The Main Border in February

 

I just wanted to compare photos of how the main border looks now and how in was in the summer. At the moment there are some bulbs in leaf but not a lot else. Lots of bear soil, nothing like in June.

The lawn looked at it's best in the early summer, but today the moss is a bit of a disaster. Maybe all because last Spring the grass did not seem to need a power lawn rake. I'm waiting until the end of March to have a go.

Viburnum tinus

 

I published a post about this Viburnum on 10th March 2021 when I wrote about the "Viburnum Revived". This was after it was attacked by Viburnum beetle that in 2010 was rated the number one pest by the RHS. It was two years ago that I had asked our tree man to take it away. This was how it looked then.

Fortunately his advice about using pyrethrum did the trick and saved this lovely shrub. This year the Viburnum has flowered better than ever as the photo at the top and below shows. At this time of year it makes such a great picture.

 

Freya Ridings on the Graham Norton Show

 

This was the first time I had seen one of my favourite singer songwriters on UK tv. Freya Ridings performed Weekends from her upcoming second album Blood Orange. She was accompanied by an eight piece band which promises well for the new songs. She then talked to Graham Norton and the other guests. I had seen her on YouTube where she appeared at Glastonbury in 2019. I have to wait until May when the new album is released.

Tring Book Club - The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews

 

Full of 17th century atmosphere, the story had good pace and was always interesting. It alternates between 1643 and 1703 by which time Thomas Treadwater has nearly reached the ripe old age of eighty despite a nasty wound from the civil war and burns we hear about later in the book. There is a lot about witches early on. Thomas forms a relationship with Chrissa Moore, originally suspected as one.

Thomas has a sister called Esther and it is her background that forms a big part of a surreal story of shipwrecks and a monster. Strangely, the poet John Milton features heavily later on as the last fifty pages turn into a tense thriller. I preferred the earlier parts where the prose was much better.

Songs from Call The Midwife - Series 12

 

We are in 1968 for the twelfth series of  Call the Midwife, so the choice of music will be interesting. I almost forgot that I still list the songs and add some information. I am using both Tunefind and now Soundtracki for the first time.

Episode 1

Come on Now by The Kinks. This little know track is from The Kinks' second UK  album Kinda Kinks released in 1965, just after their tour of Asia. In the USA it appears on the album Kinks-Size.  Probably written by Ray Davies. 

Love Is All Around by The Troggs. Released as a single in October 1967, it reached No 4 in the UK charts. Written by lead singer Reg Presley, it became a big hit for Wet Wet Wet when their cover version was used in 1994 for the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. (See songfacts for more).

Episode 2

I'm a Believer by The Monkees. Written by Neil Diamond with Micky Dolenz as lead singer, it was released in November 1966 and was at the top of the UK charts for four weeks in January and February 1967.

All My Love by Cliff Richard (Solo Tu). A single released in November 1967, it was an English translation from the Italian hit by Federico Monti Arduini that was translated by Peter Callender. Cliff's version reached No 6 in the UK charts.

Episode 3

Just one song and that was Captain of Your Ship by Reparata and the Delrons. The US girls released this single in 1968 and it made No 13 in the UK charts, unlike in America where it sunk without trace. It was written by Kenny Young (famous for his big hit Under the Boardwalk by The Drifters and other artists) and Bob Yardley. It must be over fifty years since I heard this song and thought it was new to me until I heard it again.

Episode 4

Good Morning New Day by Spiral Staircase. But I didn't know this song. Just the one again (unlike those early series where I was searching for a good few every episode). Well, we know it was written by singer/lead guitarist Pat Upton but that's about it. It does not appear on their only album released in 1969 and nowhere is there  a mention of it being a single. But it does appear on More Today Than Yesterday: The Complete Columbia Recordings released in 2003 and on The Essential Spiral Staircase for mobile users. Spiral Staircase joined Columbia Records in 1968 and finished in 1969, so this must be when this track was recorded. It can be heard on YouTube.

Episode 5

Something's Coming Along by The Sceptres. We continue with the most obscure songs from the late 1960's. We know from the picture on YouTube that it was written by Keen, Carter, Duncan, McKenna and Shaw. It was released in January 1968 by the band who came from Montreal. No sign of a UK release. Everything about the group can be found at www.thesceptres.ca. 

