it's just getting ridiculous

Regular readers of this, erm, whatever you want to call it will know that last week's image of the barn was along the lines of the dream image I want to make.

If you don't, then it's the barn on a freezing old, crispy morning with a light mist as the rising sun starts to warm the earth and melt away the hoar.

Living in a coastal area facing west, these conditions are, while not exactly rare, in these days of global warming, becoming increasingly hard to stumble across.

So, imagine my excitement then when earlier this month I woke to a blanket of heavy hoar frost on a beautifully clear, crisp morning.  A check of the weather forecast revealed the sun was indeed about to make a rare appearance and that temperatures  were due to increase.  And what is more, there was already a light mist already brewing.

My drive to the barn (about 30 minutes north of where I live) saw my excitement lift as temperatures dropped further, the frost goy heavier and the mist got even more ethereal.  I parked at the end of the lane leading to the barn and made the short, freezing cold walk to the position I'd scouted out for my dream shot.  My boots made that lovely crisp sound that walking on frosty grass makes while my feet inside them froze despite the two pairs of socks I'd put on.

conditions to set the heart racing...

And then I got to the gate by the barn and looked up.  I couldn't quite believe my eyes.  There was a perfect 30 metre or so circle around the barn where for some inexplicable meteorological reason the temperature was somehow higher than the rest of South Wales and there was not a bit of frost or mist to be found.  Not a sniff.

At first I thought that I must be dreaming all this.  I mean, it was so surreal it couldn't be actually real.  Could it?

Yes is the answer.

I had to video the scene to show Lisa or else no one would believe me.  You couldn't make this up.  You really couldn't. 

(By the way, the image you saw of the barn on Christmas Eve was manipulated to make it look that way.

Now, I've long accepted that I am not a lucky person.  For every dramatic image you see on my blog there are literally hundreds where the perfect light disappeared literally as I was setting up my camera, or a 4am alarm set because of a perfect weather forecast has been a waste of time as the promised conditions never materialised in the first place.

And don't get me started on health.

But this morning really took the biscuit.  It really rammed home just how unlucky I am.

And no one can persuade me otherwise.