Saturday 31 January 2009

Good Cheer in Dark Days

These are dark days - see Thought Experiments passim - so let us seek some good cheer.
Here are three wonders.
First, a glorious view across Venice to the snowy Dolomites (I'm glad Venice Daily Photo has stirred into life again, having given the impression that the old place had finally sunk beneath the lagoon).
Second, the breathtaking aerial spectacle of these starlings.
Third, simply because it's beautiful and the sounds they make together seem impossible - this...
Feeling better?

11 comments:

  1. Those are great. The evergreen John Naughton came up with a good one on his blog this morning, from You Tube here. A matter of taste, of course. Sorry about the gloom and doom. Oddly it's been a rather good couple of weeks here. They just turn up; you never know when.

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  2. Yes, it's all very well, Nige, but a few crumby mountains, a bunch of birds and a pair of warbling Yanks WON'T BRING BEADERS BACK!

    Traumatic supermarket visit this morning too, but a well-timed bacon sarnie has suddenly returned me to a level of tolerable equanimity. (Such are the advantages of being male.)

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  3. Thanks for the photie / birdie / melody Nige, the latter had the neck hair standing, wonderfull. Cheered me up and then suddenly the sun's decided to appear, off to the hills methinks.

    Heaven on earth for rock climbers the Dollies, the Lavaredo, in good weather the scene of many an epic struggle.

    Wot did you say Brit, crumbly old mountains?, mostly very sound rock, actually.

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  4. You're right Brit - tho if we weren't male we wouldn't be mourning Bearders...

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  5. And thanks for that link Mark - he's goooood!

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  6. And the sun's out here too - over to you, Cicely...

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  7. Right then, back from the hill and raring to take the cudgel to Brits bonce. A few crumbly mountains indeed !
    The dolomites, mostly limestone, hardness factor between Mohs 3.5 and 4, hard enough to wear your kit out at a reasonable rate, not really friable but prone to water erosion. The dogs goolies would be the Tri Cime di Lavaredo, exposure to knock your socks off, don't see any of the indoor climbing wall tribe very often on these climbs, paradise, truly life enhancing, I know you cricketing types think it's better than sex, well try the Lavaredo.
    So there.

    Cilely would put you off, or at least the accent would.

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  8. I said crumby, Malty. As in rubbish. Not crumbly as in apple crumble.

    And I was only being crabbly - I mean crabby.

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  9. You may have an awfull lot of competition in the coming months Brit from redundant blokes in the Bristol area, they all tend to try cabby driving when first out of work.

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  10. Hi Nige! Thank you for the comment of my pic with the Dolomites on VeniceDP. Much appreciated!

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  11. Keep it up Pierre - I love that blog!

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