Feb 02 2009
A Snowy Day
This morning I held the Pibler up to the window and showed him a picturesque scene of snow-encrusted trees outlined against the white sky, cars barely identifiable beneath heaps of white, and whole families out and about, throwing snowballs.It started snowing when we were at the park Sunday afternoon, and by this morning the snow was several centimetres thick. Apparently it is the most severe snow Britain has seen for 18 years.
We spent most of the day indoors as I was apprehensive about navigating the treacherous slope of the huge hill we live on - but eventually was starting to feel a bit stir-crazy from having virtually no other social interaction for three days running, so made a trip to the supermarket (which was packed). I had to walk at the speed of a snail as I had the Pibler strapped to me in the Ergo baby carrier and felt the huge responsibility of not slipping on the sludgy snow. Fortunately cars were few and far between so most of the time I could walk on the road itself, which was less slippery than the pavement which had been cleared earlier.
We passed a couple of snowmen - one neighbour asked for our opinion on what colour the snowman’s eyes should be - and I was glad we had ventured out to experience the festive atmosphere that results when many people get a day off work, school or university. The transport systems have been thrown into disarray - as ever, Britain is ill-prepared for snow of any magnitude - and apparently the weather will continue this week.
Earlier on I finally got around to trying out the play dough recipe with the Pibler. At the mention that we were going to ‘cook’, he got so excited he could barely contain himself, and during the proceedings joined in very enthusiastically. Of course, being a bit disorganised, I discovered half-way through that we didn’t have any free-flowing salt, only salt crystals, and so the rest of the ‘cooking’ was more an exercise than any genuine attempt to produce playdough.
Red food dye was soon smeared everywhere in the kitchen and the Pibler was getting frustrated at not being able to fry the mixture himself. I felt a mounting sense of panic at the chaos, worrying about the welfare of the kitchen floor, and wished I had never begun the project. He also became annoyed with the feeling of the sticky mixture on his fingers, so I decided to run him a bath, as he was of course filthy by now.
He happily played with his ducks and water containers in the bath for a good while, while I recovered my sanity. It had been a long hard day, with the Pibler constantly seeming to want things that are not appropriate, and a perfect example of why I don’t stay home all day very often. Yes, the house is cleaner, but I don’t think I was designed to have cleaning as the epicentre of my life. I thought I’d get a bit more writing done, as I managed to do so on Sunday morning, but it didn’t pan out like that, possibly because I felt too tired. Now I’m hoping the snow tomorrow will not be severe enough to keep us housebound again!
Enjoy the snow! It’s so rare that the south-east of England and London have so much snow. I’m not surprised that everything is at a standstill - even if there is a tiny bit of snow, everything grinds to a halt in England!
Yes, cooking can get very messy! My daughter has always loved cooking but used to make a terrible mess in the kitchen! Now, at five and a half, she makes much less mess and can follow my instructions to make lovely cakes more or less on her own, so hang in there, it’s worth it in the long run!
Roz
http://lifeinaustralia.today.com
Yes it certainly is like that in England- you’d think they’d have figured something out by now! Good to hear that your daughter is so able with the baking…that’s great. My boy shows such an interest in ‘cooking’, I’m trying to encourage it…but have to remember he is after all only very little