Category Archives: winter

173. Lines on the New Hampshire primary 2008

Posted on 10 January, 2008 by | 36 comments

So. Farewell then
barack-obama-the-audacity-of-hope-random-house.jpg Barack Hussein Obama
The Audacity of Hope

For five January days
We believed
The world could change

And then New Hampshire
Told you
They’d changed their minds
Instead.

With apologies to EJ Thribb (17 ½)

* * * * *

Coming soon:
To mark the start of USA 2008 new-hampshire-snow-by-atonal-at-flickrdotcom.jpgthis column is taking temporary residence deep in the snows of New Hampshire.

Please see From Scratch for a specially syndicated Roads of Stone, reporting on the US primaries.

173. Lines on the New Hampshire primary 2008 : : 173. Lines on the New Hampshire primary 2008 : : 173. Lines on the New Hampshire primary 2008 : : 173. Lines on the New Hampshire primary 2008 : : 173. Lines on the New Hampshire primary 2008 : : 173. Lines on the New Hampshire primary 2008

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4. GO British ! Chicago Marathon 2002
17. It’s puzzling – a letter on Iraq, to Tony Blair
71. How the West Was Won – Iraq implodes

36 Comments

Posted in 2008, divided by an ocean, heroes, history, Iraq, poetry, politics, winter, world

171. A splash of Burgundy in winter

Posted on 21 December, 2007 by | 5 comments

blue-sky-through-the-trees-epsom-december-by-i-am-jae-at-flickrdotcom.jpgThe sun is wan and thin today, struggling weakly to light the path around the park as I lope my way through the winter afternoon on this, the shortest day.

Christmas is just around the corner.

In Ashtead Woods, near the famous Epsom Wells, my footsteps fall silent among the leaves. The track is lined here with silver birch trees, stripped bare to show glimpses of greyed out sky behind. A still and unforgiving air is rushing past my face. I hear the rhythm of my breathing, and nothing more.

I let my mind fall empty. And dream of a frozen hillside, in another season.

* * * * *

The frost is on the ground – shining sheaves of white splashed on the grass beside the road. It’s late October, dawn. With chilly hands stuffed inside my sleeves, I’m fighting up a steeply rising lane.

At this early hour, my stiff legs are unexcited about the slope. My heavy stomach and a thickened head recall a feast of French food and wine consumed in happier hours just a thirsty, restless sleep behind me.

burgundy-france-hillside-dawn-october-2007.jpgA curve sweeps ahead atop the climb, and I strive to meet it, counting out each breath and gasping in my exertion.

Twenty, thirty – forty – my feet keep turning, and at last I crest the ridge to greet an unexpected dazzling sunlight where yellow leaves are exploding from the vines.
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5 Comments

Posted in 2007, France, Surrey and Sussex, travel, winter, world

170. The winds of doubt – Brighton 10 km 2007

Posted on 20 November, 2007 by | 11 comments


madeira-parade-arcade-by-elsie-esq-on-flickrdotcom.jpgRunning ? Ah yes, I remember running.

To be fair, I fell down a rabbit hole on the third hole at Sandwich in late summer. I didn’t run a stride in September, and I’ve been slow since then.

But here I am, shivering on the start line in Brighton once again. Trying to remember just what it’s all about.
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11 Comments

Posted in 2007, racing, Surrey and Sussex, winter

169. Down tracks and cracks in Paris and London – Tate Modern and the 1812 from Waterloo

Posted on 16 November, 2007 by | 7 comments

waterloo-eurostar-station-by-jan-hanford-on-flickrdotcom.jpgRain. River. November. On the long-awaited day that Paris came closer to London.

As I step on to the platform under a damp grey sky, there’s a farewell party in full swing around the station.

After thirteen years, the last Eurostar will depart here in a few hours’ time. And in the morning, when the first train arrives at a gleaming new St Pancras across the Thames, Paris will be just two hours and fifteen rail minutes from London.

‘Fog in the Channel – Continent Isolated’. So read the famous newspaper headline of yore. Not any more. This rapprochement is almost complete.
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7 Comments

Posted in 2007, France, geology, London, Paris, travel, winter

141. A winter sky and green and blue – Hyde Park, London

Posted on 20 March, 2007 by | 11 comments

hyde-park-london-serpentine-bridge.jpgAll winter long, I walked across the park.

I was working on a deal, and it seemed that every week I’d be in London for a meeting, somewhere. In busy winter weeks at work, it’s hard to run, and so I try to walk instead.

And where better to walk than across Hyde Park ? At 350 acres, it’s one of the largest central urban parks in the world, and perhaps the most famous. Nearly every park, in nearly every other city, owes something to Hyde Park.
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11 Comments

Posted in 2007, history, life and times, London, winter

139. Snow patrol – Holmenkollen, Oslo

Posted on 20 February, 2007 by | 20 comments

oslo-winter-morning-2.jpgShut your eyes and think of somewhere
Somewhere cold and caked in snow
Snow Patrol – May 2006

All of winter, and all in one day.

It’s mid-morning on a snowy Thursday, but as troublesome journeys to work might go, I really can’t complain.

Guildford’s white and black night is far behind me, and just a few hours later the snow is screaming past the train as we speed towards Oslo at 200 km/h. No Norwegian dogsled ever made such progress.

oslo-theatre-2.jpgArriving early at my meeting, I’ve a moment to survey the scene.

From the office window, the muffled view stretches out silently into the distance, Oslo peering shyly back at me through the white mist of intermittent wintry showers.

The view down to the railway tracks offers a camera angle perfect for any latterday remake of Anna Karenina, the architecture of this place even more impressive for the white curtain draping all around it.
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20 Comments

Posted in 2007, A1 - the best of roads of stone, heroes, music, Scandinavia, winter