Unusually, Scotland is still receiving fresh snow, more than two weeks into this cold weather. Looks like most of the country’s councils have now run out of road salt and we’re in for a deep freeze this year. Schools haven’t gone back after the Christmas holiday and Dumfries and Galloway’s children can enjoy uninterrupted sledging. Let’s hope the gas supply holds out.
Fresh snow fell on Christmas night.
Well, not only did the snow hang around until Christmas Day, but we also had a fresh fall that evening. The Scottish bookies won’t be happy, but there are a lot of happy kids who got to go sledging on Christmas Day. The phrase “living memory” comes to mind when trying to think of Dumfries white Christmases. We’ve been very lucky with this one and did our best to make the most of it. There’s a little bit of a thaw on now but we’re expecting more snow to follow. So the snowy theme on this site is likely to continue for a while yet.
So this is what’s been happening here this week. We also haven’t had the luke warm rain to follow and it looks like there might be a layer of snow here for the rest of the week. There may be a white Christmas this year?
I can’t remember when we had snow in late December. Probably the last time this happened was in the 1960s.
Even our garden robin was impressed and posed for this Christmas card shot.
Now we’re hoping for scenes like this on Christmas Day. Although the weather forecast is for fog – more likely from past experience. 
It’s not yet St Andrew’s Day and I’m already snowed under with Christmas tasks. Not that I mind as it is a pleasant thing to work at.
My band Arbelos is performing in Christmas With Arbelos And Friends on 12th December and we are in the midst of rehearsals and publicity work to make sure it is a success. It’s been a lot of fun so far, not least because we have two great new members in the band. Jenny Johnson now plays keyboards for us in true Rick Wakeman style (we need to get her a cloak) and, just this week joining us from Galloway Folk, is Alex Cook. Alex plays a wonderful array of percussion instruments bringing a much-needed rhythmic dimension and a real world-music feel. I’m so excited by it all that I’ve even started repairing my guitar synth. Expect sitars at a gig soon!
The show also features two Dumfries performers that I have shared the Brigend stage with in the past. Cheryl Easton has had a fantastic Homecoming Year with her Burns show Tea With Clarinda and now she is helping us out with a range of classical and modern Christmas music. The whole package will be bound up with the sparkling wit of local thespian (and my next-door neighbour) Ian Rennie who will introduce the music and tell some Christmas tales.
As if that weren’t enough, we are also launching a Christmas song When Snow Falls At Night as a fundraiser for UNICEF and we are providing a Fairtrade stall for refreshments during the show. All great stuff in the full Christmas spirit.
Come along and support us. Tickets are £5 and you can get them from Arbelos or in Dumfries at Barnstorm Records. The venue is the Brigend Theatre, Dumfries, and it starts at 7.30pm on Saturday 12th December.
Now if I can only find time to write our family Christmas letter and start sending cards….
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