Almost for my entire life I lived in a country where winter meant -20 degrees, at least 1 meter of snow and many months of being cold. Because at -20 degrees, even with the heating inside the house, it is cold. I remember how during my childhood I would spend the winter holidays with my grandma, and each evening would find us sitting next to the terracotta wooden burner in her room. Later, as I grew up, the wood got replaced with gas, but I still have fond memories of how I would keep my feet up on it, watching TV with my grandma and our cat, sipping from a mug of hot chocolate.
The winter when she died was the worst… I remember how it started to snow right after the funeral. Big, beautiful snowflakes were falling off what until then was a sunny blue sky, onto the graveyard. I returned to an empty house, all by myself. The next days were torture… the snow wouldn’t stop. I would wake up every morning at 5 am only to shovel the snow for two hours, to make a path through the yard to the front gate. And then another hour, trying to get the gate to open so I can go to work. It was so cold that inside the house, the heater was useless. I had to sleep with my winter jacket on, hat and gloves (as you can’t leave gas heaters on during the night).
Now don’t get me wrong, but back then we didn’t have modern heating solutions, and my grandma would have never afforded to install a central heating system for her entire house, with the 200 euros a month pension she would get from the government. Only the gas bill would be 150 each month, in winter! But my grandma was an amazing woman, with a huge heart. She would invite the postman or the meter readers inside for a cup of hot coffee in winter or a cold glass of water in summer, because she felt sorry for them walking all day in the cold or in the heat. So the gas lady would always put less kw on her bill in winter, and catch up in summer, when there was almost no usage.
When I moved the England, one of my reliefs was that in the South is almost never snows. I have been living here for five years and I have seen a few snowflakes once only. Even when I heard the news about the arriving of “the beast from the East”, I didn’t worry, because “it never snows in Poole”. So imagine my surprise when I woke up to a white scenery yesterday morning. I spent the entire day inside, with the heater turned on fully. As the day went by, more and more snow would set on the ground, to the point where the entire main road passing in front of my building got impossible to drive on. The buses got cancelled, there was almost no car on the road either. The brave drivers who dared to get out were having a hard time to keep their cars from skidding. I have seen so many cars going sideways just because their drivers were unable to control them. This part of the country doesn’t see snow, so no car has winter tires.
Towards the evening I decided to go out and face the storm and take some photos in the same time. I sealed my camera inside a zip-lock bag, with only the lens out, put my boots on and stepped out. The snow was a few fingers deep in my parking lot and there were no parked cars to be seen anymore. I guess everyone in the nearby office buildings saw this coming and went home before it was too late.
The town was pretty much ghosted. I’ve only met just a few other passers-by during my stroll through the snow, mostly dog owners walking their pets. It was cold, very cold. My fingers were frozen on the shutter and I wish I would have taken my gloves with me. But I still managed to take a few nice photos on my town. I hope you like them! 🙂
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Those are lovely photos! Where I live in Canada, we are sick of -20 (or -30 or more) and snow, and ready for spring!
I think Poole looks gorgeous with the snow. Looks like you got the same as PA over here in the US did just overnight last night. The east coast is dealing with a bad storm right now, but the wind is what really makes this one scary. Thank you for your beautiful photography.
Your town is absolutely gorgeous! I love how it looks all snowy. I can’t believe you got those pictures with placing your camera in a zip block bag. The quality is great. I will definitely be keeping that trick in mind!
In Spain lots of people still don’t have central heating. It can get rather cold in the winter. In the US where I’m from, everyone has it. I never really realized how much of a luxury it was until I moved here.
Beautiful and atmospheric pictures. You are a great writer as well, very gifted.
This post is absolutely beautiful from the way it was written to your beautiful photos. I’m envious of your lovely memories with your grandma. I never knew mine. She sounds like an amazing woman.
These pictures are stunning! We remember visiting London for Christmas hoping to see some snow but had to return disappointed though rain spoiled most of our trip. Watching snow flakes with a cup of hot chocolate sounds heavenly!
Just wow, Amazing photographs. Still stunned. Gorgeous. Great work
Poole looks so picturesque, especially so in the gorgeous snow. I hope you are enjoying it, I know you don’t get a lot of the white stuff in the UK!
