It was in late January 2012 that the weather turned cold and snowy. We were comfortable here in our house, and we had the supplies we needed. Our central heat was working well, and we also had enough firewood to burn in our wood stove. We didn't need to go outside except to walk the dog.
A friend of ours, who we had known for six or so years, was living in an old house in the village called Orbigny, about 10 miles south of where we live. She called us and told us her car wouldn't start, and that she desperately needed groceries. Her house was freezing cold. Could I come get her and drive her to the Super U store in Saint-Aignan? I said yes. The photos here show what the roads were like that day, and what the countryside looked like.
Above is a typical hamlet in the countryside between Orbigny and Saint-Aignan. The drive from our friend's place to the supermarket was also about 10 miles on icy roads.
The whole drive covered about 40 miles and it took more than two hours. I was pretty brave (or foolhardy?) back then. I don't know if I would quickly say yes to such a long drive in such bad weather today. But our friend was in dire straits. And there were photo opportunities to be had along the way. I also can't believe I was taking pictures from behind the steering wheel. I wasn't going fast and my nimble little Peugeot had good tires on it. There was no traffic, as you can see.
Magical photos. I wish it would snow in Paris this winter. Just a bit!
ReplyDeleteSnow is so beautiful in the countryside. I’m in Paris now and would rather not have snow, thank you.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
Oh, my goodness! Well, you did get great photos for use 10 years in the future :)
ReplyDeleteYour post has answered a question I have.......when was a photo that I recently posted taken? I didn't take it myself so had no clue but I'm sure it must have been January 2012 going by the amount of snowfall and that we still had the house in the village then.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, this amount of snow would have seemed unremarkable to those of us who live in places like Derbyshire where every winter we would have heavy snowfall several times often with snow up to our knees to shovel away before we could get the car out and get to work. We have had nothing like that for several years now.
Jean, doesn't the photo have information associated with it, including Date Taken, that you can see by clicking on it and selecting Properties from the dialog box that pops up?
DeleteJean, it wasn't the quantity of snow back in January 2010, but the low temperature. I was more worried about black ice than about snow drifts. A few days after I took these photos, we got more snow and even lower temperatures. When I lived in Illinois, 150 miles south of Chicago back in the 1970s, we regularly got heavy snow, up to three feet on the ground for weeks on end.
DeleteBy the way, the photo of the ruined château you posted the other day shows not the Château de Bouges, but the Château de Levroux.
Thanks Ken, I had to do a bit more delving to find the information as first attempts only told me what date the picture was accessed or modified but it was 12th February 2012.
DeleteAnd yes, you are right, the old château is at Levroux. On the day I took the picture there was a sign nearby pointing to Bouges le Château so we went there afterwards. I have a picture of it ready to post.
Speaking of snow (again) it's the icy roads that also worry me much more than the snow itself. We are having endless rain here in the UK at the moment, day after day of rain and grey skies, but it could be worse - it could be falling as snow!