All of sudden

10 minutes later . . .

Lewes going nowhere

Fri 3 December

Lewes

Lunchtime today. This is the main railway line between Lewes and London. There have been no trains on it since Wednesday at least.

Lewes isn't exactly cut off from the world, but with no roads in or out of town for 24 hours or more, few shops open until today and a run on bread and milk, with all schools closed and many local services suspended, with no trains and hardly any buses for 2 days, with Gatwick Airport closed, and with broadband erratic and, horror of horrors, no Guardian delivered, it has certainly felt like it at times.

The snow began on Monday, which was a bit odd, because as we know it never snows in southern England in November . . . I'd been to the University to do a lecture, got some shopping on the way home - and didn't leave the house again until this morning (Friday).

It snowed more on Tuesday, and folk had fun of various sorts: building snowmen, throwing snowballs, sledding, falling over, that sort of thing. In Brighton they're a bit more up front with their snow fun: they have adventures with a tea tray, and spend the morning on the beach; in Lewes we're more sophisticated: we have things like Wolfie's blog and Long Slow Distance's unexpected visitor, and we grow icicles and decorate the war memorial with snowballs. We dig up our old cartoons, and we paddle our own surfboard, and have a nice sit down when it all gets a bit much.

Then it came down long and hard on Wednesday evening, and everything ground to a halt. On Thursday it froze, hard; overnight temperatures were said to have gone down to -10ºC, which is the sort of cold we get once a decade here. 

Today it has hovered around zero. I ventured out to do my bit to keep the local economy going, and didn't slither once, which pleased me no end as I had a bottle of milk on my back, and I have a tendency to trip, slip and fall over things like paving stones, blades of grass, pockets of air, things like that.

Here's some of my photos from this week; I've seen plenty of superb and atmospheric shots from others, many of which I've lost track of, but here's a few to be going on with: evening walk, saunter past castle, Lewes FC football ground, street view, some of Viva Lewes' photos of the week, Railway Land, the Cliffe Christmas Tree, railway station, and a gorgeous set from Richard Gailey.

Throughout the week the Viva Lewes Twitter feed has been invaluable, retweeting information and comments from all around, and pointing towards much of the excellent photo and video material above. Great fun, and very useful, although I can't say it's as satisfying a read as The Guardian . . .

PS: plus some great pix from Kirstie Fuller

Solidarity in the snow

This week's two main themes come together. Brighton students against the cuts, solid in the snow. Follow their latest news.

Big snow now!

Big snow in Lewes, 9pm. Well it is December. Do you think I've summoned it up by getting out those old cartoons (Snow Humour, First Aid Post, Who put that there)? Spooky!

Who put that there?

Speaking as one who unfailingly trips over the only stone in the field, I know just how that poor fellow feels - hurt, resigned, and stupid.

Another one I've kept for years, though it's not as yellowed as the other two (Snow Humour, First Aid Post).

First Aid Post

Ian Gammidge, 1960s (?)

Another one in the same vein (see Snow Humour), but with a subtle difference. Isn't Life just like that?

This one had to be folded over to fit in my wallet, and then sat on for 40 years, to produce the artistically creased effect.

Snow humour

 

Chas Addams, 1940

I've been sitting on this for 40 years and more. I've kept a cutting of this cartoon in my wallet, in my back pocket, ever since I first came across it. It's now a yellowing, faded, nibbled shred of paper. Every now and then it falls out, and I remember it, and wonder, and  smile.

And here's a photo of the original incident.

Sasha's snowmen

Little Sasha from upstairs has made some snowmen.

November snow

With one day of November left, snow falls in Lewes - the earliest I can remember it in the 20 years I've been living here. We're probably the last part of the country to get it. A bit of a change from the 30ºC I left in Israel a week ago :-).

That's why they call them snowdrops

Mon 8 Feb

But it had all melted in a couple of hours.

Who's that big one at the back?

Mon 2 Feb
Brighton
The folks in Jan's street get to know each other, and some of the children get to build a snowman for the first time in their lives. I wonder how long it will stay up? See also the view from Crouch End.
[Jan's pic]

Meanwhile, not very far away

. . . across North London, the snow had also fallen in Sarah's back garden. They say this is SE England's heaviest snowfall in 18 years. See the previous post for Andrei Arshavin (?) Walking in a Winter Wonderland, the next one for how 25 went mad in the snow in Brighton, and the one after that for some snow in Southern Spain. All today (well, yesterday, by the time I get this posted).
[Sarah's pic]