A winter wonderworld

It's a winter wonderworld outside. It's rather like one of those glittery Christmas winter scenes on cards. The sun just causing the snow crystals to sparkle.

It began Friday night. Nothing much. Just enough to give a frozen white glaze on everything. In the cold sunshine it started to melt.

Saturday night brought more snow. Once more everything was covered with white. Still it remained just a thin veneer.

Last night was heavier. Even so I doubt there's even as much as an inch.

We've been lucky so far.

This morning has been grey skies, followed by a flurry of large snowflakes, followed by a spell of bright blue skies & sunshine. Even now we seem to be returning under a heavy grey cloud cover. I suspect more snow is on its way.

Today is our last-Monday-of-the-month meal. I'm half-expecting the phone to ring as people cry off. In particular I expect Helen, who lives in a rural area & has a steep drive to negotiate before she even gets onto the country lane, to call. It's not worth having an accident for the sake of a night out. We can meet up again some other time. We should be meeting up for our Christmas meal at the Pub before so long anyhow.

We've had to have a change of venue for today's meal. We had planned to go to Ricky's, the excellent Cantonese restaurant which is always a favourite amongst us. Unfortunately he's decided to close this Monday, so we're trying another Chinese restaurant. We're told it's very good though different in cooking style. Fortunately it is on the promenade in Morecambe & that's one road that gets high priority for snow clearance. Hopefully that means we will still manage to get there. If not, it will be something quick out of the freezer. We're still hoping though.

I'm also feeling a little anxious about family & friends. As you know, we have some friends on the other side of the Pennines & that area seems to have been hit harder than this. Having spoken recently to friends in Arnside I'm also reminded how very little snow seems to cause Arnside, accessed only by minor B-roads, to be cut off from civilization. Many a winter we ended up shopping for elderly neighbours who daredn't go out, to find shops low on supplies as food delivery vans had been unable to get through. The pub always became the central point of refuge at such times. Much of the family lives in & around Stoke, another spot that always seems to get more snow than here. Hope all is well with them all.