True Grit

It was supposed to be a picture of the hill going down from our house. Due to the flash being on, but all I have are white dots. I suppose it just shows how much snow was coming down.

I did take another picture of Barney (our Rough Collie), but I might of well have of taken a picture of a polar bear in a snow storm. Barney just loves all of the snow. The only bit that upset him was getting the fur on he feet all iced up. We had a bit of a time persuading him to put his feet in some (cold) water to help melt the ice.

Whilst Googling around for the weather I came across an fascinating site HERE. Some interesting data from someone's weather station.

The Bracknell Standard are doing their bit, and reporting the current situation on their website each day. It is interesting to note the comment about the salt/grit level, since the governments "Salt Cell" has taken over. Bracknell's deliveries have suffered since it seems.

A source said: ‘It would be fair to say that while some authorities have shown excellent best practice this time around, some just haven’t got their act together, again, and haven’t learnt from last February’s events

One senior highways officer told LocalGov.co.uk it was unfair those authorities that did nothing to improve their resilience and stock plans were now ‘shouting the loudest for salt’.

‘I accept everyone has to have salt but surely the answer is a properly planned stock management scheme. The other issue that has failed to have been addressed in this country is spreading rates. There is suggestion that the Highways Agency is spreading up to two or three times more salt on average than authorities. Is this really necessary?

Salt reduces the freezing point of water to -3C, so that very cold weather is a further problem. There being less vehicles on the road, there is also another problem it that the salt performs better when "churned", by traffic.

I am told that the SITA staff have been unable to perform the usual refuse, and recycling collections, but this has meant that some can be redeployed on other tasks such as clearing walkways.

There is information about road gritting by the council HERE.

Barney takes us on holiday

It was our wedding anniversary just before Christmas, so we decided to have a short break away.

Some searching of the internet identified a pub in West Lulworth, Dorset. We are both familiar with the surrounding places such as Durdle door, Lulworth Cove and Corfe Castle. The pub had the added attractions of being dog friendly and a range of about a dozen different ciders. I sold Diane of the place by telling here about the seaside, and the long walks with us and Barney the Rough Collie. I told her about the best attraction once we had agreed, and booked it.

The Castle Inn very obliging sent us a brochure, and a good bit of tourist authority bumf about the area. The best bit was the stuff about the range of Cider, and Perry. This can be found on the website of the pub.

We did have a good time there, with plenty of walking of the dog, good food, and drink. We had a visit to Wareham, where I bought a great new jacket, and cap in what must be one of the few proper “men’s’” shops left. They have a website that tells just a little bit about them HERE.

While we were away, it turns out that there was so much weather, that the Rugby game against Old Albanians was canc

elled. That means that we can now see it. Let’s just hope for a good win for Bracknell!

I made some notes about the Cider we sampled while away, I must get them down in print soon.

http://www.thecastleinn-