The old toll road under Wapley Hill, January 1st 2009
The new year began with a power surge which tripped the system, so we woke to no light and no heat, and subzero temperatures. I lit the fire by candlelight and thought how to provide a hot breakfast before we realised that the power was tripped not cut, so we untripped it and all the lights worked. Candlelight is much warmer than electric light; illuminating darkness not banishing it, as I read recently. There is a part of me that is always disappointed when the electric comes back on.
A bitingly cold day, no warmer than minus 3 and lows of minus 5 this morning. Three inches of ice in the water buckets. But gloriously beautiful, a hazy silver mist over the valley, the dew frozen onto every branch and stem, spider's web and blade of grass. And amazingly quiet. We were up at 8am but the road was quiet all day, with just the occasional car. You could hear the silence. We managed to get out along the old toll road and the only colour was in grass and mud and rose-hips; spurts of blood-red against the prevailing whites and frozen silvers.
'All is quiet on New Year's Day/a world in white/gets underway...' True for once. A Happy New Year to both my readers.
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