Episode 6

All I See is You by Dusty Springfield. At last, a song I recognise. A single released in 1966 that reached No 9 in the UK charts that was written by Ben Weisman and Clive Westlake.

Come Into My Arms Again by Barbara Ruskin. Written by the singer, it was released in 1967. One of the very few British female singer/songwriters of the time. Although her own recordings were overlooked, other artists had more success with her music.

Episode 7

Bend Me, Shape Me by Amen Corner. Written by Scott English and Larry Weiss, it was originally recorded by The Outsiders on their album In in 1966. Amen Corner's cover version in 1968 altered some of the lyrics, and made it to No 3 in the UK singles chart.

A Thousand Ages from the Sun by Electric Banana from the album Electric Banana. This was the name of a band created by The Pretty Things to hide their identity. The album was released in 1967 but I have no idea who wrote the songs. At the time, The Pretty Things were led by Phil May and Dick Taylor, the only two who remained constant all through the decades. Dick Taylor was originally in a band called Little Boy Blue and The Blue Boys that included Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. All three joined Brian Jones and Ian Stewart when they formed The Rollin' Stones in 1962. Taylor left fives months later and set up a new band with Phil May called The Pretty Things. 

Episode 8

The Wreck of the Antoinette by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Released as a single in 1968, it reached No 14 in the UK. Written by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, it was never released in the USA. I had never heard of it but YouTube has a live version.

These days I am indebted to soundtracki.com who identify more songs than tunefind.com. I find it interesting to listen to some of the more unusual choices on Call the Midwife.

The Wedding Group, The Magician and The Gardener

 

A typically light domestic drama first published in 1968 but set unequivocally in the early sixties. (Later there is a cafe with a jukebox). A large extended family live in claustrophobic isolation in Quane, a place not far from London and surrounded by beech woods. Cressy (short for Cressida) is a naive nineteen year old who is looking to break away. Somehow she manages to get a job in an antiques shop run by the wonderful brother and sister Toby and Alexia. We do not hear enough about them. Both very good looking but happy in their own company.

On the scene is the more mature David, another local still living with his mother Midge, who turns out to be the best of all the characters in the book. Nell Stapleforth "had given up the idea of David as a husband, but liked her dog to get our into the country". It is the relationship between David and Cressy that turns out to be the main thrust of the story. Midge thinks Cressy "too simple, too lazy" and we could add a lot more derogatory comments, particularly about her lack of culinary skills.

David's elderly father hardly appears but his worry about money rings true: "You know what old people are like about touching capital". Elizabeth Taylor's vocabulary and phrasing is truly remarkable, often witty, always interesting. Her prose seems so modern for her time. Words I didn't know included "caryatid", "proselyte", "accidie", "inimical" and "etiolated". The Wedding Group of the title is actually a piece of Wedgwood.

I don't think I have ever read a book like this. Almost a biography, but written as a story. This is a work of enormous dedication and intelligence, or as one critic says "an enormously ambitious book one in which the intimate and momentous are exquisitely balanced" or " a biography in everything but classification and reliability". I knew the name of Thomas Mann, the Nobel Prize winning German writer, but that was all. So this was very much new to me. The book lets us into his life in a way that a biography cannot do.

It starts in his teenage years in a prosperous family in Northern Germany ten years before the beginning of the twentieth century. When his father dies, his will proves what a horrible person he had been. The overwhelming legal rights of a husband and how he must have hated his family. In his late teenage years, Thomas is reading and writing poetry and starting to write stories. He puts his family into a novel; "Buddenbrooks" is published when he is 23.

Huge portions of this long book is made up of family life that involves his brother and sister and then when Thomas marries Katia and three children soon arrive. Even Katia's grandmother overcomes her objections to Thomas and that "he represented the new Germany, the one she had been hoping for all her life".

There is one part in this early part of the book that rang a bell. Thomas meets Gustav Mahler and after he dies thinks about him when visiting Venice. I had seen the film "Death in Venice" but never read the book. There is little about how the family managed during the first world war, only that the children are growing disruptive and call their father "The Magician". Erica and Klaus are terribly spoilt and the most awful children you can imagine. The award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929 follows a series of successful books, but at the same time this co-incides with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party.

