Deeply snowed in

The sheer quantity of snow is impressive. Bushes in the garden are bent flat, and the back door, which opens outwards, is reluctant to do so. Next door they have three identically-dressed grandsons in the 8-10yrs range, visiting from Australia. They and their parents were building snowmen at ten o’clock last night.

We woke up to a world of quiet, partly because the snow blanket smothers any noise, and also of course because there is little traffic. The school is closed and it is not clear whether the trains are running. I took the day off, and Pete worked from home because I stamped my foot and said he couldn’t go in, in case he couldn’t get home.

I then gave Bernard a stern talking to about not disturbing daddy while he was working, at the end of which Pete got up and announced we were all going outside to build a snowman. Pete is very particular when it comes to snowmen, and today he has built a 7′ King of Snow. Every now and then he has to nip out and replace the mouth-stones. Down the road there is a Darth Vader, complete with fighting glow-stick [as Bernard calls light sabres], and there are 2.5 igloos in the street.

Before lunch, Bernard played outside with the other children with no parental supervision at all. It was a bit of a strange experience for us to sit and do some work without being pestered, and we did have to peer out of the window at him every few minutes. He was fine.

Now it is dark, the snow is still falling and school is closed again tomorrow. We’re not going anywhere.