Ilkeston - Winter!
w/e 27 January 2013
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
The cold spell continued, "cold" being
the operative word as I succumbed to one earlier in the week.
Instead of taking the recommended advice of stopping indoors
and keeping warm, I was out most days walking the dog around
the town centre so this selection of images were taken on several
different days during the week.
Monday was a cold day with snow lying on the ground and a grey
featureless sky but this cluster of street furniture coated by
the prevailing wind down one side with driven snow caught my
eye.
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Although main roads had been cleared, the conditions were deemed
sufficiently bad enough for some, but not all, local schools
to close for the day. I can't remember schools ever closing when
I was young because of the weather and the conditions certainly
didn't stop people from walking around the town centre on Monday.
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The schools were open again on Tuesday which was just as cold
but much brighter and we got quite warm walking and running with
the dog across the former playground at the back of Chaucer School.
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Back in the summer of 2012 the island at end of Chalons Way was
very colourfully decorated with five circular flower beds in
honour of the Queen's Jubilee. On Tuesday, with the beds hidden
by the snow, the silver birch and conifers wouldn't have looked
out of place on a Christmas card.
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The cloud was back on Wednesday and in the morning it did stay
dry. The Market Place, as this view towards the Corner Cafe at
the end of Market Street shows, had been cleared and salt and
grit spread all over. This did cause a problem for dogs as the
salt could cause irritation to any small cuts in their pads and
if licked, it is also poisonous. We had to pick our way very
carefully.
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In the afternoon there were some snow flurries but they didn't
deter other dog walkers although it was much safer on the edge
of the piles of snow around the War Memorial than through the
cleared areas.
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 The piles of
compacted snow were still there on Thursday and the temperature
hardly rose above freezing point all day - not ideal conditions
for the market traders but quite a few turned up.
Friday was another cold grey day and heavy snowfall was forecast.
A new initiative to promote the market offering free stalls to
new traders was cancelled because of the expected bad weather
but actually the snow didn't arrive until after dark and is seen
here (right) from our front window falling at about 11pm.
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Evidence of Friday night revelry was apparent on Saturday morning
in the form of a huge snowball in the bus stop lay-by on South
Street. I suppose it's one way to stop the bus but is not to
be recommended.
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The Market Place was once again snow covered and several of the
regular market traders were in attendance - made a bit of a nonsense
of the cancelling the previous day's event really when conditions
were better.
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Our Saturday walk took us from the market to 'Illy 'Oleys where
the freshly fallen snow was deep and crisp and anything but even.
It was ideal though for a dog to enjoy a run. Notice the swept
back ears as she charged towards me. It will probably be her
last run in the snow for some time as the temperature has now
started to rise, the rains have arrived and the snow is being
washed away. Anyone viewing this same scene on Sunday would no
doubt be uttering "Snow? What snow?" And now as the
snow disappears people are gearing up for the floods - that's
one advantage of living on a hill!
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