Sunday, January 3

Yesterday’s rain finally got up the courage to turn into snow, and once it did that it decided to snow as hard as it could all night.

I wake up to look out of the window and see this. It looks very nice indeed. If it melts away in a day or so then it will probably prove an enjoyable interlude. If it hangs around, turns to ice, and then gets several more layers of snow on top, it will prove anything but.

Unwilling to gamble on the melting-away scenario coming true, I will spend a couple of hours snow-blading; clearing the terraces and making a path down to the compost.

When I begin this I will find myself alone in the road as I push snow down to the woods. By the time I have finished, two neighbours will have joined me, and I will hear the distant sounds of spades and snow-blades in the next streets.

The snow will start up again as I start trying to remove it and continue until the middle of the evening. I will still finish ahead.