Winter is Coming

Actually, it’s already here.

Apologies to Game of Thrones fans as this post’s title is literal rather than a metaphorical reference to House Stark.

I just wanted to share a few photos I took in Etherow Park near where I live in the north west of England during a bit of a snow flurry.

So, I took the opportunity to shamelessly piggy-back off of one of the most successful TV shows in history. (Not that I’ve ever watched the show, mind.) There can’t be many of us left.

Etherow Park is in Compstall, which is near Marple Bridge, which is near Stockport, which is near Manchester, which is nowhere near North Westeros.

Things for which I am grateful #32

Alas, it is not an idyllic croft by the ocean…

Crofter’s cottage.

…but, a roof.

Over my head.

And, on days like today, when it’s blowing a howling gale and lashing with rain, it makes one feel all the more grateful.

Apparently, there are about 380,000 people in Britain who don’t have this luxury.

When I lived in Ireland I worked on a guerilla campaign for a homeless charity called Focus Ireland. The idea was based on using the plaques where famous people lived and doctoring them, using real people’s names, and placing them on the streets where homeless people slept rough. The concept being: Everyone has a right to a home.

It was hugely successful in terms of raising money and awareness.

N.B. Plaques in Ireland are brown unlike the blue ones in the UK.

August Snow – new poem.

AUGUST SNOW.

© David Milligan-Croft

 

I’d been told the climate was similar to ours,

But that was a lie.

 

Here, there was guaranteed sunshine in December

And no snow in July.

 

They had great bubbling mud pools,

Which we didn’t have in Batley.

 

And jets of hot, steaming water

That would shoot up out of the ground.

 

They even had a desert,

(albeit a small one),

Near Lake Taupo.

 

I never knew how much I’d miss snow

Until we moved to New Zealand.

 

The only snow I ever saw

Was on Mount Wanganui.

 

But that was too high

For a boy of eight.

 

One winter though – about August –

I found a small pile of snow on our back porch.

 

I was so delirious with excitement

That I ran inside to tell mam.

 

She didn’t have the heart to tell me

It was scraped from the freezer.