The White Stuff

Well, what a surprise when we opened the curtains this morning and saw
The White Stuff.
I have to be honest, judging from the sky yesterday afternoon, maybe it wasn’t such a surprise after all.
We remember waking up to several feet of snow in April 2008, which was Maggie’s first experience of it. She was not impressed.

Photo: our back pathway in the cottage (April 2008)

We also remember how everything came to a standstill, bus services were cancelled, local shops stripped of merchandise by people on foot with wheelbarrows or trolleys, and cars left abandoned on the road side.
Kids and adults alike were later having a whale of a time on dustbin lids, tea trays, anything that could be improvised as a sled on the road banks. As it was the Easter holiday break, schools were closed and office workers had time off . Those who had to travel some distance to go to work couldn’t, so shops, if open, were short-staffed, tempers frayed, and many closed early.

No-one was prepared for it. Even the council had been blind sided and not gritted the roads. Residents were out in their drives with shovels clearing the way whilst their offspring made snowmen or had snowball fights, and our village was so quiet (we had no shop, post office, pub or church) it was like being cocooned in a snow globe of peace and tranquility. Even the planes were grounded.

For years afterwards in the colder months, shops in adjacent villages stocked plastic sleds and giant snow shovels at exorbitant prices, but we never had another snowfall like it.
Sure we had some, but it was always short-lived, arrived one day and was gone by the end of the second. Roads were gritted or salted well in advance, and if you lived on a bus route, there was no chance you’d get snowed in as those were always given priority for clearance.

Photos: marina basins one and two taken Feb 2015

Living on the marina is a little different.
The pontoons crunch……. loudly, but then they do that when it’s cold and frosty anyway.
We walked Maggie as usual this morning, wearing our grippers on our shoes, decked out in thick jumpers, hats, gloves and body warmers. Maggie was wearing her little jacket, but without the waterproof attachment. Bless her she’s feeling the cold, but still throwing her coat as if her winter body clock has gone into overdrive and fast forward three months.

Temperatures dropped to minus one last night, and despite my hot power surges, Hubby was cold. So was Maggie, and to be honest, so was I, or at least my feet!
This morning the snow was apparent on the boats either side of us, and on the pontoon fingers and decking up to the car park. The tarmac was sprinkled with white crystals.

Yep. We can honestly say we had snow last night, but not remotely enough to make Olaf (probably borrowed his flurry though).