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.

Street Furniture

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.
Town Centre

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.
Behind Chaucer School

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.
Island Trees

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.
Corner Cafe

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.
War Memorial

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.
Thursday Market

Falling SnowThe 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.
Bus Stop

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.
Saturday Market

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.
'Illy 'Oleys

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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