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An unusually early upload, especially for a Saturday, when I'm normally engrossed at our weekly music session. It was my turn to be host today, and I worked frantically last night and into the early hours making the house presentable for the visitors. This was a bigger chore than usual because there was no slot available last month for me to do my usual monthly hosting, so I missed out on my usual monthly clean-up.

It was good to wake this morning with the realisation that not much was left to do, unlike the usual situation where I'm rushing around breathlessly doing my best to appear calm on the surface but secretly up to ninety with the last-minute efforts. Unfortunately, I didn't get the full benefit of the initial feeling of being relaxed and knowing that what still needed to be done could be done at a sensible pace. The complication was the weather. Last I heard, we were due to have another day like yesterday, which would have meant we'd maybe get a light fall of snow and then the sun would come up and the temperature would rise and no real harm would be done. That's not how it turned out, though. I surfaced at 8.45 or so, and there'd already been quite a bit of snow, which continued for another couple of hours (nothing major, but still enough to pile up. I went ahead with final preparations regardless, and then I got a call from one of the guys who was to bring two others along with him, but now felt it would be unwise to travel. As well as these three, I was really only expecting one other to turn up, but this would have been a viable turnout. There was no point going ahead if there'd only be two of us here, so I cancelled. Perhaps I should contact our national broadcaster with a news item. This is the first time in the fifteen-year history of the group that we've had to cancel a session because of the weather. I'm sure our cancellation would be of nationwide interest, proving just how serious the situation is.

So the pressure was off. I finished off my chores anyway, and then decided to go for a little spin and a walk. COnditions weren't too bad n the whole, but still it was the sensible thing to do to cancel the music session. Mind you, I almost felt like a truant being out and about on a Saturday. I don't know what put it into my mind, but I ended up in St Anne's Park, a favourite blip haunt. I opted for the spot where the pond and the rockery used to be. I knew the City Council, for reasons known only to themselves, had ripped out the pond, but I had no idea of the extent of the act of public vandalism they've been responsible for. Instead of a point of interest and a convenient landmark, the silly idiots have left us with an ugly, featureless hillock with a pathway running through it. Disgraceful!

It's still a popular spot, all the same, and this snowballing pair were certainly making the most of the freshly-fallen white stuff. I spent a good hour wandering around and blipping away. There were lots of other blip candidates, but this one was a clear favourite as soon as I saw it in the camera, and its status didn't change after copying things over to the pooter. It's time for lunch now, and then I need to decide what to do for the rest of the day. I may get a DART over to Carl's place, but there's nothing definite decided yet.

[Try [url=large]bigifying[/url] this for the full impact.]

p.s. I've deleted the original in order to crop the thumbnail differently. Apologies to those who've already commented.