It’s lovely to admire the snow knowing there’s a warm home to return to. Your grandmother sounds like a wonderful woman…I’m glad you embraced the snow with your camera!
Beingfrom Canada, I can totally relate to these snowy themes. I’m really love the last 2 pictures. You are a very tallened photographer.
I grew up in Newfoundland, Canada where winters can be very cold with heavy snowfall at times. Now that I live away from there I miss the beautiful winter scenery however I don’t miss the bitter cold mornings.
Snow looks so beautiful on pictures however I can’t say about daily life, it’s more of torture and inconvenience.
Poole is such awesome place to visit every weekend. and those are some great picturesque. Awesome!!! Glad that you shared this with us.
Snow really makes me comfortable but sad at the same time. Hearing your story about your Grandma reminds me of some melancholy feelings. I am still passionate enough to start planning a vacation there in Poole, it’s a fresh change from where I am that’s for sure!
Oh but your photos are to die for. This is the one time I wish it could snow here. The only problem is that I don’t think I would survive.
Love your photos. Like Poole, Austin does not get much snow, if any at all. In the month of December and January, we actually had snow similar to what you experienced. It was nice to witness, but such an inconvenience.
Seeing all these snow made me want to crawl under the sheets hahaha. I don’t think I could live on this place, but the place looks beautiful though.
I have enjoyed your post so much! Your story with your grandma brought me a lot of memories from my own grandparents. Your photos are awesome, I especially like the ones from the boats on the port.
I love the idea of a photo essay! This was a wonderful post with beautiful pictures! It kind of feels as though I am in Poole with you.
Looks like a great place to visit, so nice love the quaint town. I would love to vacation there one day even in the snow.
It looks soooo beautiful. It’s quite calm and quiet though. I probably would not step out as I am a big wuss when it comes to cold and snow. Haha
I love snow. I live in an area where we get a lot and it always makes everything look so magical – until you have to drive in it or you go outside and it’s -20 degrees (lol). You live in a beautiful area!
Even though it was unexpected snow, the town looks gorgeous. I’m sure it got back some fond memories.
You are an excellent writer!! Great photos! It looks super cold!! LOL
I can relate to your post so much – I grew up in WNY where we would regularly have -50F wind chills in winter and several feet of snow in a day. I haven’t seen much snow since moving to England, so was surprised by the “blizzard” last week and by how unprepared the country was.
Wow just wow all of your snowy photos are just stunning! Snow always looks so magical in photos don’t they.
snow, though inconvenient, does make everything look so magical. Really stunning photos x
Wow it looks absolutely stunning!! We were in Poole in the summer and its gorgeous then but so much prettier in the snow!
Wow, the snow is unbelievable but the photos turned out really well. Your grandmother was a lovely woman with a pure heart.
It must have been a shock seeing so much snow after such a long time without it! Although you must have been well and truly used to it x
What a beautiful winter wonderland. We only had 2 days of snow but it was heavy and the kids had to stay home from school. I adore these shots they really capture the beauty that snow brings. Now roll on my ski trip in 2 weeks and me rolling around it in again
Although I don’t enjoy the snow, I loved looking all all your images of Poole and your beautiful stories of your grandma, you have such wonderful memories of her.
I always wanted to visit Poole and to see the beautiful scenery. Your photos are stunning and I really love it. I hope I can visit that place this 2018.
Poole is such a beautiful part of the UK and I must admit it looks even prettier under some snow. Such a stunning photo essay.
I grew up in Canada and winter always meant snow and cold too. It’s been quite nice having this snow lately! I’ve been to Poole before too; I did a course at the RNLI college there. 🙂
These photos are GORGEOUS!! We were in Poole recently and loved it but my goodness doesn’t it look fab in snow?
I think if the UK ever got 1 metre of snow the entire country would crumble, with a little snow most services are interrupted. Loved this post
You have captured Poole so well, the photos really do the place justice and the snow makes it look so pretty x
I live in Poole and the last time we got this much snow was December 2010. I love that we got a couple of days to play in it
But it has to be said that everything does look prettier in the snow, these photograhs prove this fact.
So many gorgeous pictures! I didn’t see snow all year, so I am happy to see these photos!
Really lovely pics. We were snowed I for 4 days and I had mastitis so missed my chance for a wander to get any good snow photos