Colder and colder

The weather has given us an astonishing beginning to Advent this year. We've not had the heavy snowfalls which have affected much of the rest of the country, but only severe and penetrating frosts, making even the shortest journeys, on foot or by car, rather hazardous due to the state of the roads and pavements. Even the warmest of my churches felt like a refrigerator yesterday and, as for the others, .......I'm still thawing out.
Today has been a day of freezing fog, but before it rolled in from the Bristol Channel mid-morning, the countryside was transformed in the brilliant winter sunshine.

Below is a photo of a rime-covered birch tree in the Vicarage garden, seen against the blue of the sky and above the fronds of a distinctly unseasonal palm tree.