Snow in Motspur Park
A very Surrey winter morning with ice and snow unheralded. A cold station full of commuters and schoolchildren, early in the morning as the world wakes up.
Painting of Motspur Park Station in Surrey 2015 Winter
Arcticterntalk.org
The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world
Archive for the tag “winter”
World Food Photos. Like food, like photographs of food
Just a various eclectic mix of food photos taken in various locations. Nothing special. Just enjoy and be hungry.
Coconut Tart
Sliders and Beef Wellingtons
Ice and Snow. What can we learn from Scandinavia? Oslo airport. Gardermoen.
At around the same time Manchester airport was being closed due to snow and bad weather, the weather was not so different in Oslo and flights were leaving on time. Not so many are aware that Norway is the northernmost, westernmost and easternmost all all the three Scandinavian countries and has a population of only 5 million, mostly Norwegian people. And it also is a country without an official religon having separated from the church in 2012. And humble Oslo is only the 17th busiest airport in Europe with 24.2 million passengers in 2014. About half the airport operator’s income is from retail revenue. There are twenty places to eat or drink, in addition to stores and other services including banks and post. In all, 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) are used for restaurants, stores and non-aviation services. And yesterday it felt like an expedition to get through the duty free zone to anywhere near a departure gate. But as Oslo airport is connected to 162 other airports, maybe I can excuse the retail element. This of course has nothing to do with why the airport functions when all others close down.
The reality is pride and equipment and foresight.In Nordic Countries, Skill at Keeping Airports Open Through Blizzards Is a Point of Pride. Winter can last 6 months and airplane de-icing starts in august.Across the chilly water, on the bleak Svalbard archipelago in the Norwegian arctic, winter temperatures can drop to -55C. In winter, airport employees work round-the-clock shifts, at the first sight of snow.
Another Nordic secret: pushing producers for absurdly powerful equipment. Oslo Airport runs two of the world’s largest self-propelled snowblowers, built by Norwegian airport-equipment maker Øveraasen AS. Only two other of the TV2000 units operate at airports; they, too, are in Norway.The 2,000-horsepower machines can shoot 10,000 tons of snow an hour more than 150 feet from the tarmac.
So we can say that foresight, effort and equipment play major roles in explaining why Scandinavian airports stay open , but also airport capacity . Heathrow for example, one of the worlds worst airports in my opinion, operates to 98% capacity and thus even small disruptions can be chaotic. Stockholm Arlanda has over 40 people dedicated to snow clearing during the winter.The airport has 18 PSB (ploughing, sweeping, blowing) machines. These are followed by snow throwers which move the line of snow left by the PSBs. Behind these come friction measuring vehicles that test the likelihood of skidding on the runway.
Nonsuch Park Cheam
Nonsuch Park is an under rated park amongst the many in Surrey. Nonsuch school sits in one corner and there are times of the day when maybe the car parks are best avoided. By chance I was there this afternoon as the sun was going down, the rain had stopped but with only the I Phone as a camera. These photos attempt to capture a chill winter late afternoon. A certain amount of adult ADHD was also apparent in those attempting to leave the car park.
Winkworth Arboretum
Winkworth Arboretum is a National trust property about 5 miles from Guildford in a quaint town called Godalming. The most striking thing about Godalming is that the houses are massive and the Waitrose in the centre of town even larger. The impression given is that a huge crater was created into which Waitrose slotted to fill the hole, and the road then re-built to bypass said Waitrose. But I digress. The Arboretum is a decent place to walk but sadly the extensed winter meant that few plants were visible today other than the occasional daffodil or snowdrop. No evidence of the Magnolias coming to life.
The walk is also not an easy one, many steps and slopes means that the walk might not be suitable for all. Can it be recommended? Maybe. One needs to return when spring has made an appearance to be decisive but I suspect it will become a nice place to walk. The Boathouse, is what it sounds, an old hut by the lake, but with chairs and old books in it gives the impression of a real old room. A sign on the door mentions that the NT have applied for permission essentially to have music and alcohol in here. Sounds good.
Scotland from 10,000 feet
Just occasionally a flight is interesting. Sometimes the cabaret that some passengers bring, sometimes the crew but also sometimes the view. Flying into Edinburgh yesterday it was fascinating to see the snow. There was a fair amount from the Borders up to south of Edinburgh and then none at all. Edinburgh seemed devoid of its fair share of snow. Today also driving up to Perth and Stirling, there were areas that looked whited out and areas that were luscious green, that seemed to have also missed the snow. I suspect there are complex geographical reasons that will remain hidden from me till eternity.
View from plane
Flooding near Esher
Even now that the rain has allegedly stopped, the flooding is still present in many areas in Surrey. Certainly in Cobham the Thames is very high still and these photos are of a nice filed that is often used for picnics and cricket, not at the same time, in the summer. Near Esher and in fact opposite Garson’s Farm in Winterdown Lane. The cruel ones amongst us might suggest we are looking at the new QPR football ground with ample space for their legions of fans watching a team that has been the most consistent in the football league this season!
Walton Casuals 0 Leatherhead 2
Not many games to watch today. The fixture list was not kind to me, so it came down to a few to choose from and having not been to Walton Casuals this season, this one was the selected game. Friendly little club, easy parking, only 8£ to get in, nice burger, cup of tea. Altogether a decent experience. Crowd was low, guess less than 100 and half seemed to be from Leatherhead. The game was no-contest really and Leatherhead won despite being down to 10 men for two thirds of the game. They played the better football, were more skilful, had the luck but also had the better keeper. Wlaton might think they were unlucky to have a goal dissallowed for offside but in all honestry this was a one way game. This is going to be a long season for Walton Casuals.
Before today they sat bottom of Ryman South with a negative goal difference of 15 and it showed. I hope they get out of trouble but frankly at this stage cannot see how.
A few photos from the game including one of the Leatherhead players who decided to pull down his shorts during the game!
Pants down but why?
Free Kick
Painshill Park, Cobham
Painshill is a place that I have been coming to for over 10 years. It may be my favourite place in the United kingdom. Each season makes it seem so different. I am guessing here but if you look back through this blog over the last 8 months there will be a fair few hits about Painshill. Sunday as the ice and snow was melting on the paths i captured the bleak side of Painshill. The lake was frozen with slush on the top and hence the “geeseprints”. enjoy and do please visit.
Birdprints mean bird was here
Geeseprints on the lake
Cold Goose
A bleak wintry Painshill
Snow in UK. Not so bad in the south as they say
Despite warnings of snow related doom in the south it seems we got off mildly. Which means the understanding of the chaos at Heathrow with two thirds of flights cancelled, or diverted to Prestwick, complex to understand. Essentially we had maybe 1-2 inches of snow saturday night which has all melted either sunday or monday. anyway rather than wittering a few photos to remind us of the weather as it was. I wish it all had stayed longer but then I am biased as wanted the photos.
Snow falling saturday night at its heaviest
Night shot using long exposure
The following morning
A Great Place
The rants and warblings of an active and some would say disturbed mind. A Brentford Fc supporter and a psychiatrist and photographer. Welcome to my musings and rants.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 