It snowed on Saturday afternoon, leaving a thin covering of white along the road and pavements of our small Close. Even the grass area at the top of the Close received a coating. A further fall overnight left a good two inches on the ground and everwhere looked fresh and clean with the blanket of pristine whiteness. By ten o'clock yesterday morning, the kids were out to play.
Nest door, two year old Nichola — a sugar-plum dressed from head to toe in pink — helped Daddy build a snowman on the front lawn. I watched it all from the kitchen window, shivering but laughing at the fun being had out there. Several snowball fights had broken out on the grass, sleds appeared from nowhere and squeals of joy filled the little Close as children flung themselves face down in the white stuff, impervious to the cold.
"You'll catch your death." I remember my mother shouting at me if I ever tried going out in such weather without wearing more clothes than Scott took to the Antarctic. Needless to say I never did, but I wonder what she would have said if she had seen the thin and skimpy garments the local kids were wearing as they dive-bombed into the snow.
Next door, the snowman had grown alarmingly - I reckoned it must be 7 feet tall. "Make it bigger, daddy. Make it bigger." Nichola offered encouragement while she ran around with a carrot in her hand. The only way dad could have done this, was with the aid of a step-ladder — the three-ball snowman (one large one on the bottom, a slightly smaller one in the middle and a smaller ball yet for the head) was already taller than he was.
At lunch time everyone went home and I dragged myself away from the window. Today, the children are back at school, early morning traffic along the Close has turned the road into a dirty slushy mess and the snowman has lost it's head and now leans at a gravity-defying angle. The thaw has set in and everywhere is trampled and grubby.
But for a few hours yesterday, the shining whiteness and squeals of childish laughter made the Close a winter wonderland and I'm glad I got the chance to watch them have their fun.
What fun did you have in the snow?
