Cold!

By 'eck it was cold this morning as we took a longer walk around Shipley Hill. The plunging temperatures meant that the mud of the last few weeks had solidified and frozen hard, it also meant that the puddles had become like skating rinks and required a lot of fancy footwork to avoid falling in an inelegant spread-eagle.
It was still well below freezing when we set out and hadn't broken through the zero degrees mark when we returned.

The snows of yesterday were still clinging to the bushes and adding their bright highlights to the blackness of the woods and the long shadows of mid winter were painting dark lines across the ground.

The remains of the old hall atop Shipley Hill were etched in the snow and stood out against the frozen ground.

Malcolm couldn't feel his fingers any more and was in danger of never thawing out again, but soon came round after a hot coffee.
Today's musical interlude is a departure from the carols theme, so in tribute to the frost and snow of our walk here is the Boston Pops Orchestra playing sleigh Ride.

Written by Leroy Anderson during a heatwave in July 1946, but not completed until 1948, it is the most evocative sound of snow and frost.