Snow day

Weather: Snowing, a lot.
Activity: 4 miles walking/wading, 1 mile cycling/falling
Remarks: 1 book, 1 broken ipod, Several cups of tea and 4 fig rolls. Quite a lot of Twittering.


Well, the fifty centimetres of snow we were forecast didn't reach these parts though we did get a good twenty five or so, knee deep on our track. It came down in biblical style and didn't stop all night. The wind got up at 2am (it woke me up) and it started drifting, so when I woke again at 7am and looked outside, I was met with a wall of white.

I tried to get to work this morning - I open up in the mornings and don't get paid for 'snow days' -  initially by bus thinking (rightly) that cycling on the road would be suicidal and the trail would be as deep under snow, if not worse than our track. So donning full winter kit #1, I waded off along the track, through the wood and onto the wee single track road to the village a mile away and arrived exhausted at the bus stop to be told that apparently the buses weren't running due to the shocking state of the roads and the fact it was still snowing (all schools were shut too and quite a few of the roads) so I walked back to house. I couldn't give in though and so I got into my cycling gear, apologised profusely to Bob the Hardtail who was quite happy and warm in the living room and set off. About 6 yards down the track, despite my snow studs, I slid around like a well oiled eel and had my first 'this is stupid' thought but dismissed it as being a puf.

And still it snowed...

A mere mile down the road after having face planted 4 times, I gave up and went home over/through feilds, catching sight of a bus far away on the main road as I went...Ah ha! So the buses were running! So home once more, dried off, changed into full winter kit #2 and set off walking again. An hour and a bit later and there was still no sign of any buses... my fellow bus users and I admitted defeat and headed our seperate ways. My boss, when I phoned to give her the bad news, was as understanding as a boss who lives near the coast and hasn't got any snow could be. However, when she tried to get over the hill that seperates us and got stuck in her 4 x 4 she conceded I was right about the 'weather'. Incidentally, turns out the bus I'd seen was one that got stuck in Banchory the night before and was heading into town.

So today, I've been housebound. This is not a good thing. This is definitely not a good thing when the mobile mast packs in and the broadband/phone also pack in due to 'weather'. This is a very bad thing when you get a phone call from the driver of a large lorry trying to deliver a large exhaust to us (its for an offshore pump and therefore is the size of a small car..) rings to say "there's nae f*cking way I can git doon yer track, fit div ye wint me tae dee wi yer pallet?"...er...so I arranged with him to leave it as a caravan sales place in the village and we'd pick it up later. This is a catastrophic thing when you realise that your new ipod shuffle is now dead thanks to the 'weather' getting in. Bugger!

And still it snowed.

By this time I'd cleaned the house to within an inch of its life (this is not a Normal Occurance in this household) and it was still only 2.30pm.

Then it changed to freezing rain and turned everything into a cold, icy soup. Well, when I say everything, I mean, anywhere you want to walk or drive. The rest was still deep snow.

At that point I gave up, dismissed any lingering thoughts of even trying to get some more walking in today and fell asleep on the sofa reading a book (Jill Homers' Ghost Trails - true story of Jill - timid, nonathletic, raised in the suburbs of Salt Lake City - and her unlikely route to one of the most difficult bicycle races in the world, a 350-mile epic along Alaska's frozen Iditarod trail). I was woken at 4 pm by the sound of N and Jnr arriving home early (due to 'weather').

Tonight, its blizzarding again so we'll wait and see what first light tomorrow brings but I need to get to work, I'm twitchy...