The alley's light

The frost on the car's windows was as hard as I've ever known. The sunlight was bright in the cloudless sky. I managed to get Helena to the station just in time for her train to Paddington, and then had some time for photography.

It was great fun, with so many ideas coming into my eyes, as I looked about me, firstly by the Goods Shed and the multi-storey car park, then in the town centre, near our council offices. I saw angles and contrasts in shapes and colour of the buildings. Outside Ecotricity, I played with reflections from the curved glass that has been installed in their new High Street offices. I even stood in the middle of the road to get a self-portrait, which I am under pressure here to produce. I was pleased with the results.

I then drove a mile out of town to Thrupp, as the light was shining across the valley onto the slopes of Montseratt and ButterRow. Normally I film them from the house, but the view directly across from Thrupp Lane, which runs along the spring line halfway up the hillside, might have been more dramatic.

I walked along the lane and chatted with several people who were so friendly, as we slid about on the hard frost on the road. One lady came back to me, to offer her parents patio as a place for me to take pictures, because they had a really good open view across the Golden Valley! Aren't people kind and considerate. I feel very lucky to be here as we can meet and converse with strangers so easily.

I decided to blip the view down the alleyway, beside the main Post Office. This is in the same direction as across the valley at Thrupp. You can see the lines of the old ridge and furrow ploughing patterns on the fields below Rodborough, with the hard frost covering the areas still in shadow. Between here and there are the railway station, about forty yards away, the Stroudwater canal, an industrial estate, the by-pass and the River Frome, bordered by woodland. The valley is a busy place.

I like the colour and the vivid sunshine on the brickwork, with the old peeling paint of the mural, whilst the central heating boiler appears to be churning out pollutants. Nice!