Snow
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cottage tales | 13 comments
Photo: Snow in the cottage garden
My brother Mark had carpentry lessons at school. Once he brought back a sweet little stool that still stands in my mum’s bathroom to hold books beside the loo. The other thing that I remember was a large and sturdy toboggan that he made when he was just twelve years old. It was big enough to accommodate all three children in our family.
My mother had remarried and we were moving to Devon, a county renowned for its mild winters. Secretly she thought that the toboggan would hang redundant in the garage.
But this was the winter of 1962/63, probably the coldest winter since 1795. Most of the UK was under snow from Boxing Day until March 1963. The sledge came into its own. The perfect chariot for getting the most thrills out of the snow.
We flew down steep hills clinging together in order of age. My brother steering at the front, my sister in the middle and me at the rear. I can still remember the speed and the frosty air and the final tumble into the deep drifts at the bottom. Luckily these were cushioned landings every time. Then we’d rush back up to the top again, adrenalin pumping, excited and united.
I remember sitting in the back of my stepfather’s car as he drove through the slim Devon lanes, snow up to the top of the high hedges on either side. It was a strange, desolate yet beautiful world.
Studying the weather report for that period this evening, I was shocked to read of the wildlife and livestock that died of starvation that winter. I had no idea.
I always think of Mark’s sled when it snows.
Eighteen years ago I tobogganed on Newmarket gallops. Like today, it was one of those rare times when it also snowed in central London. Out on the gallops there were three of us and Fly, my first Min Pin, who was addicted to speed. My friends had unearthed an old Swiss toboggan in their shed. It had patches of woodworm but went like the wind. It collapsed gradually over the course of the afternoon until it was just a skeleton, only able to transport the lightest member of the group and Fly. Until today, there hasn’t been enough snow for tobogganing on the gallops.
I stayed indoors today, making marmalade. And dreamt about tobogganing – holding on tight, slightly out of control, the dazzling light and the laughter echoing across the snow.
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Hi Veronica
Good points. Why would we buy snow ploughs etc to only be used very twenty years or so? But I’m not talking about London. A lot of regions the UK battle with snow every year.
When I first moved to this region my house tax was £50.00 per annum. We had cold winters and hot summers. The major environmental problems were dealing with the roads in the winter and providing more water in the summer. But taxes have gone up considerably. We now pay over three thousand pounds a year for council tax and water rates for our small cottage.
I do know the chairman of the District council and have heard that funds are very limited. They were asked to cut back in the region of £100,000 this year so I understand that winter gritting isn’t a priority, if we have had several warmer winters. But, all councils did have long term forecasts in September and it turns out that many didn’t order salt (probably couldn’t afford to). I don’t know whether our council bought salt. But the main street through our village was not gritted when we had the forecasted snow on Monday. This is a key road to access other villages and meant that the road was pretty dangerous. It’s a big village so hundreds of people didn’t go to work on Monday. In the past the village High Street was always gritted so people could venture out and get to work.
Many regions were affected. Low grade salt is far cheaper than the loss to businesses with people staying at home. Salt is effective in clearing roads in the UK. Snow ploughs are for much harsher conditions. We don’t need expensive machinery sitting in sheds for years. Just salt and grit and the lorries that I’ve seen on every frosty night in winter for years..
I stayed at home on Monday when we had deep snowfall in our area. I didn’t want to chance an accident and the knock on effect of not having viable transport. I didn’t even venture out as I didn’t want to break a leg :). It just cost me my wages for the day but that has to be earned in extra hours before the mortgage goes out at the end of the month. If I had expanded my business (which is encouraged massively by the government) and was paying business rates (very, very high) for a premises and employing say, ten people I would be very angry indeed. As I would have to work ten days unpaid to cover the losses.
I don’t know what the situation is in France. I know that you have high taxes. But we have high local taxes here. Businesses are struggling, a retraction of orders and the possibility of loans to see them over the tricky patch is pretty small – so the snow must have been an extra body blow to many, many firms.
Few people in the UK can afford to go out and enjoy the snow. They probably did but at a cost, to the companies that they work for if they are not self employed. And all we needed were some gritting lorries loaded with tons of low grade salt.
I bet that if you do the maths the salt would be cheaper than the loss to the economy.
More snow fell today in different regions of the UK. We are now dealing with a shortage of salt. Loads of people don’t dare to take a day off work as jobs are now so precious and sort after. They are willing to chance it for their mortgages and families. Enough said.
Hello Kate(UK)
I love the idea of the whistle. Great to see so many birds feeding. Well done you. It’s so easy to forget the birds.
