Rooftop craziness

Blog back up and running after a short interval for personal reasons. In future, the blog will not necessarily be daily, but will still be regular. Hell, it might even be more than once a day occasionally!

Thursday, December 5th, 2013

As I write there is a frightening gale outside, with gusts of up to 70mph thrashing against the North Wales coastline. Flood warnings are in place because of the seasonal high tide, and the wind is ferociously damaging - it's wheelie bin day so the streets around where I live are like some post-Apocalyptic horrorscape.
So what is the one thing you wouldn't do in these weather conditions? Climb up onto the roof of a three-storey building perhaps?
The house opposite me is rather unseasonably having its roof renovated and replaced, although work had to stop on that earlier this week when the gales were forecast.
Predictably, the tarpaulin has been ripped off the roof by the gales, exposing the house's top storey to the elements. Nevertheless, I'd still think twice about climbing up onto the roof via an unsecured ladder, wearing just a parka, to try and secure the tarpaulin, against all natural odds.
I'm really concerned about this guy, who I think is completely crackers at the same time. I'm keeping my eye on him from the safety of my front room, hoping I don't see him falling to his doom with the next strong gust.

The stillness of winter

Wednesday, November 20th, 2013

Brrrr! It's that time of year again when there's a cold, dry snap and the woollies come out. It really feels like winter is here at the moment, with sleet and hail... and a biting wind.
I love the stillness of a winter's early morning and evening, when there's no breeze, just the crispness of the cold air. We don't have crisp, dry cold in the UK often enough - anybody who's been to Canada will recognise the difference between a British winter and a Canadian winter. The Canadians have good cold, the sort of cold that makes you feel alive, not close to death like our blustery winters do.
All we get is puddles, leaves, face-eating wind and pathetic spots of ice and snow that never last.

Raining on my parade

Monday, November 18th, 2013

Bah! It's Monday morning, it's November, and it's Wales. So it must be raining! This was the damp view from my car as I drove to work today, and as it turned out, it wasn't such a great day ahead of me. And I fear, due to unavoidable circumstances, that the next five weeks might turn out to be pretty unrewarding too.

Operation: Central Heating

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Brrrrr! We have finally given in and decided it is time to activate the central heating settings!
We've been putting it off for as long as possible, flicking the heating on only every now and then when we want to take the chill off the room, but this week it's been properly cold, so I've had my head in the instruction booklet sussing out how to set up the timer for it to come on (because I always forget).
Only this year, because of the energy companies' price hikes, we've decided to try not having the heating on in the mornings. This both saves money, and encourages you to get up and out of bed rather than stay in the comfortable, warm confines of the sheets.
Well, that's the idea anyway!