… now we’re so low on heating oil, firewood, coal and food that the sense of humour reserves are looking a bit depleted! School’s off the menu and the kids refuse to play in the snow anymore as they’re bored of it now. They go mental after being cooped up inside for this long, so my wife has inflated the boxing bag that they were given for Christmas in the optimistic hope that they might stop hitting each other and us.

Drastic evasive action needed and so I went on a crazy solo excursion (after spending an hour digging the car out of the snow and defrosting it). I returned with coal, a little wood and food. The car got me there and nearly all the way back, but I needed a spade and lots of gravel to make it back up our road. I staggered back in the door, coal bag slung over one shoulder and covered in rapidly freezing sweat. Nice.

Things are a bit warmer now, but feeling like a change of scenery and unable to edit the white from the view outside, I decided to go through some photos of my trip to Libya in March. There were so many unusual sights that I didn’t have time to look into after returning. This is a photo of what I presume to be a large fossil in the desert rock? It was about 3-4 feet across. Answers, as usual, on a postcard or, failing that, an email please.

The original plan had been to drive up to a semi-secret location in the South Downs and take a picture of the sun rising in what were originally forecast to be clear cold skies.

Yesterday morning I was driving the four miles from home to the gym but all four wheels of the Land Rover Defender lost traction on black ice and I slid headfirst into a substantial tree at about 25 miles-per-hour. I walked away from the car-and-tree amalgamation and felt very lucky to be in much better shape than either. My next thought was that my wife and kids were due to set out on the same road an hour after I had. My mobile phone was on charge at home. I ended up having to run home, cross-country in snow and as fast as I could, in order to get to them before they set off in a car that would have found the conditions even more lethal. I know the local country quite well, but had to take the most direct route home, something that I had not had to do from that area before. The sun was up and I made my way through woods and fields and over fences in a straight line home, obviously no map, compass or GPS involved. I got back just in time. The car was picked up later by a recovery garage, I have yet to hear whether it will drive again.

I was still keen to get a shot of the winter solstice sunrise, but without a car made a plan and laid out my clothes and boots last night. When I got up at 6am, the weather had deteriorated and cloud dominated. Still, it’s good to be alive at this moment that has been celebrated since prehistoric times!

The rewards were moody fluctuating skies, an angry wind and great views.