Winter has arrived

Finally winter has arrived.  Last week we had the first torrential downpours that made the river unnavigable and today we've got the frost.  The Canal basin was frozen over and the crew on the trip boat had to work hard to get things going at 11am.  Dutch Barges aren't the ideal shape to be ice breakers.

I was taking some pictures of the boat cracking through the ice when I noticed the sun was shining through the lamp in the Bancroft Gardens so I thought I'd grab a photo whilst the grass was white and I had a reasonable silhouette of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in the background.  I know you shouldn't take directly into the sun but the results can be quite dramatic.

It's not the best picture and there's some distortion - I was using the streetsweeper 24-120mm lens but I can feel the grass cracking under my feet as I was walking and I like the shadows.