Winter is here!

So are you ready for the snow storm? It seems the word on the street is that my area has an Amber Warning, and we could be snowed in by tomorrow. Actually that is a total exaggeration! My town is on the South Coast and we are very well sheltered. We almost have our own micro climate, and very rarely get snow, or any other nasty weather. That's possibly why so many people retire here? Saying that, I happily told the customers at work last year that 'we never get snow' and then it absolutely came with a vengeance. I remember getting up one morning and the snow was gently fluttering down.

 'Oh I can drive to work easily' I thought. 

So I drove to work, and then the little tufts of cotton ball like fluff turned in to a wild snow storm as 'The Beast From The East' arrived. By the time I finished my shift that day Neil had telephoned me and said no way was I driving home in my car, and he was coming to get me in his own car. The ten minute drive home turned in to a three quarters of an hour, pace of a snail, inch by inch, drive home. We watched in horror as cars slid on the hill we were driving up, and then felt the horror ourselves as we slid sideways in the snow. Fortunately none of the cars, or us, skidded in to each other but it made me realise what a good driver Neil is...….and that I would never have been able to drive home myself. The next day I promptly fell over as I tried to walk down the driveway, and decided no work for me. It appears a lot of people thought the same as I know my work was hardly manned at all.

So right now, as I sit in warmth and comfort on my sofa, the BBC News shows a lot of the Midlands is covered in snow. Parts of America have the worst chill of minus forty that they have ever seen, and in my town we have sleet! Oh hold on. I've looked out of the window and it is actually snowing! Well well!  It was raining at 5pm when I drove home, so the ground will be wet and the snow wont settle, naturally? Well we'll see wont we? I cant imagine what it must be like to live where it is really cold all the time, and most especially what Chicago is like at the moment. Watching a reporter there chuck boiling water from a flask into the air, and then see that water freeze immediately was fascinating, but scary to think it was that cold! Apparently people have been told to stay inside. Well that's one advice I would most definitely take. In fact I would be in bed, under a duvet with a hot water bottle, reading a book, most probably with fingerless gloves on. Oh and I'd have a cup of hot chocolate next to me too. Bliss. 

So I've looked out of the window again and the snow is now settling. It's blustering in the wind, and looks beautiful, but it'll be interesting to see what I'll wake up to. Our cat's have been a bit skitty this evening, and even though they are predominantly indoor animals I think they realise this is unusual weather for our area. Dylan in particular has been riveted to the window watching what's going on. So with that in mind I hope everyone stays safe and stay warm tonight. I also hope anyone homeless has been collected by the town Shelter people because it is bitterly cold and nasty out there, and I also hope that any animals outside, lost, wild or otherwise, have managed to find a place to keep safe. Winter has finally arrived.