on the beach that day...

So a few weeks back, Hannah and I took a stroll with the dog to the beach. It was a nice day – first in a long while and the air smelt of spring. Armed with a couple of hip flasks of smooth and warming whisky mac we set off and established ourselves on the beach as the sun was beginning to think about going down.

Because it had been so long since my last sunset seaside visit – I forgot how amazing the colours could be. Before I knew it…there I was, camera in hand…finger poised over the shutter…my mind saying NO but my heart saying YES. So – I decided to fuck with my rules and take some photos anyway! Glad I did really, it kinda re-sparked my love for Brighton beach when the sun is setting and the winter skies make the colours go insane.

Long live sunsets – I sincerely hope when I retire that I dedicate my final years to watching it go down every evening.

The colours were too good...the urge hard to resist!

The white backdrop of the seafront buildings glow as the sun sets

Fine - there it is, there's your bloody sunset.

In my defence…check out the crazy tuft of cloud on the left of this image. Watched that piece of cloud form and then fade for ages.