Well, that’s it. We’ve hit the shortest day of the year – the winter solstice – although with the latest storm (Pia) having hit I can’t imagine many faux Druids were standing around Stonehenge this morning to greet the dawn! Storm Pia arrived here in the Pennines yesterday evening and never went away. I’m sitting in my office scribbling this whilst listening to the wind rattling the bins and anything else that’s not nailed down outside. The gusts kept waking the pair of us up during the night and when we opened the curtains this morning I half expected to see a scene of carnage outside as we have a copse of trees opposite the cottage. As it was, the local woodland ha proved remarkably resilient. Mind, you, that may be because the most vulnerable trees have already been taken out over the past couple of years as it certainly feels like storms are more frequent. Add gales to sodden ground and it doesn’t take much to bring down trees.

Thankfully, none affected us which was just as well as this afternoon was spent supermarket shopping in Huddersfield and Halifax in order to pick up the goodies needed for our ‘plan B’ Xmas dinner – as well as get shopping for John and Norah who’re confined to barracks right now. To be fair, the supermarkets weren’t as awful as we both suspected they’d be. The carnage was in the carparks, which were chokka and the haunt of people with vehicles that are far too big that they don’t know how to drive, after all, this is the era of the ‘WankPanzer’.

Having survived the road trip to the Colne valley and dropped off Dee’s folks shopping we made our way home to buy our own amidst another rain-storm. Now, with our bank accounts a lot lighter but with shopping bags bulging we’re having a quiet evening at home in the warm and dry. Tomorrow’s another day…

I didn’t even bother taking the camera with me today as the weather was so appalling so today’s picture is from the archives. I mentioned Stonehenge earlier. I used to know it well as I for many years I attended the Stonehenge free festival back in the 1980s-90s when we’d be allowed into (and onto) the stones. Those days are long gone, but here’s how the mighty sarsen stones looked on a visit in the summer of 1999. But not a Druid or hippy in sight…

Talking of Stonehenge, this open letter from archeologists which was published today regarding the campaign to stop a road tunnel being built near the site is well worth a read as it adds valuable context.

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