yes, dear reader who is a fellow resident of the British Isles, i know. i am aware, look you see, that many millions have taken to this "internet thing" to say "ooooh, look at me, i am clever, i can take a picture of snow and share it". i would be further aware that you are well aware of the fact that we have indeed had some snow. proper snow, this time, at least compared to the last outing of recent times.
this post isn't really to show off what you know. it's more for family and friends who might not never ever see the snow, and also may well be concerned for our well being with the reports of "thundersnow" hitting our shores. if you're quite aware of the fact that it snowed then you are most welcome to stick around on this post anyhow, over to you.
and so to recap, then, as you look at William running around in the stuff, we had some snow here today, in England and beyond. actually, i believe a substantial amount in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. not that Scotland complains about it or even mentions it other than to despair at what a bunch of fannies they are in London when it snows; they rather just get on with it.
we did not, thankfully, get hit as hard as some areas of our nation or if you like nations did. that said, what snow did come our way came in a hurry, and settled in such a way that it was to cause certain decisions and delays. after a quite, quite, quite draining day yesterday that i would care not to discuss right now, i elected to see all of this as nature telling me to take something of a break today, and travel no more in it.
so yes, then, we are all ok, thanks. or at the least getting there.
the more enthusiastic if not regular readers of this blog will recall that as long ago as last week, or maybe the week before, the first snow of the year fell. that, however, was but fanny snow, and not the proper laying stuff you can see here above beautifying our garden.
and, indeed, our cars.
my family has somewhat different reactions to snow. when i see it i am all very much nostalgic for my time living in both Australia and South Africa, recalling how there was no snow. my (considerably) better half thinks it is absolutely amazing, so long as she may stay inside and look at it, save for a short stroll in three pairs of socks, massive boots and a sensible jacket.
how about the boys? when i told James it had snowed, he just said "no, that's not true, that's impossible" as if he and i were stood on some sort of air conditioning unit on a mining plant inexplicably well above the surface of any planet you would mine, and i had just chopped his hand off and told him that i were his dad and that. he pulled the covers over his head within bed and would not shift, then.
that's why, alas, James does not feature in this post, but William very much does.
William really does love the snow, and not just because i once told him of a special magic trick which boys and fairly dexterous girls can do what turns the snow from white to yellow. no, he, as you can see above, loves grabbing handfuls of it to either throw or store in a bowl and watch it melt.
more of the snow on the garden, looking all picturesque for the benefit of you in all hotter climes right now? sure.
no, William doesn't cheat - he does, as the first picture showed, love to be out and actually playing in the snow, and not just cowardly grabbing a handful for indoor experimentation. to that extent, here is a video of him doing one of those tres American things which seems to have caught on here in England, and beyond.
hopefully that video played back for you fine (as far as i can tell video plays just smart if you use Firefox, not so much other browsers). if not, then the best i can do is tell you that the clip is of William making one of them "snow angel" things, where you lay on your back in the snow and sort of sweep your arms and legs about.
did we, where i were lad, do snow angels during winter in the 70s and 80s? no. we built snowmen and had smart snowball fights. if i had gone along to my mates back then and said "hey, guys! let's make some snow angels, it will be cute", i would have instantly been called a gaylord and probably would still be called that to this day.
but, you know, times change. the appearance of the "snow angel" thing in various forms of American culture has made it acceptable and popular here, so that is now what the kids all want to do.
this was all somewhat early in the morning, by the way. when i woke, after a somewhat restless night peppered by sleep, at around 6 there was but a smidgen of snow. within 30 minutes, when i next looked oiut the window, we were as blanketed as you can see above. the term "thundersnow" is not as silly as the "weatherbomb" term they tried a couple of years ago.
by early evening here the snow we had has all but melted. there's the threat of more to fall upon us over the weekend. we shall see, for there is nothing we can do to either prevent or encourage that. much of the country is, however, stuck with it, and i trust that they - and our outstanding emergency services - are doing all possible to keep all safe.
a look at one of my most smart size 13 boot prints in the snow? surely. and yeah, sorry, i probably and perhaps should have placed an item next to it for scale.
i've just been outside and my goodness, man, it is icy cold. it's as cold as you would imagine a carbon freezer chamber is, on a mining plant inexplicably well above the surface of any planet you would mine.
anyway, it is too cold to be sat here tapping away on all of this. let me head off and seek warmth in another part of our home, for my elevated shed is no winter retreat.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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