From exile in Switzerland (the family have Jewish roots even if they do not practice their religion) then on to the South of France. A doctorate from Harvard sees Thomas and Katia cross the Atlantic. From the safety of America, he condemns Nazi Germany. There is one superb passage when Thomas meets immigration officials. From the California, the second world war passes them by. Lecture tours are very successful. But relations with their six children are not. His brother is just as bad. They are spiteful in every way, their language derogatory and critical. For me, this is what I will always remember from the book.

I thought the latest book from Salley Vickers was the least successful of all the other five I have read. I came across the author when book club chose "The Cleaner of Chartres". I don't think I was the only one who was disappointed. Two argumentative sisters take on an old mansion in a small village. Like the sisters, the locals are all pretty boring people. Nothing much happens. A nice enough story, undemanding after Colm Toibin's "The Magician". A mention of Rosemary Sutcliffe's "Eagle of the Ninth", the only prize I ever won at school. Elderly Phyllis explains " love is a flexible matter at best". But I did find that my asters are called Michaelmas Daisies.

David Thomson and Locke

 

There are a couple of pages in David Thomson's How to Watch a Movie that discussed one of my all time favourite films: Locke. The fact that he devotes so much space to such a small film is unprecedented. In the chapter "Alone Together" he says " How can there be a movie with only a single character on screen who never gets out of his car". He goes on to describe the film and, about Ivan Locke played  by Tom Hardy he says "He is inventive, brilliant, sympathetic without being ingratiating". He goes on "Locke is written and directed by Steven Knight, and I give him great credit" and finally "No film I've seen in recent years is more eloquent on where we are now, and on how alone we feel". 

I found it hard to imagine that such a respected film critic and historian would have the same feelings about this film as I do. So I have to say this has been quite emotional. This is what I said back in 2014.

I always post my film reviews in threes. So it takes something special to deserve it's own listing. And Locke was indeed very special. Not only is it an excellent movie in it's own right, but I cannot remember a film that portrays so well it's theme of construction. And I cannot recall a movie that has the industry that was my career as a dominant part of the story.

We only see one actor on screen, and it reminded me of Ryan Reynolds in Buried. But this time the lead is in the confines of a car instead of a coffin underground. Tom Hardy as Ivan (the Slavic equivalent of John will mean something to a few people) Locke is absolutely brilliant. On his journey south, he communicates by phone to a number of characters. But it is his conversations with Donal, his assistant very well played by Andrew Scott, that had me enthralled. Locke is the Construction Director on a huge 55 story building where the next day there is the biggest concrete pour in Europe (apart from nuclear or military projects) involving 218 truckloads of concrete from a number of plants.

So what is he doing driving away? Donal is in a panic, Locke's boss is apoplectic and his family cannot understand why he is missing a big football game on TV. The development of the story makes for an intriguing drama. All the other actors are superb even though we only hear their voices. I'm sure Ruth Wilson was doing an impression of Olivia Coleman and vice versa.

The critics cannot make up their mind what is Locke's job. Site Manager, Site Foreman, Construction Foreman, Construction Manager, Construction Engineer the list goes on. If they had listened, he is the Construction Director which would be quite normal running a project of this size. Locke is the Construction Director from heaven. Softly spoken and calm but highly authoritative and knowledgeable, he would be a dream to work for. This is the good modern face of construction and what credit he does the industry. Every budding foreman, engineer or manager should watch, learn and copy.

SPOILER ALERT. Locke tells Donal (and his boss) he can manage everything by phone. Poor Donal has to cope with checking concrete mixes at the plants, confirming road closures and checking rebar and shuttering. All have their complications (no different to most jobs). The boss has to cope with head office in Chicago and his family have to cope with his not coming home.

There are a couple of things I missed from this review. One was that the cast, as well as Andrew Scott, included Ruth Wilson and Olivia Colman. Amazing being in the same film. This is my fourth book by David Thomson and it wont be my last.

