Snow and Squirrels

London – December 2010

The weather in the UK is always a talking point – us Brits never seem to tire of the topic, especially when it causes havoc and brings the country to a standstill.  Yes, a few inches of snow really does bring the entire UK to a stop.

On the plus side, it makes my part of South London the prettiest it will ever look. This is my journey to the train station in an attempt to get to work.

Nikon F3 – Kodak 400 – 50mm f1.8

There’s always random rubbish dumped at the end of this road.  The usual includes old TVs, bathtubs, sofas, and the most recent – beds and matresses:

As per usual, the main issue when it snows here is the lack of grit that is supplied, which results in roads that become literally like ice rinks.  This time, grit was dumped on the high street in piles:

I guess the council decided that distributing it was too much trouble.  I really do wonder how other countries manage to function when it snows.

Of course, again, as per usual public transport was inevitably and completely screwed up.

This train was the only one that arrived for about an hour, and it was too packed to get on (similar to the Northern Line on a normal day).

In total, my journey into work that day took over 2 hours.  I was so cold by this point I only just managed to click the above.

Some digital images I took over the next couple of days:

I do love the snow – I just wish getting around wasn’t such a hassle because of it.

A few months ago, walking through St James’ Park in central London, I became obsessed with the idea of getting a good shot of a squirrel.  It was the last warm-ish day of the year.

These creatures are seriously fast little things.  These were about the only decent snaps I got over the course of around an hour and a hundred pics later.

I took these with an 18-55mm, so you can imagine just how close I was for this:

Shooting animals is a completely different type of photography to street – it reqiures a LOT of patience and perseverance.  It’s definitely not something I’d be able to do on a regular basis, but it was worth it for this.