We had a lovely flurry of snow this afternoon which nicely topped up the remains from the other day. We walked the dogs in the early evening glow and the park was a wasteland of white and sleety snow. Oddly attractive and frightfully cold!
We’re not far from Basingstoke or Reading. In fact it’s 25 & 30 miles respectively. They are both just beyond the M3. While we were enjoying our little white-out Mcflurry of a blizzard, both Basingstoke and Reading were under siege. Sort of. People were stuck in their cars with but a few drops of water and little in the way of food, ignoring the small squares of carpet which would hold a fair few crumbs of…something.
One of the people I follow on Twitter was somewhat distressed as her 81 year old step-father left to go shopping at 1pm for an hour and didn’t get back until after 10pm. He had been stuck in traffic without a mobile phone (apparently he always leaves it at home…) and ended up walking up the steepest hill in Berkshire to get back to his wife. One presumes he was a bit chilly!
His wife, meantime, had been stuck in a house with no boiler (it having blown up because of the freezing water), no electricity (it went off shortly after the boiler) and without knowing what was happening to her husband.
While washing up, I was listening to 5 Live (I do this whenever Radio 4 gets a bit dull – not often) and there were cries of distress coming from all along the M4 and surrounding roads as listeners rang in just to talk to another human being. Most people were displaying a bit of the old blitz spirit, while the DJ tried to get them to blame someone for their predicament. He didn’t mean god! I think he wanted them to blame the council for not gritting. But they disappointed him, I’m happy to say. Most were just resigned.
Mirinda was supposed to go to her book club this afternoon. I scraped Sidney clear of her blanket of snow and asked Mirinda if she was sure. It wasn’t snowing but the sleet was being a pain. She figured it would be ok. About an hour and a half later I heard her come back in. Apparently the further south she drove, the worse the weather was and the less visibility available. Wisely, she had turned back. I dread to think what would have happened had she continued on her way.
PS: I decided to try making stollen again today, for the third time. I told Mirinda if it didn’t work this time I was NEVER making it again. Guess what? I’m NEVER MAKING IT AGAIN!
