Snow in April!
Well, it doesn't snow that often in England anyway, but snow in April is really unusual (though I've witnessed snow in Spring in the past, in the early 1990s when I was at boarding school in Suffolk) particularly when it's been warm during the past week. Waking up this morning, I heard it on the news that there was a jam on the M4 (the motorway from London to south Wales) and they said it started out at Hungerford, which made me think "oh, there's snow out in the downs in west Berkshire" - but then they said "to junction 1 at Chiswick", and I thought, "what, that means there really is snow here", and I looked out of my bedroom window and there it was. It's not Canadian weather, and it was all gone by early afternoon so there wasn't much to take pictures of when I was finally able to get out, but I got a couple of pictures of it anyway. (One of them is private, as it shows the view from my bedroom window, so you will only see it if you are my friend.)
Also, you can see on my Flickr page a couple of pictures of my new car, or rather, the new family car which I have the most use of. It's a little Daewoo Matiz with a 1-litre engine, so it's no speed demon but it will get me to work quicker than the train will (although I will probably continue to use the bus or train within town because it saves having to park). I went out to Boxhill last Thursday so I could take some shots of it somewhere other than outside the house, as I don't want the whole world and his wife knowing where I live, but my initial idea of parking in the car park and taking a walk around was thwarted when I discovered that Boxhill has a flat-rate £3 parking charge. So I had to park on the Zig Zag, and I had forgotten what the views along that road are like, which sort of made the frustration worth it.
So, here are the pictures. (More: iMuslim.)
Comments
"my initial idea of parking in the car park and taking a walk around was thwarted when I discovered that Boxhill has a flat-rate £3 parking charge. "
So, you couldn't afford to pay £3? And how much did it cost in petrol to drive there in the first place?
What is the weight of vehicle to weight of load ratio of your car when
a) you drive alone
and
b) Every seat is filled?
Posted by: Thersites | April 6, 2008 9:23 PM
As-salaamu Alaikum,
April showers- lol - I know. We had a hailstone shower yesterday followed by the snow.
Boxhill! I haven't come across that since Jane Austen's novel - Emma.It really exists. Some of the characters in the novel had a day out to Boxhill! Probably didn't have parking charges in those days.
Posted by: Farah | April 6, 2008 10:03 PM
As-Salaamu 'alaikum,
Yes, Boxhill really exists. We used to go there often as children, and it was a favourite of mine the first time I got into photography in the mid-90s. Whether this Boxhill is the same one mentioned in Emma I don't know, although the part of east Hampshire round about Alton (right next to Surrey) does feature in one or other of Austen's books.
As for my stance regarding the parking charges, no, it didn't cost £3 to pay for the fuel to get there, but in any case, £3 for any time, even just an hour or less, is really over the odds (and I did not have the change). It doesn't cost that much in most town centres (or any that I know of) and the quality of the car parks or facilities really doesn't explain it - they aren't obviously monitored, at least they weren't when I was there (between 6 and 7pm), and they are not even surfaced. It's just to raise money, pure and simple.
Posted by: Indigo Jo
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April 6, 2008 11:20 PM
Assalam-alaikam, snow is April isn't unusual, its mad. I, my husband and my dad all took lots of pictures and didn't manage to get a single decent one between us, though the other two would never admit it. You're picture of the two trees is lovely.
Makes me think of my poor little brother-in-law who came to visit in winter from Pakistan, he spent all winter waiting for snow and went back without seeing any. I think I'll tell him all about it.
£3 is a bit of a waste of money if you are only going to park a short while.
Posted by: Umm Salihah | April 7, 2008 8:39 PM