As I was warned, cameras freeze up fast in the cold weather. By the time the sun went down and the mercury hit -25 C I was lucky to get a couple photos off before the battery cried for mercy and I had to warm it up again down my trousers.

I did manage to take this video clip though, and they say that a video is worth a thousand photos. Featured in all its glory here are the people enjoying horse and carriage rides, Westminster Abbey, umm the moon- oh loads of stuff.

Emma’s camera did better than mine. Firstly it’s mostly plastic on the outside, no doubt frequenter commenter dingle (who has a phD in plastic- I kid you not) will tell us why that makes a difference- and secondly it can take normal AA batteries, replacements for which she bought from a shop/hut inside the festival which she said was
“Like the first Christmas. There was straw on the ground and a donkey passed the batteries to me”

DSCF2054

DSC00403

DSCF2049

I don’t really know what else to say about the festival except that in the public toilet cubicle there was frozen pee just about everywhere you looked.

So, how to survive that kind of cold? Well as I learn from NASA, it’s all in the layers*

Harbin Ice & Snow Festival. Entrance 150 RMB for grown ups, 75 RMB for nippers. Should be on until end of Feb

[*warning, video may contain footage of me in my underwear].