Skating on the thin ice

If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice

Pink Floyd ~ The Thin Ice


The temperature may have got above zero by a degree or so this afternoon, but the 18 knot winds make things feel pretty cold if you are standing in an exposed spot - such as the middle of a frozen lake.  Still nowhere near as cold as Braemar in Scotland at -23C according to one paper this morning.

While walking out over the fields to the Newton Park campus of Bath Spa University I came across a dead rat in one of the lanes.  I was considering blipping him until I realised that something had already had his eyes and thought that I wouldn't bother after all...

This female mallard duck on the lake at Newton Park makes a much more wholesome picture and won't cause any offence.  She did eventually fly off, so clearly she wasn't actually frozen in situ.  I think I saw some teal on a nearby lake, but they were some way away and I hadn't brought binoculars so it was hard to be sure.  A job for another day :-)