Perfect morning

An old relic of a Kodak DC215!

Could you explain your ice compass please?
Is the orientation of the ice crystals dependent on anything other than the wind?

It was the sun that dictated the ice in that pic (very little wind). 3 o'clock on the post points north.

quote:

Originally posted by Hammerhead:
It was the sun that dictated the ice in that pic (very little wind). 3 o'clock on the post points north.

Thanks. I was trying to work out why the ice crystals appeared to be leaning away from the light. A sort of reverse phototropism. I still don't see why the sun's heat would bend the crystals uniformly away from the sunlight. Perhaps the crystals simply radiated from the centre of the post and are selectively melted from the sunny side first? Leaving those leaning away the last to melt? We get heavy hoar frost regularly here in winter. I must look into this further.

My wife called this "Stairway to Heaven". We missed the best effect as we were in the car and couldn't stop until we got home.

Weird isn't it! The crystals were in spiky V formations, leaning left & right. Pic doesn't quite show that well enough though.

Those clouds remind me of a harp. But then I am also looking at a Guinness glass longingly...

We missed the light and the earlier tighter formation. It was just like a ladder! Ten minutes later it had gone all ragged and discoloured.

I could never see the fascination in Guiness glasses?

Both taken recently using a Sony DSC-W1.

Nick Drakes grave, Tanworth In Arden.



River Yare, Norwich.

God I miss the old canals! They were all like GMLs gorgeous painting when I was a kid.

The fish! You could cross the canal dry-shod on the backs of the shoals of roach and perch. With four foot pike as safe stepping stones at fixed intervals. The plants were so dense in the crystal-clear water the fish would queue at turnstiles.

Then the WBBB (White Plastic Bath Bunch) needed the canals for their national speed trials. In came the marinas to allow them somewhere to pollute at weekends within lunging distance of some unspoilt hostelry. Where they could shout loudly through their noses and piss off the locals.

Gone were the kingfishers, escaped parrots and other exotica. All grist to the mill for the fledgling ornithologist with his first (and last) pair of Prinz binoculars hanging like an anchor around his kneck.

Back then the water bailiff (whose other tasks now escape me) would shout at passing cyclists who did not own a day permit to ride the 2" wide (often impassable) track.

Nowadays the towpaths have three lanes of billiard-smooth tarmac with double white lanes. So that the lardies can safely reach their stuffingbays from the nearest carpark without colliding like the barges of old.

Thanks for sharing your time-travels GML.

..and we wake up to this sort of scene - beats my old home in Walthamstow, London...First picture is the view from our bedroom, second is a view from above, with our house at the bottom..if it all works, having never tried to post pictures...

looks like the first picture never made it, so here is my second attempt - dawn at ours...

Nime

quote:

God I miss the old canals!

Pay us a visit sometime! We live in an original lock house, above a series of four of the Leeds-Liverpools finest. No great gentrification of the canal here, and monstrous looking carp visible in the water on a clear morning. What is actually missing is anglers-rarer than hens teeth for some odd reason. Just now you'd have to break through the ice before having a go though.

We see Kingfishers with regularity, but sadly no water voles for several years. I think I spied a mink this summer which probably explains that mystery.

Lovely feel to those pics GML.

Bruce

Awesome pics Steveandkate

Thankyou for the kind invitation Bruce! Please don't hold your breath. I haven't been back for years.

Judging from your delightful earlier pictures you must live in (or close to) perfect rural bliss.

Is your bit of canal much used by boats? I have just been google image searching. It all looks very unspoilt.

The view from home this morning:[IMG:left] [/IMG]


[IMG:left] [/IMG]

The canal is 'busy' Easter to Autumn with leisure users although at a very rough guess even in the height of summer probably twenty boats/day maximum. People walk and cycle at the weekends but it all stops in the week and evenings. The Pennine Way crosses in front of the house too.

I love the canal in winter, it reverts to being almost deserted and more river-like. Because of the locks we have a fair bit of water movement all year and the water quality is excellent-although I've never quite fancied a swim.

Rural bliss? We live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales national park and a few minutes from some of the most beautiful limestone scenery but in a very quiet little corner away from the crowds and tea shops. Very lucky, and very aware how lucky if you see what I mean.

Google 'Bank Newton'

Bruce

Very nice! An enviable situation.
It looks hilly enough to be Cumberland in the background. Or parts of Wales. Now I'm getting homesick!

Taken a couple of weeks ago:

Let me post in order to view the pictures!

You don't have to post in order to view the pictures.

A cold crisp morning, just the other day, where we are......



Cheers,
Ali