Arriving to work this morning I was amazed at the amount of snow that had been moved by the JCB snow ploughs.

That looks like fun in the JCB though!

Until recently the monument be this snowman wasn’t there, and it is almost as though the snowman is guarding it.

I have to say that this was one of the better snowmen that I have seen over the past couple of snowy weeks.

Today there was more Snow in the north west of England, in fact the worse we have had over the this snowy few weeks.  The snow meant a day off as we were closed and it also meant that I could get out in the garden and take some photographs of these unique conditions.

Looking out the office window whilst working on some stuff I noticed a bird in the trees in the garden.  Perfect opportunity for a photograph and so I got my camera out.  The bird was an excellent subject as he/she remained nice and still while I made use of the excellent 12x optical zoom on my camera.  I think these photos have come out really nice.

View all the other photos of the snow over the last few weeks here.

Well we have had the big freeze here in the north west of England over the last few days, with temperatures barely getting above freezing. It also looks set to continue with snow forecast for tonight. I feel a snow day coming on!

I took this picture as it amused me and just proves how cold it has been.  The spatula was in a tray of water outside and the tray has frozen solid with the spatula inside.  It has now been like this for 2 days!

Looking out of the office window this morning the sky looked beautiful and was just asking for me to get out my camera and take todays photo.

I woke early this morning (well for a weekend when we Harry was at his grandparents) but I needed to be up and about or I would not be able to sleep this evening and as I am back to work tomorrow then I need to be able to get up on Monday morning and stay awake for the duration of the day!

This was the sky that greeted me as I walked into the office with a cup of coffee to wake me up.  Although it looks a little grey in places it was nice and sunny and if fact as I write this the sun is cracking the flags of the patio at the back of the house.

With it being the start of the New Year and all that I have decided to clear out the office a little bit and throw things out that frankly I am never going to need or use.  The photo below shows my current office setup, which for me at least, is working really well at the moment.

I had a drawer in the office full of cables which really needed sorting out.  There were cables in there from god knows when, probably the start of the decade.  Being very organised, I have now sorted them all out and bagged them all up using Morrisons sandwich bags.  As you can see they should be a whole lot easier to find now.

So my Office setup for the new year works like this.  The focal point is the Apple 24 inch LED Cinema display.  This is connected to my Apple MacBook Pro 13inch Intel Core 2 Due 2.53Ghz machine through the mini display port.  The two work seamlessly together basically turning the MacBook into an iMac (with the help of my Apple wireless keyboard and mouse) with added advantages being that the MacBook is still a portable computer and also that I have  dual display when working with the cinema display.  This comes in very handy when watching iPlayer or Sky TV whilst at work.

Behind my display I have an external hard drive (500gb) which is connected to my Apple Time Capsule (also 500Gb).  The Time Capsule backs up the MacBook which is superb and it does this without me knowing and I can therefore be sure that my data is safe.  It is very reassuring every day when I come in and switch on the MacBook and immediately the little Time Machine sign starts spinning letting me know that the days hard work is being backed up.

It always feels better to start the year with a good clear out to start a fresh.  I can now find all the things that I want to, but I wonder how long it will stay like that!

In the first of my Photo365 posts, where I am going to attempt to write about and publish a post about a Photo of the day, I am posting this picture of the latest edition of my MacFormat Magazine that was delivered through my door yesterday on New Years Eve.

I have been purchasing MacFormat for a while now and really like the articles that it provides.  The great thing, is that there a wide range of articles for different abilities.  I mean I am useless at Photoshop (I am more of a Fireworks kind of guy really), but in this magazine there are tutorials pitched at my level rather than going to techy.  At the same time there is more in depth coverage about your Mac computer which is great for learning new tips and tricks.  The product reviews are also quite good to.

I particularly enjoyed reading their review and comparison of the new Apple TV with some other products that are around and on the market at the moment.  In fact this has spurred me on to purchasing a Mac Mini to be used as a media centre, which I used to have.