Twister-On-Ice

Day 229

06 January 2010

If I didn't have access to the internet, newspapers or the media, I would be wondering if there was some kind of joke regarding the weather in this country, at the moment. Listening to the news, today, I have heard about places in the country that have had a foot of snowfall overnight; that 2,ooo schools across the country have had to close; and that the motorways have ground to a partially icy, but gritty halt. Yes, us Brits don't do snow. We can't handle it. We also love to lament about how cold/hot/icy/rainy/foggy/sunny/humid/frosty or, more commonly, difficult
life is, thanks to the weather.
This morning, as I was juggling breakfast with hatglovescarf ritual and scraping weetabix off the table, I had absolutely no idea how tricky it was going to be to get to school. I had thought we were doing rather well, as we left on time, for once.
One thing about Swanage, is that it is very hilly. It's good. Calf muscle strength is probably above the national average thanks to the number of hills in the town. It's only a problem when drunk; or when it's icy. Then it's a farce.
Imagine the scene: a woman wearing a ridiculous-looking, but very warm hat, climbing a hill with one hand on the ground, one knee bent to the chest, the other leg extended out behind whilst dragging a buggy and slipping about all at the same time. It was like playing twister on ice. It took us 40 minutes, instead of 10 minutes, to get to school. I thought about turning back for home, but then I'd have had the same problem getting back as I was experiencing, so thought it best to carry on.
We still haven't had proper snowfall, though. As you can see, from the picture. We had a blizzard but the snow didn't settle.

It's all quite amusing, really, but it would have been a lot kinder if the roads had been gritted. Perhaps they will, tomorrow? Before 10am?