Comments on: Questions Answered

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:38:32 +0000

OK, I’ve got a question for you. What do you dream about? Daydreams, night dreams, anxiety dreams, whatever. Do you ever end up dreaming about work?

The whole birds in the snow thing I know from Bird-Farm observation, — but the answer is pretty basic really. They find shelter if they can, and if they can’t, they put up with it and trust to the waterproofing and insulation of their feathers. And sometimes it doesn’t, and they die.

– people interested in more detail may read on, others can skip it –

Smaller birds have sheltered roosts — cracks under roofs or in trees or whatever. And they pack themselves in — nestboxes are often used for this and in winter they can end up packed in, 10 or 20 birds crammed in for warmth.

But birds which can’t do this (like geese on eastuary flats, for example) periodically shrug their wings to get the snow off. Feathers are exceptionally good insulation and the snow shouldn’t melt.

By: beez

beez — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:44:03 +0000

I’ve got a question about snow. What do birds that perch on trees at night do when it snows?
I don’t really know what they do when it rains, but surely they can’t sit around collecting snow on thier backs all night.
it was snowing really nicely in london but in the last couple of minutes it looks to be slowing down so probably no great coering in the morning. bummer.

By: mooncat

mooncat — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 04:01:14 +0000

snow is the prettiest of weather (aside from clear sunshine low in the sky).
i could just sit with the kids & watch it fall.
i like building snowmen (or more elaborate ‘sculptures – it’s a great material when it’s ‘just right’) as well.

gawd – so british – speaking about ‘the weather’ – sheesh

matthew – who gives a shit about growing up or being adult?
really – there’s no point in being a respectable adult.
I stopped wanting to be older when I was very young, but these years keep sneaking past me without me realising.
bah

pete – how about highlighting some times when you just enjoy being ‘bad’ – the glee of irresponsibility.

By: Jez

Jez — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 23:34:36 +0000

Yep, it has. I was in the park, and just before it started that light took on a fantastic quality the heighted the contrast of the all the leaves against the ground. It came down with tiny nuggety flakes, before quickly developing into a something approaching a full-blown blizzard. Not ten minutes after that, it stopped in a moment.

By: Pete Ashton

Pete Ashton — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 23:10:51 +0000

Snow has just kicked in big time in Birmingham. There’s a massive black cloud to the North and clear blue skies to the south meaning the setting sun is shining right into the snowstorm. Impossible to capture with a camera unfortunately. it’s settling too, and it’s still bleeding cold so we might well have a blanket by the morn.

Snow kicks ass in every conceivable way. Not only is it lovely, creating a new landscape out of the familiar but it changes the dynamics of society in subtle and drastic ways. People who moan about snow need to just slow down and appreciate it. (Unless they’re stuck in it and freezing cold of course…)

By: Lawrenson, M

Lawrenson, M — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:57:35 +0000

Being grown up is constantly surprising, even though I’m 29 with a steady job and a mortgage. Still, it’s been hard work getting this far and one of the quickest ways to annoy me is by being patronising or “infantilising” me. Trouble is, I don’t think I’ll feel grown up myself until my love life starts existing.

Snow still to reach Newcastle Under Lyme at 5pm…

By: Jez

Jez — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:14:09 +0000

It’s fleeting. It’s bleeding cold out, but most of the day has been bright and sunny. We’ve had three brief falls of tiny hailstones and a couple of titchy snow flurries, which melt as soon as the sun comes back out, but that’s it.

So it’s neither.

By: brendadada

brendadada — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 21:43:29 +0000

SNOW
It came to my village on Saturday night, and I hear on the good old interweb that it has reached both Birmingham and Glasgow today within the same hour. My question is simple: nice or nasty?

By: brendadada

brendadada — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 21:40:11 +0000

I like your post about sameyness, and completely agree about shopping centres and Waterstones. Homogenisation of our towns might make us feel more comfortable about inhabiting urban space, but even in large towns, we live in or create “villages” like Moseley, Harborne, Selly Oak etc and it seems the more pleasant and successful of these avoid sameyness.

The ability to distinguish between particular characteristics of things like comics, or potatoes, is what creates enthusiasts. Those people with a glint in their eye who can explain minute differences between railway carriages, people who can tell a brown moth from a brown butterfly. Most people are an enthusiast of something, even if its only that they can recite whole Emmerdale scripts or bus routes. You are a comic enthusiast. I have tried to like ‘em, and it’s clear that they are not by any means samey, but I just leave them in untouched piles when I come across them in car boot sales. Samey they are not. A category of thing that doesn’t create a glint in my eye, that’s all.

I like today’s post not just because I’m in it, and I’m glad you’re coming back to the grown up – uncle things :)
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