I was up early again this morning so I could get over the A50 to Derby before the traffic and james begin. I defrosted the car, it was minus 7 when I got up but most of the day it's been -2 or -3 and after a while I seemed to get used to it even with a little bit of wind chill added to the mix. I started quite early at Derby bus station after I'd managed to fathom out how you get in ( and later out) of the awful car park next to the bus station. It was quite hectic during the rush hour, just flecks of snow then nearing the end it was slightly more noticeable. I got well over an hour so that's a job done for another year. I looked around the town and the precinct by the bus station trying to find a Costa or similar, nothing at all, what a bleak miserable place Derby is on a cold snowy morning. Of course compared to Doncaster it's magic. I took a punt on Doncaster, headed out of Derby via Satnav, found a Startreck cafe and got Mandy's texts and phoned her back by the pool in Sri Lanka. They are still the only two guests in the hotel but a family is due to arrive later in the week! Still no trouble getting a bed by the pool then. I on the other hand was making steady progress towards Doncaster, I was hoping that I'd eventually hit the real weather, the traffic reports were quite dire with Scotland, the North East and Rutland most badly affected, in fact Rutland had so much snow this morning nobody could find it. The A66 was shut, the M1 shut due to accidents and snow, Peterborough area was bad but no mention of Doncaster on the road reports. As I got on the M18 the snow really started to pile up, no road surface, just snow. It was all across the road just one lane left open other than the odd idiot speeding through the snow on the outside. I weaved through the hinterland past the railway works etc and eventually got to the roundabout by the old bus station, still standing forlorn like all the old part of town now derelict and falling apart, I understand there is a big shopping place by the new bus station, I expect thats what is piled on top, the worst new bus station outside of Slough. I parked up, £1.30 an hour, in Doncaster??!!! why? Anyway I was on a mission, the snow was now a blizzard, not easy getting shots in those conditions but the lady in Fred's bookiies came out and offered me a brew, very nice, there something good about Doncaster. It looked better in the snow, you couldn't see it. The First buses were still moving, hardly any Stagecoach or independents, that's only Thornes these days unless you know better. I know nothing i the immortal words of corporal Klinger, that will show your age if you know what I'm on about. I went back to the car which was close to the stops and got my £1 brolley I bought in the snow at Buxton filming lorries. It did help a bit, of course flakes on the lens, video and still and wetness, enemies of cameras and the shots. They were all stopping on the through road, the stops along the side street which comes out near the new bus station weren't being used, the road was deep in snow. Fair play to First for keeping it's services going, it don't arf use up your battery when shooting in sub zero conditions. Anyway here are a few shots, not a lot of orders tonight, I'll get them away in the morning, keeping my head down tomorrow, 40mph winds, blizzards etc, that's too much plus I have a concert at the RNCM tomorrow, I believe it was discussed on radio 3 last night, the Paris conservatoire is there, I think it's a joint concert between the two orchestras. The M62 back was snowy but not bad on the surface all three lanes open, very heavy almost white out on the M60 around Manchester at home hardly any snow but it's still coming down each time a cloud passes. It came out sunny in Doncaster, I had to move the care as I'd used up all three hours I'd paid for. Checking my course essay tomorrow, must put the bins out. Comments are closed.
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