“But how shall I know the day of my birth in future years, O Holy Seer of Signs?”
“Drew, stand beside the river and look for the day on which the sun sets between the two pillars. Thus shall you know it.”
I’m 51 today. This is now the tenth year of the blog. And life goes on, one day at a time.
I have no idea what the weather’s been like in the rest of the world but in the UK this late February, as anyone round here will tell you, it has been extremely pleasant. Even 7.55am on a Monday morning looked OK in these conditions. It’d be nice to think this is spring arriving and bedding in, but it must be recalled that this time last year, it snowed.
Impossible to be sure whether this is the same heron that has (possibly) had a few appearances on this blog over the last 18 months — including this one for instance. Comparing the photos I think this one may be a different, and younger, one. To me it looks a bit like a very thin person who has just been reluctantly dipped in a swimming pool and is now standing by the side of the water, shivering, knock-kneed and wrapped in a grey bathrobe. But it was a sunny spot to dry out this morning, either way,
Mytholmroyd lies about a mile downstream from Hebden Bridge and was devastated by the 26th December flood, being inundated with over seven feet (more than two meters) of water. The hole in the line of buildings to the left was formerly a travel agency but collapsed into the river that day. I find it sad that in the line of shops behind there are still signs up saying ‘reopening 4th January after Christmas’ and the like. Still, it looked sylvan enough today, though what the guy is doing in the river, I have no idea.
No weather warnings have been issued and it seems to have stopped raining…. but recent events suggest that we should at least be wary when the river reaches this level. It’s not just about heavy rainfall, either. We should also blame the government — flooding isn’t caused by heavy rain, but by shitty decisions about land use, some of them stretching back centuries. Ah well, seeing as we’ve reached the ‘let’s cross our fingers and hope’ stage of flood prevention, let’s just do that.
Spring has definitely sprung. These geese — pictured from about 15 feet up — were enjoying it as much as everyone else today. Particularly those of us who are having a week off work (though I’d like to get over the jet lag please).
Another beautiful morning in a long run of good weather (proving the idiotic newspapers wrong with their predictions of a dire early winter). The bridge carries Mayroyd Lane over the river Calder, near the railway station. Another oft-passed scene, but it has managed not to appear thus far on the blog.
