It snowed today and the world turned monochrome. The grey snow-clouds were darker than the bright foreground snow. Distance was softened and obliterated. The world came suddenly closer. Fence-posts and tree-trunks were stippled. Rails and branches were coated. Grass bleached and disappeared. I tried to catch the gradations of light and dark where a plantation fence was broken near Castle Lock. Coming home gingerly on my bike through the crumping snow, I noticed a sudden flash of green. The only colour in the landscape lay like a surreal shadow in the shelter of a fallen tree. |