Knock at the Cabin, Plane and M3gan

 

A typically thought provoking screenplay from M. Night Shyamalan. Are we meant to question everything we are being told by these intruders? Are they mad or is there some truth behind their "end of the world" prophesy. Of the two gay men in the cabin, I found myself sympathising with Eric who didn't believe a word. But the director keeps us guessing all the way. I'm not sure if we ever get an answer to the big question: "why here"? So there are some holes in the plot, but these did not detract from a well written, acted and directed film set almost entirely within the confines of the cabin. Almost theatrical in it's presentation.

Yes, here is Gerard Butler once again playing the hero. Not saving the President this time, just a plane load of passengers. So much was predictable but this is an enjoyable ride (maybe for a theme park later?), a well made big budget thriller and a great location. Butler is aided and abetted by another tough guy this time Mike Colter in handcuffs. Those who are familiar with the controls of a passenger jet will relish some of the technical details. I liked how the crash in the first part of the film is never rushed and is therefore highly dramatic. The downside is that the baddies are all totally pathetic. Where did they get them from? It did look good on the big screen although The Independent said "it needed to be more stupid". But it was stupid enough for me.

Normally I would avoid a film about a killer robot, but this had some strangely excellent reviews. Wendy Ide in The Guardian gave it four stars. I think it was created to be silly, dramatic and stupidly funny at the same time and mostly that worked. You have to leave your brain outside (the advanced technical workings of M3gan are literally unbelievable) but the script is actually passable. There were only a couple of jump scares, thank goodness, so not really a horror movie given it's 15 certificate. The limited violence is not gratuitous and more staged and creative. Yes, we have seen the ending many times before but how else could it be.

Garden in February

 

The first couple of days in February and things in the garden were beginning to happen. The large snowdrop plant has now been joined by more smaller ones. 

Below, the first crocus is in flower.

The start of the last week in February and the crocuses are at their best.

The first daffodils were coming into bud at the beginning of the month.

By the end of the month many are now open.

The clematis had started to sprout it's leaves at the beginning of the month.

Into the middle of February and more snowdrops have arrived.

The Photinia Red Robbin is flowering early this year.

The Honeysuckle is coming into leaf.

And there are the first flowers on the Forsythia.

These are the last flowers on the Viburnum bodnantense that flowers from late autumn.

It was time to turn over a whole years compost heap, following instructions for the first time adding Garotta and water to every layer. That's the pile in the middle. At the far end  of the photo below is the stuff from last years cuttings and mowings and on the left a brand new heap for this year.

Then I turned the pile at the far end and added the Garrota and water. So I can now leave it all until this time next year.

This was how that heap looked in the summer.

Below are the remains of the compost from two years ago now ready for spreading on the borders. Not sure how long I can keep this up.

Have You Seen ....... by David Thomson Part 3 - Singing in the Rain, M and To Live and Die in LA

 

Having watched a number of times that iconic scene when Gene Kelly brilliantly dances through deep puddles in the pouring rain, I was so disappointed with the opening sequence featuring the three stars exactly like the poster above. Not saving it for the big number. But, yes, it is the big number and just flog it. A great movie if you like this kind of thing, but not for me. David Thomson says it was "the greatest of the MGM musicals" so I wont watch any others.

Released in 1931, M  was Fritz Lang's first film with sound. But is the lighting that makes this such an iconic movie. Ground breaking techniques seem to highlight the blacks and whites at expense of the greys. It often takes on a 3D like quality. There are shots from on high that still feel the same  claustrophobia that permeates the story. It's as if there is no daylight in the daytime. Although he is hardly seen, the film belongs to the youngish stage actor Peter Lorre in his first movie. I say young as I only remember him from much later movies. As the serial killer Hans Beckert David Thomson describes him as "a man terrified of himself". But it is the panic, the paranoia and the chase that I will remember. "M is a masterpiece of prison's mood in everyday life".

This is not one of David Thomson's one thousand films to see, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps because he includes director William Friedkin's The French Connection. I wish I had seen this in the cinema, it would have looked marvellous on the biggest screen. The visuals and locations are wonderful. Contrasting with that intimate long counterfeiting  sequence. Lots of car chases including that part through the dry river bed of the LA river. There is some good eighties music of the period. There is a superb review by Cindy Davis at pajiba.com - "20 Facts about To Live and Die in LA". 

