Let’s do this together

The snow started falling just as we’d sat down to eat the results of my bonding session with the goddaughter on Sunday evening.

Saying that, the beef, green bean and cashew nut noodle dish turned out to be just beef and random vegetable stir-fry as I’d forgotten to add cashew nuts to the shopping list, along with the green beans and egg noodles. But other than that, it was perfect.

It was also great to spend time with Molly because you mostly ignore godchildren when they’re little and just send unsuitable presents, like indoor fireworks or terrapin aquariums. And then one day, they’re taller than you and expecting you to get a round in at the pub.

Turns out Mols is funny, clever and self-effacing, and also very polite as she ate all the food I’d cooked without complaining, especially as we spent most of the meal sitting in thick black smoke.

That’s because nobody could accuse me of not being original in my birthday presents for Molly this year. I bought her a wok and when she arrived, even scrubbed the lacquer off and seasoned it. This meant for most of the evening, the fire alarm kept going off as I blackened the pan, and we had to shout over the roar of the extractor fan.

Then as we sat down to eat and chat, while

Molly picked the odd unidentified item out of her bowl, I noticed that strange muffled sound you get when snow falls and it coats everything in a silent, white dusting.

We looked out the windows, squealed and ran to the front door like big kids.

My neighbours were doing the exact same thing at that moment, and dad David, who lives to the right of me, called across: “Er… are you on fire? There seems to be smoke billowing out of your door.”

I like to think Molly will always remember her 17th birthday with me, but it will probably be for all the wrong reasons.

■ Did you get snow yesterday? Send snaps of your local white-out… or what’s left of it. Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.

Please note, if you send us photos of your grandchildren, we’ll also need permission of one of their parents to print them... Thanks! Yours, Siobhan