Snow Snow Snow

It started snowing over a week ago. Thursday 25th to be precise. A couple of inches - not a problem, especially as I tend to be a late starter. I work flexi, and it is easy for me to wait until the traffic and the gritters have cleared the worst, and go in after 9.00 am.

Monday I woke up and it was a little more than a couple of inches! At 9 o'clock it was snowing heavily and the main road outside the house wasn't staying clear. I didn't think I should drive - my route to work involves very steep hills, even if I took the long way round. 

So, I am looking out the window, watching the big heavy snow flakes add to the several inches already on the ground and I'm trying to work out what is the best thing to do. This is when I made my mistake. I rang a colleague who promptly offered to give me a lift in their 4x4. We got to work when most could not. What made it worse was that due to family commitments, my colleague could not give me a lift back until 5:30. Whereas the rest of my department were told to go home at 3, we stayed, just us, in the quiet.

On the way home, she asked if I would like a lift again in the morning because the snow was forecast to continue. I told her to stop being so bloody helpful! (I was joking).

Since then, the snow has got progressively deeper. Every morning I have looked out the window and judged my chances on getting to work. Every morning I have made it. In the afternoons, we had to make the same judgement, and three days of the four, I left around 3.30, before it got dark and everything froze. Except Wednesay that is, when I left in a panic at 12:30 because we'd had a least two or three inches fall since I'd got to work, and it was due to keep going all afternoon. This was a good move driving wise. My journey home added to my learning and experiences of driving in snow and ice up a hill. Once home and warm, me and Peter went out for a walk.

We dressed up really warm and waterproof, took our cameras and had a glorious couple of hours. It snowed all afternoon, and blizzarded at us at one point, but that didn't last too long and we were well wrapped up. The countryside around Richmond is beautiful at any time. That afternoon it was pristine and white, almost ethereal. Curiously, due to light, it all became monochrome.

The shops obviously had problems this week too. Nearly all were closed that Wednesday afternoon, and when we walked to the nearby supermarket Thursday night, it was obvious they hadn't had any deliveries. No bread, milk, fresh veg or fresh meat. We settled for frozen pies.

So today is Saturday and I am relieved I don't have to drive anywhere. As it happens, we only had an inch last night and the roads are the best they have been for a week. The forecast says the white stuff will return on Monday. Lucky us eh?