SNOW IS FALLING...ALL AROUND US...CHILDREN PLAYING...HAVING FUN...

Or...as in the case of Child No.3 - Smashing their Hands in Iron Gates and Spending the Rest of the Day with a Cold Compress and a Calpol Drip 

It is snowing.

Quite a lot.

We had some snowfall on Monday too.  Enough to excite The Dog beyond all reason.  She was bouncing around in the couple of inches of snow like a spring lamb - then she'd bundle in the house and bounce around some more, stopping every once in a while to fix me with her 'have you not seen what is out there?! Bounce woman!!' look.

There was sufficient white stuff around to warrant leaving the car behind and walking No.3 to school.  It's quite a stretch (half an hour each way at a good pace) but I feel sooo virtuous when I get home.
Right up until I stuff my silly face with Dairy Milk.

It's for energy, you understand

As No. 3 and I said our goodbyes at the school gate, she exclaimed, 'My Clarinet!  It's Monday, I need my clarinet!'

Oh goody.

So I trudged home, stopping only to purchase some extra long laces for Mr W's walking boots. I retrieved the clarinet and went back to school with it and the trainers that No. 3 would need for Hockey Club.

(I must inform you that I didn't walk this time. I dug my trusty steed out of the snow and drove.) 

Using the car aside, it was a bit of an effort and took a chunk out of my day, but hey, she's my little girl and I was glad that I was in a position to be able to help her out.  I dropped her stuff off at the school office and came home feeling groovy that she had all the stuff she needed for the day.

Only, do you know what? The office didn't pass her stuff on to her.
Okay, she didn't go down and ask for it at any point during the day...but she's nine.

I can forgive them, though, as they were in a bit of a spin about an Ofsted Inspection.  I do understand.  I wouldn't fancy Begowned and Bespectacled*  Inspectors bearing down on my post-it notes either.

So now it's snowing again and has been since about 8am.  The schools have closed early and my darlings have been home since lunch time.

Luckily we live on a main road and usually remain mobile longer than the folk living on less well-travelled routes. However today, for the first time since I can remember, everyone is staying off the roads! There is hardly any traffic and so, rather than being kept clear by the steady flow of vehicles, the roads are filling with snow!  This may be the sensible and safe thing to do for most people, but it is most inconvenient for me.

I am a card carrying woosie when it comes to Difficult Driving Conditions -  (when I say 'difficult' I mean - during the hours of darkness/very heavy rain/fog/ and anything involving a slip-road) - so I was most distressed as I crawled home at 5 miles per hour this morning on snowy roads.

Then, like Gandalf arriving at first light on the fifth day,  my saviour appeared - a Snow Plough!

Hurrah!

This snow plough has the right idea...

I was quite surprised to see that it was holding the Plough part aloft - rather than using it to shovel snow off the roads...

...That is, after all, the point and purpose of the Snow Plough, is it not?  But perhaps I am over-simplifying the matter.

Anyhoo, it's Hot Chocolates all round here at Chez W and I see no reason to miss out.

Warm wishes (if not warm weather) to you all :)

*They are all Begowned and Bespectacled, right?