I listened eagerly for news of School closures on the local BBC radio but it was business as usual - no snow day for us. This meant braving the narrow country lane to my daughter's rural school.
The journey to school wasn't too bad. I think the tractors do a good job of keeping the roads relatively clear for which I am grateful (less grateful to the tractor that was coming towards me as I applied my brakes and continued to slide forwards - luckily sliding past without event rather than into). I kept my speed below 25mph for the entire journey and never got above third gear but the slow pace allowed me to appreciate just how beautiful everything looked.
I was supposed to taking part in a timed 5K run at the weekend but the course (which shares about half a mile with my route to school) was deemed unsafe. My training run tonight is also cancelled. Part of me really wants to wrap up warm, lace up my running shoes and head off into the snowy wilderness - but the sensible part of me has heard too many incidents of people falling and the last thing I want to do is risk injury. Warm and cosy in front of the fire is a tempting alternative!
I did spend a little time in the snow with the kids this weekend. They have been surprisingly disinterested - more concerned with how cold and slippery it was outside rather than seeing the potential fun to be had. Curiosity (or just plain stir craziness) finally got the better of them and they ventured out on a mission to build a snowman. They soon realised that building snowmen is harder than it looks and certainly harder than the 'virtual Build-a-Snowman' games they have been playing online. They enlisted the help of dad who rolled a huge (dirty) snowball to get them off to a good start. They wanted to make a Mickey Mouse snowman but it looked more like an owl or a carrot nosed baby bear to me.
They loved him anyway and I must admit he looks a lot nicer this morning with a fresh sprinkling of snow and surrounded by an untouched blanket of white.
Cold, inconvenient, dangerous, beautiful, fun ... whatever you think of the snow, it will soon be gone. All that will remain for us will be a couple of stones, a muddy patch, a wizened root vegetable and memories.