The Moon's a Balloon

 In every way as good as all the reviews. There are so many amazing anecdotes from this fascinating man. I thought he almost apologises for the number of famous people he meets along the way, it never feels as if he is bragging. His boyhood and teens are punctuated by pranks that get him into a lot of trouble. He is expelled from Heatherdown private school and was therefore refused by every other public school as a result. That is until the brand new school at Stowe where he just about survives.

On to Sandhurst, never entirely ridding himself of those pranks that were his earlier undoing, and joining the Highland Light Infantry. He is invited to America where his English accent made him. (I remember going to the cinema in the depths of Clearwater, miles away from the tourist spots, where the girls on reception insisted I talk about anything just to hear my voice). In America he lands on his feet, living like a prince with no money.

He becomes friends with Ann Todd whose acting career was booming. (In the fifties she lived in a big house in Holland Park and, having met my father in his shop on Kensington High Street, my brother and I were taken to visit her). Ann introduces Niven to Laurence Olivier who became a lifelong friend. A story about HMS Bounty is hilarious, but is important in that he arrives at the studios and meets the screenwriter and director Edmund Goulding. "I owe more to him than anyone else in the business". (He gave Niven his first screen test and directed him in 1938's "Dawn Patrol".

He turns down the role of Edgar in "Wuthering Heights" but is persuaded to change his mind and on the first day meets the star. Laurence Olivier is accompanied by Vivienne Leigh who is just there for a holiday. But she is seized upon by Hollywood mogul David Selznick to play Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" in front of many leading actresses hoping for the part. In Chapter Eleven, halfway through, Hollywood is going through a "British period" and Niven's Hollywood career takes off. he is meeting everyone famous in the next breathless pages. Sharing a house with Errol Flynn no less, the parties and the parties.

When war breaks out, Niven returns to England. His wartime exploits sees him rise trough the ranks. He marries Primmie and they have two children. I wish I had finished there. Back in America he finds it hard to resurrect his career but eventually succeeds, so much so he is awarded the Oscar for Best Actor in "Separate Tables". And then "The Guns of Navarone", a fitting conclusion for an amazing memoir.

Songs from the Movies

This was first posted on the 31st January 2018. There are a couple of additions to bring it up to date.

When I compiled my list of 131 Songs, I missed this one in the section on "Songs from the Movies". There are those rare occasions when a track fits perfectly with a particular scene. In the film "About Time",  Tim (played by Domhnall Gleeson) sits on a bench in the Kate Moss exhibition, hoping to catch a glance of Mary (Rachel McAdams). The sharp editing is accompanied by the song Friday I'm in Love by the Cure. Not my favourite band, but the whole thing is just brilliant. It still gives me Goosebumps.

Here is my definitive list of similar movie moments:

The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel from "The Graduate". I love the scene at LAX and believe the reuse of the song at the end does it no favours.

Come Up and See Me by Cockney Rebel from "The Full Monty". The lads in training up on the moor always makes me smile!

Earth Angel by Marvin Berry from "Back to the Future". The edit after they ask Marty if he knows anyone who can play a guitar is the sharpest in movie history.

Time after Time by Cyndie Lauper from "Strictly Ballroom". When Scott and Fran dance on the roof to this song, it gets me every time.

Cat People by David Bowie from "Inglourious Basterds". This is what I posted at the time:

The beginning of Chapter Five "Revenge of the Giant Face"  subtitled  "Night of NATION'S PRIDE Premier" from Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" is definitely my favourite five minutes on film. The first chords of David Bowie's "Cat People" over the captions is only the start. As his vocal comes in, the beautiful Melanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus leans seductively by the  fabulous huge circular window of her cinema, contemplating the terrible revenge she has organised for that night. It is only on repeat viewings that I now see the startling editing which comes next. Four times we gradually get closer to Shosanna, as each shot melts into the other. This is film making at it's peak. I mentioned on a previous posting (11th August 2010) about how Shosanna initially applies rouge as warpaint during the ultra close up as she applies her make up. The song ends as she dons hat and veil and makes her way to the balcony where she watches all her victims gather. (Melanie Laurent was absolutely brilliant in this film, warranting awards and nominations for best actress from a number of film societies.) I cannot think of a more dramatic sequence from any movie. 

Hold Tight by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich from "Death Proof". While we are on the subject of Tarantino.

