Stomping Through The Snow. Tra La La La La.

Woke this morning to several inches of snow all around the house, 3-4ft of snow drifts all the way up the drive (1/2 a mile) and much worse - the heating had gone off !!!! We had been a bit concerned about our fuel level last week but the pipe gauge thingy is so mottled I couldn't tell how much was in the tank. Peter rang our suppliers and they promised to come out at the beginning of the week, didn't and now they can't. DISASTER, no heating in this cold weather. The rayburn was still running so the kitchen was fine but how long for? Peter rang the oil company today and they were sure we had a top-up since last summer. Peter got 6 containers of oil (kerosene) for the time being. (More about that in a minute.) This was the road up the hill this morning, snow blowing across the field was beginning to pile up in an alarming manner.
Another view down the drive from the public road.

And here's the Rav ready to take me to work. We had several miles of driving over packed snow with snow drifts across the road blown in through gateways. My car might have managed the road but not those drifts. Once we came down off the hills and into Barnstaple there was not a sign of snow. I kept passing around my camera around to show these early morning pictures as it is a totally different world up here. The return journey was much the same with more snow on the road. We had a few swerves after driving over drifts which set my heart racing. Once parked I had to carry a box with 4 containers of oil down to the house. This was all in the dark as Peter had gone on ahead with my torch. Plus points were the stars up above and the fact that it doesn't hurt when you fall over in the snow drifts. Some of the drifts were thigh high, luckily I had waterproof over trousers on (I've lost enough weight to get into a pair the boys had when they were younger). The box was awkward to carry and once I got past the drifts I put it down and shoved it along with my foot. Slower but a lot easier on the back. Back home Peter checked the tank level with a stick and we still have a good 8 inches. Maybe it was just a blip with the central heating boiler. We've put it back on for the evening and will check it again in the morning.

School has actually been fun today. The children were all excited to see the classroom decorated and to start their Advent calendar. ( No chocolates from me as they get plenty at this time of year and we are supposed to be a 'healthy school'. (No sweets, chocolates or fizzy drinks allowed in lunch boxes and only fruit or veg for their snacks.) I had a chat with them about the meaning of Christmas, how it has merged with pre-Christian mid-winter celebrations and about some of our traditions. ( I'm not a fundamentalist but I personally believe in remembering what Christmas is all about.) Most of the children are aware that Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus but after that things get a bit hazy. I asked them how many years ago they thought Jesus was born. 10 said one child, 12 another, 1 guessed another and finally 20,00 from the bright child who had been telling some children that Santa was dead. (I need to have a quiet word with him.) As a school the children take part in a Nativity service at the church so they do have some idea of the Christmas story. This year I've been conscripted into playing a couple of the carols on the piano in the church. I only agreed reluctantly as I tend to go to pieces with an audience so tonight our house has been ringing to the sound of 'Little Donkey' and 'How far is it to Bethlehem'. This morning's written task was a letter to Santa, not to ask for things for themselves but for things for their mums. Those letters were quite sweet especially as they had to give the reasons as well. One child wrote " My mum would like some brown chocolate in a tin as we all like them". Another put " My mum would like a new dress as she hasn't got many dresses." It's good to make them think about others. This afternoon's activity of making paper chains went down well. I was out of the class doing paperwork but I hear they got a lot out of the practical measuring and plenty of practise using rulers to draw lines and basic cutting as I only gave them A4 sheets of paper not pre-cut strips. It was a good exercise in team work as well. Now all I have to do is to put the paper chains up without setting off the motion sensors at night. Something set off the alarms last night, possibly my paper decorations. Our caretaker phoned me yesterday to say he had been called in by the alarm company and he had to take down all my dangling decorations. He very sweetly helped me put them up again this morning and I've now got a system where I can unhook one end of the strings for the night and quickly get them up in the morning. It may not have been my decorations as the timers on the heaters were all wrong and we had a fire alert in the night as well. Never mind.