Return of the Snow Years

After some years with virtually no snowfalls at either end of the year, the time when snow once used to fall unfailingly, the old pattern has returned and this past winter duly brought us snow, as it has done in the last few years, though never on the scale of a few notorious winters in the 1960s and 1970s. We're also getting very low temperatures and for lengthy periods, uncharacteristic for the time of year. It would seem that global warming has brought us local cooling, indeed, local freezing. The more global warming the planet gets, the colder the weather gets here!

In no time the street and our gardens were transformed into a winter wonderland of snow. It started coming down in the late afternoon, as the light was waning, intensified and carried on through the night. When I looked out of the window in the early morning with an air of expectation, I was not disappointed. There was already a thick white blanket of crisp snow covering everything and it was still coming down.

The amazing thing about snow is that it alters the nature of sound once it begins to settle. It muffles everything, so that sounds are quieter and gentler, even on the traffic-laden roads. In my back garden an eerie silence took hold, it was almost like another world where everything was muted, and the thicker the layer of snow got the more marked was the silence. It felt other-worldly.

It continued to snow into the afternoon. The sky was a mournful grey, which added to the feeling of 'other-wordliness', a strange surreal landscape that could not fail to leave you broody and sullen. From my desk where I worked I was able to look out of the window and watch it all happening and from time to time I could not resist opening the window slightly and breathing in the cool fresh air that was so invigorating.

As evening fell, it was all over. Everything was still and a piercing cold reigned. The next morning was a vista of white but there was no fresh fall of snow. However, the fallen snow was to linger on for some days to come, gradually turning into slush and ice or disappearing altogether. The side-roads and pavements became treacherous with ice and now we only wished that it would all go away! Our gardens and parks, however, continued to slumber under their largely undisturbed covering of snow for a few more days and the inevitable snowman suddenly sprung up in the nearby park.

A Carpet of Gold

Isn't the above scene absolutely gorgeous? There's no mistaking the season. A golden carpet of fallen leaves proclaims that it is autumn and it is the dying manifestation of the final days of warm weather before the harsh winter begins to set in. Though the ground is strewn with withering leaves, the trees still have many to shed, but it will now be just days before they completely lose their autumnal coat of gold and stand bare in readiness for the cold winter winds and rains and, who knows, even snow.

I took this picture one late afternoon at the beginning of November. The weather was still pleasant though there was a slight chill in the air. The low rays of the sinking sun cast a magical spell on the park, bathing it in soft mellow tones of yellow and gold, highlighting the gold of the leaves even more. And, as one see, there was hardly a soul in sight, most people still at work or at home having their afternoon tea, or maybe not, but whatever the reason, it was quiet and soothing and lovely to see.

After taking these photos and a few others, I just stood still for a moment, bathed in the golden light of the sun, enjoying the vista around me, revelling in the silence, and breathing in the freshening air of the afternoon as it slowly turned into evening. This was the big city and yet in this quiet corner of Nature I could easily have been in the depths of the countryside were it not for the sight of the houses that lined the perimeter of this green space. Gradually, with the waning sun, the rich autumnal shades and colours began to merge into the darkening background, and it was time for me to leave. But I had captured the images I had come for (two of which are shown above).