its snow joke....

I have seen daffodils, I have seen cute little baby lambs (actually that should be baby sheep but everyone says baby lambs, you can't technically get baby lambs) I have purchased my Easter eggs and we are in the second half of March, so in my mind we are in Spring.

This time last year we had a freaky early heatwave, people were sunbathing on Brighton beach. But this morning, I woke up, looked out of the window and thought what the .....?

It was white, completely white. No bit of ground could be seen. 4inches of snow sat smugly on top of my car. Oh FFFFFFFFFS.
I absolutely hate, despise, loathe, abhor, dislike (or any other word with the same meaning) snow. It is cold and dangerous.

I live in a mini microclimate. Its weird, I can have snow yet 1mile down the hill into the village there can be barely any.

So I duly got all the children dressed for school and popped them into the car. I drove very gingerly down the hill, the wind was whipping the snow from the fields into mini tornados and whooshing them over me. My car was buffeting from side to side. I gritted my teeth even harder and thanked the Lord when I reached the bottom and the safety of the always gritted road. My road rarely sees a gritter, ok it never does.

I drove gingerly to school, pulled up outside the gate and Matthew commented, 'Where is everyone?' just as my phone beeped. It was a text message from school saying it was closed. AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I was not best pleased. But as I was going to Asda after the school drop off, all was not lost I suppose, but it meant taking all of them to Asda. Matthews turn now to be not impressed. He hates Asda. So do I really.

So, having done our shopping we made our way home. The roads were clear, although the closer we got to our village the whiter the fields and surrounding area got. I had already decided to take the longer but less steep hill home. My hill was covered on the way down so I didnt like the thought of driving up it. So at the bottom it seemed ok, I set off keeping it steady. The road then started to disappear under a blanket of snow. Keep going I urged the car and all seemed ok. I could see the top of the hill and I was nearly there, when I drove over a mound of snow and it threw my speed and traction and I ended up sideways.

Now excuse the language, and having the children in the car I uttered it silently to myself but f*************************k.

OMG, that was scary, but not wanting the children to be scared, I was very laughy and its ok. Don't worry, I kept saying. Now this was a scenario. I had all 4 children and shopping, no pram for Harry so walking the trek home wasnt an option really. My car was sideways on a hill, covered in snow and high snow drifts so anything else coming the other way could easily plough into me. I got out to shift some snow from behind the wheels to see if I could straighten the car up, stupid idea using my bare hands, cos I cut my finger on something sharp and it was bloody freezing. Oh hell, what am I going to do.

Now what happened next completely restored my faith in mankind. Someone was definitely watching over me. A gentleman who I see walking his german shepherd past my house walked up. He pushed and helped me straighten the car so I wasnt in such a stupid position. A landrover then came behind me. Oh well done I muttered, where do you expect me to go????

BUT, he came up and assessed the situation, and OBVIOUSLY commented 'you're not going to get home in your car in this snow'
Dur I know that now.
He then said (and he'd had a chat with man with German Shepherd and they'd discussed this)I will take you and your children home and this man (who I now know is called Barry)will move your car backwards into a safer position.

I very trustingly left my car and its spare key with Barry and got into a complete strangers car with my kids and the shopping, he did a three point turn and drove me up the impassable Moorside Rd hill way (which I didnt go up). His car drove like there was nothing on the road. Mental note, I must get a landrover.

Danny was a little confused. He got out of bed he is day sleeping in readiness for his upcoming three night shifts) and wondered where the car was.
Just then Barry rang, and said his farmer friend was going to tow my car to his house, which was a little further up the hill from where I abandoned it, and he would keep it on is drive till it cleared. He would then walk round with my key.
What a superstar, my car would be safe.
But 10mins later Madeleine shouted, our car is here. OMG, how did he get it home?? His farmer friend said it was just as easy to tow it home than tow it to Barry's house and voila.
Me, kids, shopping and now the car all safely home.

I cannot thank them enough. They were all brilliant and got me out of an extremely sticky situation.

Now came the next problem, how does Danny get to work? Well seeing as the roads in the village were clear, he arranged to walk down through the drifts and meet his ambulance mate. Brr, slippy, deep snow and cold, but he made it and is now safe at work. God knows how he will get home in the morning, especially seeing as more snow is forecast. But me and the kids are home, enough food for a few days and I have the electric blanket to keep warm.

Now, I just have to say (as the whole country moans about snow blah blah blah) why on earth to people find the attraction in paying thousands of pounds to holiday in the stuff? I just cannot fathom it out.



Now looking back over my last few posts I realise they have been lacking in pics. Harry is never still, so getting a clear, non fuzzy picture is quite hard. Here's one of him taken last week. I think its cute, he loves his dummy and blankey