Did anyone mention that it's been snowing??

 

I grew up in the wilds of Shropshire and my memory seems to tell me that we had snow every winter, although that's probably not the case. I certainly remember many snowy winters, and once I was old enough to drive, remember struggling to get up the hill out of the village. The local residents used to grit the hill and then gather to push any cars up that were struggling.

It's now many years later and I've been living in Bristol for the last seven or so years. When I moved here I was told it never snows in Bristol, but I think this is now the fourth winter I've seen snow. I'm grown up enough now that it's a hassle, I don't have people to push me along the roads and I worry about damaging the car if I lose the back end, or myself, falling over on compacted snow which has turned to ice on pavements. This time was different though, I'd already booked the day off work and so had nothing to stress about. I went to sleep, excited, knowing I'd wake up to snow the next day. I did! I managed to contain my excitement until lunchtime, mainly due to the fact the the snow, rather uncharitably, was being picked up by the wind and coming down horizontally. At least there were a few brave bird visitors I could keep an eye on.

As soon as the wind dropped, I wrapped myself in my coat which has the same level of padding as our winter duvet, and I was out with my camera to capture how the estate we live on was coping. It's amazing how everywhere looks better with a layer of snow.

This morning we decided to venture out again, as the snow didn't seem to be going anywhere. We went a bit further afield this time and did a four mile walk through the parkland and down to the Frome Valley. There were plenty of people around, walking, sledging, cycling and running. Some of the pavements were resembling ice rinks as a result of the footfall compacting the snow, so I'm impressed with anyone running out there!

 

Whilst I love the snow, the weather forecast suggests that it won't be going anywhere anytime soon. I'm sure I'll be feeling less excited about it when I'm slipping on it on my return to work on Monday. Until then, I think I'll wrap up warm indoors and go back to keeping an eye on the bird visitors.