This will hurt me...

Cliff at one end of Clifton Beach. Clifton Beach. March 2011. A busy week this week means that I've only got through the one book (still a few pages left on the current). But what a book! Оди́н день Ива́на Дени́совича . [Ahem] One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's classic description of life in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, describing a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Seemingly as much known for its actual publication (a significant event in Soviet literary history), it's also a cracking read. Essentially an exploration of authoritative oppression and camp survival, Solzhenitsyn used his first-hand experience in the Soviet Gulag, having been imprisoned from 1945 to 1953 for criticising Joseph Stalin. Oddly enough, for the subject matter One Day in the Life... is actually an uplifting read. I'd very much recommend it to anyone.

...Now bear in mind that we began out ascent of the great behemoth at 10:43 . We reached the summit at 10:59 . The snow started to fall at 11.10 . Our decision to abort the mission and leave in the face of gale force winds and increasing snowfall (as evidenced in the top photograph), was taken at 11:23. It was at this point that Henry turned to me and said - in a French accent, oddly - "Daddy, Henry a bit cold". So we headed back. Here is the view from Henry's window as we endeavoured to manoeuvre our way out of the pickle we found ourselves in. Even the normally stoic Elmo was a little perturbed by the tempest that had arisen around us. I will not lie to you, there were tears. A quick slap in the face from Henry calmed me down however, and we made our way gingerly back down to civilisation (via the bakery). To emphasise the shifts in weather, the photograph below was taken at 11:41, just eighteen minutes after the one at the top of the post. Finalmente! Having learned o...