Happens so rarely here that it always feels surreal, walking out into a white world, empty streets tracked with footprints. My jacket is a sky blue dot sliding across a monochrome scene. The flakes don't stick to the fabric, but my black jeans are turning white from the bottom up, and I could be disappearing within view of my own doorstep.
For the love of oranges, I hook my hood close and head out, head down, slanting at the same angle that everything is blown, my face freezing, my gloves drenched.
The supermarket is an odd mix of quiet and panic, of people in strange hats walking very carefully, stocking up. But I find what I came out for. Their net is heavy in my hands, like a fishing weight or a mooring buoy and the colour rings out as I cross between the sloshing traffic and look out at all that's visible of a churning sea. And the town is lost in a blur of driving grey and empty buses steam to a halt beside the kerb, change their destination signs to Not in service.
I take off my wet coat and jeans, catch sight of her in the mirror, a reminder of my grandmother, a complexion of sea blown cheeks and bright eyes, remember how she loved oranges and hated it if the weather held her captive.
And all I feel like doing is sitting by the window in a bright of reflected light, eating fruit segments, watching the blackbird clearing out old leaves and twigs that litter the white. Blue and great tits weave a choreography to the seed feeder. A robin sitting alone on a low branch, creates a beautiful thin song.
14 comments:
Your words weave a winter wonderland - we have no snow in Plymouth but there's plenty up the road on Dartmoor and wish I could see it! But it's not in walking distance unfortunately and I don't want to add to traffic chaos
Hi Rosie. Thank you. I think there's plenty on the Downs, too, which are within walking distance of here, The visibility was so bad earlier that I stuck to pavements rather than hills. O to be a bird flying above snow fields......Keep warm!
Bring on the vitamin C...juicy oranges and what a contrast to the white snow in the photo!Beautiful! Snow here happens maybe once a decade so its rain and more rain!
ah, another wonderful morning read with my coffee!! painting pictures with your words - so love how you lay them down xo
Your prose is as beautiful as your poetry.. I felt like I was walking with you through the white winter wonder land.
Hi Mary Ann. Thanks. Funny, isn't it, how your body tells you what it needs! The colour of the oranges really did blast out walking home - they were the brightest thing in sight.
Hi Jeane. Pleased they go down well with coffee!! Hope it makes for a good start to your day! Thanks so much. Ax
Hi Donna. Thanks for your kind words and for walking through a white world with me.
Hi Annie - the images, the oranges, the white - and the stories of how you felt are all fabulous. A huge contrast to us at the moment, but awe-inspiring nonetheless. Hope the white hangs around a bit, it seems a little bit magical.
Hi Fiona. Thanks. I'm pleased you enjoyed them. I know you're sweltering in the heat at the moment - be great to swap a few days!! A.S.Byatt was talking on the radio last night about her fascination with snow and ice and legends set in the far North. All very magical.
I love that image of the oranges as a buoy - that's just how I picture you - clinging to them, the only splash of colour as everything around you is drowned out. Snow is welcome occasionally for the shake-up it offers to our writing, but I'm quite relieved it's gone again now.
Hi Jem. Thanks. Yes, it did feel like I was clinging onto the last bit of colour before the white out! Makes for a magical feel while it's falling, but I'm relieved it's gone from here, right by the sea. But it's not far away - I hadn't realised it caused havoc on the hilly edges of town last night again.
Lol.... I can't help laughing as you catch a glimpse of your grandmother. I'm often quite shocked to see my mother looking back at me. Whenever there is a storm warning or the end of the world is nigh I experience the quiet panic in the super markets. You write so well!
Hi Robyn. Great to hear it made you laugh. It nearly made me fall over in shock!! You're right - everyone was stocking up for the end of the world. I hadn't realised until I had to queue behind them all just for that net of oranges. Thanks for your kind words, and for reading mine.
Great image of oranges against the snow. It looks cold, something I do and don't miss. I was in Jersey last year and suddenly realised how wonderful it was to have the face nipped by the cold. Now, I am watching the last of the oranges on the trees grow bitter and drop. It seems our fruit and your weather are echoes across the planet.
Hi MArtin. Thanks for dropping by. Pleased you liked the shot. I do love the cold weather. Not so keen on endless rain that seems to come with it most of the time this year. What a metaphor for life - the fruit unpicked from the trees.....
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