I didn’t dream of higher ground as per my last post but I did weirdly and randomly dream of sea buckthorn, a hardy shrub one species of which is also known as the ‘holy fruit of the Himalayas’. Who knows where that came from but apparently the small orange fruit of this thorny mountain dweller contains fifteen times as much vitamin C as an orange. Perhaps it’s just my body talking.
It certainly felt like a Vitamin C kind of morning, with temperatures at a low of -2ºC, the pond opaque with ice and the garden frosted in a layer of crystalline snow that had finally decided to settle down. As soon as the curtains were open (around 6am, thanks boys), the agenda for the day was set. Minimal school, maximum snow play.
Heading up to Wanstead Flats, last night’s wet roads were slick with black ice under a steadily converging layer of still pristine white. A thick enough layer to pull the sledges over the hill and up six blocks to access the heights of Forest Gate.
Wanstead Flats is in fact not completely flat, a couple of manmade hills near the changing rooms and Alexandra Lake creating just enough height to happily whizz a sledge down. Even without the hills, I recently learned that The Flats is actually one of the highest points in the borough of Newham, rising 15 metres (49 feet) above sea level.
Today it looked like the tundra, newly formed lakes from weeks of rain frozen over with slabs of ice thick enough to walk on before crunching into fragments after a few seconds underfoot; last vestiges of grass and foliage frozen solid as a result of sub-zero temperatures and melting snow; sky and ground almost merging into one in shades of swathes of glacial grey and white; the highest peak criss-crossed with the lines of eager sledges, the remnants of a fun-filled day.
The wind whipped across the open plain as snowflakes continued to fall and my hands and feet were so cold it felt like a permafrost was setting in. I couldn’t live in a place where permanent frost was the order of the day but it really did look beautiful. Therapy by tundra, just for a few days.