At any other time a morning when it didn't stop raining would have been greeted with dismay but following the prolonged cold spell with snow and ice, I for one greeted the precipitation with some relief.
Some people still found it necessary to grumble but others like the two pictured above paused to pass the time of day and apart from the umbrellas seemed oblivious to the conditions. The rainfall helped wash a lot of snow and ice away and made getting around a lot easier and much safer than the black ice of earlier this week. However if it freezes tonight it could well be a different story tomorrow!
Market Day and the Market Place still hadn't been cleared or so I thought. It was a surprise therefore to find the stalls had been erected and many of the market traders were on hand to do business. It turns out that the traders along with the Market Inspector (and probably the erection team too) had cleared paths through the market to allow customers access to the stalls.
A little bit of similar effort last weekend by the Council could have seen Saturday's market to be held and they would not have lost the income from the rents paid by the stall holders. Everyone - traders, customers, Council Tax payers - would have benefited but no matter, it was all smiles today especially on Chapman's Bakery stall - the only traders to brave the elements last time and give their customers the service to which they have become accustomed. For that reason alone, they deserve encouraging.
as It was back to square one this morning black ice made conditions underfoot more dangerous than they were a couple of days ago despite yesterday's temporary improvement.
It looked safe enough but looks can be deceiving and more than one person came a cropper. If it hadn't been for an optician's appointment, I don't think we would have ventured far and it's only thanks to our bus driver that we avoided the worst of the conditions.
What a difference a day makes. A slight rise in the temperature, a little bit of grit thrown down by Derbyshire County Council and the pedestrian area of Bath Street is a much safer place than it was twenty four hours ago.
You'd hardly know there had been any snow and ice today as a lot of the street had dried out in a cooling wind.
"Dancing On Ice" began a new series on TV last night but there were far more people spinning, slipping and sliding to say nothing of falling on Ilkeston's Bath Street this morning.
A partial thaw coupled with sleet showers created a treacherous surface all the way down and patches of ice sent many people sprawling. By the time Council workers arrived to treat the surface many people were counting the bruises to both their bodies and their pride and I wouldn't be surprised if there were one or two broken bones too.
Because of the continuing bad weather, people are being asked to keep an eye on their neighbours especially if they are elderly. It's also a good idea to feed the birds who are also finding hard to find food during this cold spell.
Our bird feeders are being well used and I wouldn't swear to it but is that a thrush in a neighbour' s tree?
It's been a while since I heard from Jim Garner, an ex-pat who now lives in Canada but who has previously sent a number of photos for some of the guest pages (link) on the site. Jim emailed me this week with an interesting suggestion.
The Christmas season is now over and it was brought home to me on Friday when I spotted workmen staring to remove the lights from the Town Hall. I often say the the lights don't come down until Easter so it did come as a bit of a surprise. Jim's idea though is about next Christmas and this is what he wrote: "The thought has occurred to me that next year we ex-pats could maybe contribute an 'Ilkeston Christmas around the world' photo feature." So I'm calling on all ex-pats whether they live abroad or still reside in this country but have moved away from Ilkeston to make Jim's idea a reality. If you'd like to register an interest in such a project and would like to email me, I'll make a note and send you a reminder sometime in November.
No matter how advanced your camera you still need to be responsible for getting it to the right place at the right time and pointing it in the right direction to get the photo you want. - Ken Rockwell - (Your Camera Does Not Matter, 2005)
