… by the sunshine. It’s a lot colder here than it looks – barely above freezing today. In the summer we’ll have the doors open and be sitting outside our little ‘gin palace’ at the top of the garden, enjoying the views and a G&T, but for now it’s all closed up against the elements. 
This strange looking affair in Market Drayton is a WW2 ‘pill box’, a name given to reinforced concrete defence structures. It was built in 1940, and stands at the junction of Newcastle Road, and what is now known as the Shropshire Union Canal. It could be manned by a compliment of 8 infantry armed with rifles and machine guns. It’s the only one of its type remaining, and as such is a ‘listed’ or protected building.
– Well, not exactly. Today’s adventures included a trip to the Barrow Hill Roundhouse – the last surviving roundhouse of its kind in the UK. The locomotives on display (both steam and diesel) are mostly static, although we were lucky enough to see ‘Tornado’ – the 2008 built ‘A1 Peppercorn Pacific’ loco, here for some maintenance. An interesting evening’s photography, but tricky in such low light. Hopefully I’ll get to post some photos on my main blog – blog.nigelyoung.co.uk
… came the sunshine. This morning’s short, sharp fall of snow caught everyone out around here – it looked like we had missed the snow that blanketed most of the UK yesterday, but it was not to be. Anyway, it didn’t last long; the sun came out and by midday it was mostly gone. Whether we get more remains to be seen…
Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet, And so are you.. Thus the rhyme goes – apparently it dates back to 1590 !
My wife loves roses, and red happens to match the decor of our kitchen, so they are a pretty common sight there. Sadly we don’t seem to be very good at growing them in the garden, but there’s always the florists or supermarket…
After the really miserable weather yesterday, today has been beautiful and sunny (but cold), culminating in this colourful sunset… However, the forecast is not promising – sleet and snow are expected over the next two days, and with travel disruption expected, my plans for the rest of the week look to be in jeopardy.
… this paddling pool on the village green will be rammed with literally hundreds of kids. But for today – a cold, miserable, blustery January day, there’s no water in the pool, and just a few hardy dog walkers around…
Snowdrops are one of the first signs of Spring in the garden, although they appear to have emerged even earlier than usual. They are pretty hardy though, so should survive the cold days still in store for us over the next month or so…
I’m not a fan of house plants – actually I really dislike them… However, at Christmas, my 90 year old aunt gave us an Amaryllis bulb, and it seemed to be the decent thing to do to plant it and see what happened. Well, against the odds, it did grow, and this is the second flush of flowers from it – pretty impressive from something so unloved…
This compelling mural was painted on a wall in our town (Market Drayton) to celebrate the centenary of the end of WW1 last year. It’s a lasting reminder of the sacrifices made by that generation. 
One Day At A Time... 