Puts a chill in the bones

The past few days around here have been cold and foggy with the kind of flesh-penetrating, bone-aching, finger-numbing cold that comes only with living near ocean in late winter. Some warm weather would be really nice, but seems unlikely because of this:

Yep. Ice. Lots of it. In some ways, I suppose, it just looks like a vast field of snow. In fact, it’s kind of pretty, although hard to photograph well (especially on a grey day in the fog).

When you get up close to it, though, it’s rather intimidating. The sheer power with which the ocean churns the stuff makes you realise that were so unfortunate as to end up in the drink, as cold as you think you are now now, you would be still colder. And dead. Rather thoroughly dead. When you watch the ice for a bit, you can see that it quick literally mixes itself, pulling the top layer down and crushing pieces together. Not only would you be instantly frozen in that water, you’d be crushed to a pulp and pulled under.

So we kept well back, but managed to take a couple of quick videos, for those so fortunate as to be places warmer. Both were taken on Middle Cove Beach, Newfoundland. My fingers have not yet regained their full mobility.