Tag Archives: Christmas

Happy Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2019 by BarryH

For various reasons I’m not going to Canada this winter. So no new shots of snow covered Rockies. Hopefully, next winter. However, given the greyness of Grey Britain at the moment, I can’t help looking back to winter and Christmas … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Grey Britain, Landscape, Mountains, Winter | Tagged Banff, Christmas, Lake Louise, snow, Sundog | 3 Comments

Banff, Canada: ……… and then the hotel burnt down

Posted on January 9, 2017 by BarryH

If I may quote HMQ speaking on British TV in November 1992, for me and for many others I’m sure, 2016 was an Annus Horribilis, a horrible arse of a year. Returning to Banff in early February to continue to … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Health and humour, Winter | Tagged Annus Horibilis, Banff, Canada, canadian rockies, Christmas, community spirit, First World Problems, flight delays, Greek Health Service, health, hotel fire, Mount Royal Hotel, New Year, skiing, Symi | 5 Comments

Banff, Canada: A Rocky white Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2016 by BarryH

A change of scene. And what a contrast. After a journey during which British Airways and Air Canada seemed to conspire to cover themselves with ignominy rather than glory we arrived in Banff a day late and minus three of … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Landscape, Mountains, Photography, Weather, Winter | Tagged banff canada, Canada, canadian rockies, Christmas, mountains, New Year, photography, skiing, snow | Leave a comment

Canadian Rockies: Christmas on the piste

Posted on December 25, 2014 by BarryH

I’ve been in the Canadian Rockies now for a week, skiing and doing the odd bit of walking. There couldn’t be a much greater contrast with summer in the Greek islands. But, after heavy overnight snowfall on the mountain, early … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Landscape, Mountains | Tagged blue sky, Canada, canadian rockies, Christmas, Greek Islands, snow, White Christmas | 2 Comments

Symi: funeral bells and the smell of death

Posted on April 22, 2014 by BarryH

In Greece Easter is a far more important celebration than Christmas. Theologically that is as it should be, the birth of Christ was only the necessary first step, the reason for His coming was His death and resurrection. Without Easter … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Spring, Wildlife | Tagged ANFO, Christmas, church bells, commercialisation of Christmas, crucifixion, Dracunculus vulgaris, Dragon Arum, Easter, explosions, explosives, Funeral bells, Greece, Greek Easter, Resurrection, smell of death, Symi | Leave a comment

An alternative Boxing Day

Posted on December 28, 2013 by BarryH

From the top of Garn Wen on Christmas Day I could see not only a cap of snow on the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain near Abergavenny but also to the north west a snow covered ridge in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Wales, Winter | Tagged Boxing Day, brecon beacons, Christmas, Corn Du, Fan Fawr, footprints in the snow, snow, Storey Arms, Wales, Winter solstice | Leave a comment

An alternative Christmas

Posted on December 27, 2013 by BarryH

I don’t enjoy Christmas. This year I was looking forward to it less than usual until I decided to do the unthinkable. Spend Christmas Day on my own. It’s a quirk of the human psyche that the things we choose … Continue reading →

Posted in Grumpy Old Men, Health and humour, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Pontypool, Reflections, Wales, Winter | Tagged alternative Christmas, choice, Christmas, Christmas Dinner, Father Christmas, Garn Wen, History of Christmas, loneliness, Pontypool Folly Tower, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Saturnalia, solitude, Wales | 1 Comment

Bah Humbug!: debasing the language … and then a Christmas greeting

Posted on December 20, 2012 by BarryH

I regret that I’m going to do my Bah Humbug Pre-Christmas moan today. I hadn’t intended to be negative even though this is not my favourite time of year. But a flyer which came in a package of stuff I … Continue reading →

Posted in Grumpy Old Men | Tagged advertising, Christmas, Christmas Greetings, language, mountaineering, robin, superlatives, woodpecker | Leave a comment

Shafts of light in the winter gloom and hibernation

Posted on December 8, 2012 by BarryH

In the last week I have made another couple of trips to Cardiff in increasingly stressed and depressed pursuit of Christmas presents for the family. Each time I arranged to meet up with friends in the evening, something to look … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections, Winter | Tagged Abergavenny, buses, Cardiff, Christmas, crepuscular rays, storm clouds, sunsets, trains, winter gloom | 2 Comments

Bah Humbug!: Christmas and beyond

Posted on December 4, 2012 by BarryH

I regret that I don’t and never have, enjoyed Christmas. Required jollity is not my thing. Nor is the hyperventilating commercialisation which tries to drag behind it a vague connexion with the birth of Christ which the church does its … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Grumpy Old Men, Winter | Tagged Bah humbug, Banff, banff canada, Bow River, Canada, canadian rockies, Christmas, Grotto Canyon, Lake Louise, sun dog | 3 Comments