Snow.

I looked out of the window at 2.00 this morning, as you do, and there was about half an inch of snow on the conservatory roof. By 6.00 this had increased to several inches.

Even if Peter had left his car up the hill there was no way he was going to drive over snowy roads in the dark. He tried to call work but the phone line was out or overloaded. Later he was able to contact a team leader by email and though she lives in South Molton she hadn't made it either. We may not have any snow for 4 or 5 years at a time though it has made its appearance more in the last few years so naturally we all get quite excited when it snows.... and parts of the country grind to a halt. The general advice is not to go out unless you really have to. Snow usually only lasts for a couple of days and I'm not working until Tuesday afternoon. The electricity flicked off several time in the morning but has stayed on since then. We lost our sky tv signal so I had to go up a ladder and use a broom to brush off the snow from the dish and once Peter had reset it normal service resumed. The kitchen tv gets a terrestrial signal  so we had that on all the time to keep an eye on the news.

When the snowfall had eased off a bit I togged up in winter gear and went for a steady hike up the drive and along to Bowden Corner. There was about 6" of snow in the garden by this time.

The poor conifers were weighed down with snow so I shook off the snow before the branches snapped.

Once I was up to the bend I lost the shelter of the valley and snow was being driven into my face by the sharp wind. I had a neck warmer I could pull up over my face but I wished that I had brought my clear wraparound glasses as well.

Nevertheless I trudged onwards. Part of the reason for going out was to check on the state of the road and sure enough the wind had driven the snow off the field to form snowdrifts across the road, some more than 3ft high. 

On the way back down I saw that Paul had put salt on the steep part of the road and later he went up with his digger to clear the drifts. I used up lots of calories shovelling snow off our drive from the cars right up to the junction so that Peter could get his car up the hill. He couldn't leave it in the usual gateway because Paul had piled all the drift snow there but hadn't cleared all the way to the road. Instead Peter backed down and left his car in the lower gateway. We are right on the edge of the weather front so the promised rain became more snow. It's supposed to warm up for the weekend with maybe more snow on Monday.

The more decrepit of my 2 hens was not looking in a good way when I went to feed them. Even after I had warmed her feet in my hands she looked at death's door so I put her in a cat carrier by the kitchen Rayburn. She's looking a bit better now but I didn't think she would survive the night in the hen house so now she is in Peter's bathroom which is always warm (and I can secure the door against the cats).