As i have mentioned in both vlogs & blogs recently, we are having a spell of unusually cold & snowy weather, both here in my local area & throughout the whole of Britain.
Although, locally, up until today at least, we had not had too much snow. Over last night & today though, we have had quite a lot. In fact it has hardly stopped snowing here all day today. Not always heavily, but snowing nonetheless. It is still snowing as i type this.
This morning, i decided to make the most of it & go out for a walk. I had to go out alone, as nobody in the house was ready to leave, or were still asleep!
I went out at around 8am, when it was still nice & quiet & when the recent snow had not been disturbed too much.
What is it about snow that brings out the inner child in all of us? Maybe it's a uniquely British thing, i don't know? I guess it has something to do with the fact that we don't get to experience a decent snowfall very often?
Because of this, in my opinion, you really need to get out early to make the most of it & to beat the crowds.
There is something about being out & about when they are very few people around. Even though this was 8am on a Saturday morning, because of the heavy snowfall, the streets were pretty empty. Just what i wanted & had planned.
Well, i had a great time. Walking through the virgin snow, taking photo's & generally just enjoying myself.
I realise that everywhere looks different in the snow. But, there is something strangely unique about a seaside town in the snow.
Things like the pier, the amusemant arcades & rides take on a completely different look when covered in snow. Maybe it's because they are not meant to be viewed this way. They are really meant to be viewed on a warm Summers day, not a snowy Winter one.
One of the photo's that i took was of some advertising posters, encouraging visitors to visit Hastings. Naturally these posters showed the town in warm sunshine & looked a little weird sitting there amongst the snow. Hence the photo.
Also, a fishing town like Hastings, has some even more unique features that look out of place on a snowy day. Fishing boats, fishing huts, the beach & even the sea itself look vaguely unnatural with a coating of fresh snow.
Every time that we have had a decent snowfall, i have always felt compelled to go out for a walk & to take photo's because of the way that the town looks.
I don't think that feeling will ever leave me & i certainly hope that it doesn't.
One of my favourite memories of living in Hastings. Where i have now lived for over 20 years. Is of walking to work in the snow.
This happened approx 10 years ago.
I had to leave for work at around 5am & had to walk approx 2 miles into the town. The previous night had seen a heavy snowfall & when i left for work there was around 5 inches of undisturbed snow lying on the ground.
I don't think this snowfall had been predicted & was therefore even more of a surprise than it might otherwise have been.
I vivdly remember that walk into work.
I don't think i saw another person on the entire length of my walk. I had that snow all to nyself. What a great feeling that was.
Apart from that, there was that eerie quality that you get when there has been a heavy snowfall. There was a seemingly complete absence of sound. Except for the crunching of my feet on the virgin snow. No cars & no other people around to disturb that silence.
There was something really magical about that whole experience &, as i said, it is something that i will, hopefully, never forget.
It was, almost, a pleasure to be going to work at that time of the morning. Almost....
And, in some ways, one of the best things about that whole experience, was that the snow only lasted a few hours, before it all melted.
So, i was one of the few people who saw & experienced that snow, before it all turned to slush.
That might sound a little selfish & maybe it is?
But, it is sometimes nice to experience something that only you know about. Something truly unique.
How many of us can say that that has happened to them?
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