Despite the pain, snow is truly magical
WAKING up to see the trees, houses and roads covered with snow is magical. On the downside, all but essential services are suspended, schools are shut, planes grounded and trains at a standstill. On the plus side, excited children are out making snowmen, sledging down hills, with Mum and Dad joining in snowball fights. A trip out escalates into a military exercise: survival equipment is packed into the car and the radio and internet are checked constantly for motorway and road reports. A walk to the shops through eight inches of snow can be fraught with danger. The kerbs are invisible and the cars crawling along slip and slide, terrifying pedestrians. The compacted snow hardens into ice, so slipping is a real danger. Out in the snow-covered garden, the bird feeders are all but smothered in soft snow and the bird bath is frozen solid. The task of tending to our feathered friends numbs the fingers and freezes the ears, but we are rewarded by the sight of dozens of small birds that appear from nowhere to devour seeds and nuts. Spending an hour clearing the drive, I am amazed at how much a shovel of snow weighs. In my warmest jacket and woolly hat, I greet the postie, who is wearing shorts. We do not get much snow in Central England, but when we do, everything stops for the duration. Children love it, public transport endures it, but nothing can take away the magical sight of new fallen snow — and for that all the hardships are worth it.
TONY LEVY, Wednesfield, W. Mids.