[blogfocus monday] snow

Snow begins this first Focus ever on a Monday and ends it too:

1. Richard Havers' new header [above] is fabulous and here are his thoughts on jazz too:

I’ve been a jazz fan for just about as long as I’ve been a music fan. Amongst the many 78s my Dad and I bought at jumble sales were big band jazz, as well as trad jazz records. I’ve also loved the sound of great piano playing. Both my maternal grandparents played piano, my grandad was a piano tuner - it’s the one instrument that I’ve always wanted to play.

2. Mopsa has an unusual approach to fashion:

The bags we are told women are buying in their zillions, cost more than feeding a baby for a year. Or a complete household depending on your lack of taste. Now, I have been known to stroke a Mulberry bag longingly. I am not completely immune to loveliness and I admire craftsmanship.

And I like their messenger bags (intended for men) precisely because they are made fit for purpose, are low key and avoid being swaddled in painful buckles or slathered in eye watering pink patent leather. The cost, although BIG treat time, could not feed the five thousand.

3. The Monkey with a Blue Rosette has a spot of bother:

Last weekend, in Barmpotsby, Yorkshire, one of my campaign team, Johan, made a comment about the case of the teacher Gillian Gibbons, who was jailed in Sudan for calling a teddy bear Mohammed.

Whilst helping me canvassing, he spoke about the case and said to a voter on the doorstep: "It's the first time that anyone's ever called for the early release of a Scouser from prison."

4. Finally, the Fake Consultant discusses an issue close to my heart:

My current snow shovel is my favorite ever: about a foot wide (30cm), thick, plastic (aluminum shovels always seem to bend at the corners or the rivets fail-I hate that), and able to easily slide, even full of the heaviest snow.

The less you lift the better in this job, so sliding the full shovel as much as possible is a good thing. Of course, at some point you still have to lift the snow to remove it, but as of now that’s not a big problem.

After half an hour or so a good third of the work is done; and it’s time for a break. The snow is still powdery, and it’s changing from big, fluffy flakes to an icier, more granular flake. Not an ice pellet...but instead more like the difference between sorbet and granite. Still 26-28 degreesF.