You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry from "Pulp Fiction". And another from the same director. The sequence at Jack Rabbit Slims when John Travolta and Uma Thurman dance the twist.

Love on the Rocks by Neil Diamond from "The Jazz Singer". I can't hear the song without thinking of the sequence in the recording studio.

Let it Snow by Dean Martin from "Die Hard". It was so funny to put this song over the final few seconds and then the titles.

Don't Worry Baby by the Beach Boys from "Deja Vu". I have no idea why they chose this song for the scene on the ferry, but it adds to the drama somehow. Brian Wilson just took Be My Baby by the Ronettes and made it better. For me, the verse is one of the best in the whole of popular music.

Hotel California by The Gypsy Kings from "The Big Lebowski". The scene that introduces us to Jesus Quintana at the bowling alley is quite something.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan by Marianne Faithful from "Thelma and Louise". If ever a track said it all about the main characters.

Then recently 99 Luftballons by Nena from "Atomic Blonde".

 All the songs from  "Baby Driver" but I was most moved by Unsquare Dance by The Dave Brubeck Quartet as it took me back to the days when I mostly listened to jazz.

The next song doesn't really fit the in the same category as those above, El Matador by Los Fabulos Cadillacs from "Grosse Pointe Blank" plays over the end credits and had me glued to my seat.

Then two songs sung by the actual artists. Anything from "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles (I Should Have Known Better if I had to choose) and I've Waited So Long" by Antony Newley from "Idol on Parade". The 1959 film shows my age.

And finally, three songs from TV shows. One Of These Mornings by Moby from "Torchwood" Series 2 Episode 3, Shelter from the Storm by Bob Dylan from "Flash Forward" and last but by no means least, my favourite five minutes of TV: Take the Long way Home by Supertramp from the end of the final episode of "Ashes to Ashes".

Then there are the songs from Call The Midwife. That is why I post the list of songs from that show.

8th February 2018: I can now add another song having just seen the Nick Park movie "Early Man". This is Mud's Tiger Feet now performed by New Hope Club. It might be a homage to the movie "The Full Monty" (see above), but this time the stone age men do a hilarious football training routine. Brilliant. It makes me want to see the film again just for this.

9th February 2018: I was reminded, hearing it this morning, of I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers. It is worth watching the whole of the (quite hammy) movie Sunshine on Leith for this final big outdoor number. There are bits in there that still bring a lump to my throat today. Eat your heart out Danny Boyle.

7th August 2020   From the last scene and final credits of the Pedro Almodovar film Gloria comes the title song performed by the original artist Umberto Tozzi.

And remembering all the great songs from both Mama Mia movies; from which I have chosen One Of Us from the sequel.

From the movie Last Night in Soho comes a brilliant song Don't Throw Your Love Away by The Searchers. It fitted the film so well.

Then from Don't Worry Darling, we have a terrific soundtrack. Here is the fairly obscure but excellent Sh-Boom by The Chords.

Chequers Walk

 

A favourite circular walk (never before posted with photos on this blog) on Friday started at the car park at the top of Coombe Hill. Through the woods the bracken (above photo), which is head height in summer, is now just a carpet. Arriving at Dunsmore, I love this view down to the stables at the bottom of the hill. And Cobnut Farm next door. There is a path through the trees at the top right of the picture which is where I headed next.

 Just up from the stables, I watched this wall of flint stones being built at Ashmore many years ago before I took up running.

The path through the beech woods is one of my favourite places in all the Chilterns. It is long and usually deserted.

It arrives at the top of a hill with Chequers in the distance.

The mud on the path through the Chequers estate had tried but was very clingy. In the distance is the monument at the top of Coombe Hill.

The path then reaches more woods and a tricky descent, now with steps and handrails.

Which brings you out to Beacon Hill and views towards Aylesbury.

At the bottom of the hill is Ellesborough  and the Church of St Peter and St Paul.

Then across a field of drying mud with closer views of Coombe Hill and my destination.

This may well be the last time I try the ascent of Coombe Hill from the golf course below. It is steep and long, not helped by some slippery places. But there is a nice view back to that field above and Beacon Hill top left.

It was a beautiful sunny day when I started off, clouding over later. Chilly to begin with but I was warm by the end. Photos again from my phone so not the best. Will take my camera next time.