Oh yes, bird food in many places- but I have upwards of 14 blackbirds down at any one time, a flock of starlings and three black caps each of which has commandeered a feeder and chases off anyone who tries to use it! I’m thinking of investing in a refree’s whistle…
Hi Fiona
I get a little exasperated with the chorus of criticism saying that Britain is pathetic because it can’t cope with snow. Moscow and parts of Germany have to deal with heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures every year, so of course they are equipped to deal with it. There hasn’t been snow like this in London for 20 years, and I bet most Londoners wouldn’t be willing to pay the extra taxes necessary to pay for the infrastructure to cope with such a rare event!
Here, half an inch of snow is enough to bring chaos for a few hours 🙂 But again, it’s so rare that having systems to deal with it just isn’t necessary.
Although humans like to think they can control every aspect of their environment — we can’t! The elements are outside our control. So if you can’t get to work because it’s snowing, don’t complain — do what KateO did, go out and enjoy it! And you’ll also be helping the emergency services by keeping the roads free of people skidding about and having accidents 🙂
PS Fiona, so sorry to hear about poor little Peace. It must be so hard to diagnose and treat these fragile creatures.
Hi Michelle
You have Groundhog day we have Candlemass (not the band, the religious festival!). Our garden is still covered in a good four inches of snow and it’s pretty nippy (warm jackets and scarves on indoors even when the heating is on).
Lucky you with crocuses. I spotted the leaves pushing up through the earth before this chilly break. Hopefully thaey are just sleeping ready to wake and burst through when the weather gets warmer and the snow clears.
Hi Belinda
Yes the Met Office is a great resource. When we have cold winters I’m very happy as it kills all the diseases that have been attacking our crops for the past few years! I also like snow, the squeaky crunch under footfalls and the prettiness. Although I do know it is extremely hazardous and many people are killed on our roads when it is cold and snowy.
Hi Lindsay
You were so brave and intelligent to walk to A and E and check yourself in. I’m impressed.
Hi Amanda
Snow angels are great and also snowmen and animals. Not so keen on snowballs though. Do you remember those bullies at school that put small, icy snowballs under your collar?
You need a decent hill for sledging. One that you know to avoid disasters at the bottom.
Hello Kate(uk)
Watching children playing in the snow is such a fillip.
Have you tried putting the bird food in several places?. Even the most timorous have a look in then as the stronger birds can’t be in six places at once. It seems to work for me and cuts down the queues which seem to attract cats.
Hi KateO
What a disaster. A holiday curtailed by our inability as a nation to cope with snow (they have no problems in Germany and Russia has a metro that works in freezing temperatures). I know it’s a finance thing as most local authorities just can’t afford to grit the roads. I reckon that they hope that mild winters are now going to be standard and divert funds to something more pressing. They were caught out this year.
Glad that you had fun in the end though.
I didn’t hear that children are unhappy because of the society that we live in. That’s depressing but I’m not surprised. They have so much more (computers/central heating/more reliable cars/speed of information) but on the other hand they have so much less to look forward too and the future must seem so scary (Global financial melt down/terrorism/no jobs for life and the possibility of no job ever/global warming and very little freedom). As children we would safely ‘play out’ all day. Now it’s not safe, Mum or Dad always need to be in tow unless it’s a fenced in play scheme. If our children are constantly fenced in how will they truly grow?
We set off for Wales yesterday after a close scrutiny of the forecasts but had to turn back. Shame I was looking forward to a few days away. Never mind no-one could go to work today so 6 of us played in the snow & built a huge snowman. Ironically our son & his girlfriend had just returned from a week snowboarding in France! We enjoyed watching the children too & hearing their shrieks of pleasure in the distance & on TV – it was heartwarming after hearing on the news last night that our children are unhappy because of the society we live in. It took me back to my childhood too – my youngest sister was born that winter.
The best thing about yesterday was seeing all the children in the street throwing snow at eachother for much of the morning.Today it is a sheet of ice so no-one is outside- except the birds,who are squabbling over the food I have put out for them-plenty for everyone, but the males have started their spring battles and see no reason to stop just because of a bit of snow.I want to shout to them, “save your energy and keep warm!”.
Great post Fiona. We didn’t do any sledging yesterday but we did build snowmen, snow animals, we made snow angels and we had lots of snowball fights. All great fun.
Lindsay, you poor thing and how brave to walk all that way.
I remember the winter of ’62/62 as well. My mum was in hospital and I looked after the house. Dad was at work and I poured boiling water over my foot. It was a 30 minute walk in deep snow to the hospital in my wellingtons. Instead of visiting Mum I had to visit the A&E for my foot!
The link to the the weather site was amazing… I wish we had a record so easy to access here in Australia.
It made me think that although Im convinced of glabol warming as a side affect of manufacturies & machinations being the way of the past 100 years or so, there are also cycles & freak out of character things that happen with the weather all over the world.
Your garden looks lovely Fiona. I have freezing nights and 56 degrees today. The daffodills are pushing up out of the ground, and I saw my first crocus today.
I don’t think that groundhog knows anything about weather….