In which I build a snowman

These posts must be getting a little monotonous…it's snowtime again. We had our heaviest snowfall to date overnight – it was snowing as I went to bed, and by the time I woke up we had about 3” and it was still snowing. I decided to try to get into work, on the basis that once I got out of the estate, the roads would probably be OK. Being fairly cautious, especially where my own wellbeing is concerned, I prepared well, packing up my big bag of salt, shovel, warm coat & boots and a flask of coffee just in case of delays.

I needn’t have bothered. It soon became apparent to me that Smart cars are not ideally suited to snowy or icy conditions – even going very slowly and carefully the back fish-tailed quite badly, and then the gentle turn to the right at the end of the street turned into a full 180 degree spin, at which point I decided that Enough was Enough. Clearly the car wished to go home, and I really couldn’t blame it. So back we went, and slithered gracefully into a space outside the house.

I am sure that if I could have made it to the main road I would have been OK, although even then, thinking of the number of steep hills and sharp bends between home and office, I think it would have been, shall we say, interesting, and I would have spent all day worrying about getting home. Fortunately I can access work e-mail from home, and so was able to get a bit of work done. I also found out, when I spoke to my secretary, that both the client’s who were due to come in today wanted to cancel their appointments as they couldn’t easily get in either, and that neither the post nor the DX arrived today, so there would not have been much more for me to do had I made it in. Clearly the postal workers near the office are lightweights compared to those near my home - I spotted a postamn who was not only out and about doing his deliveries, he was doing them wearing shorts and on his bicycle!

Tybalt was not impressed by the snow (for which he clearly holds me responsible)


After doing enough work to assuage my residual guilt, I ventured out again (on foot this time) The milkman did not turn up this morning (For which I cannot blame him – possibly the only vehicle less suited to the conditions than a Smart car would be an electric milk float) so I needed milk, and anyway, new snow is almost irresistible.

The local roads were still very slippery and slushy – I detoured to take a little walk into the patch of wasteground / nature reserve behind the estate – it was truly beautiful – teasels and rosehips crowned with snow, and a frozen pool with zombie roots under the water.

When I returned home, I went out into the garden where I made possibly the worlds smallest snowman, in my hanging basket, and helped the Poppets to explore in the snow.

The BBC are warning that there may be more snow to come. I hope not, as I have a meeting I must get to tomorrow. . .