What you can do on two wheels

Check this out and feel the pain!

Meanwhile, this weekend...

...we're back to this, about five inches of crisp, white snow and, guess what the forecast for our area said on Friday? This weekend was to be dry and sunny. In fact, Keith and I had even planned to go over to the coast today to give Paddy a run on the beach. Such is my touching faith in the weathermen!
So, Paddy and I went for a walk in the snow and then I did the Big Garden Birdwatch.  Although the intermittent sleet and snow didn't really help, I had visits from bluetits, great tits, a robin and a couple of dunnocks and house sparrows. Blackbirds and starlings were there none but starlings have been conspicuous by their absence round here this last year anyway. Keith thought Paddy might like to join me to watch for squirrels and cats and even made up a tick sheet for him. Unfortunately, he had a bit of trouble holding the pen - Paddy, I mean, not Keith.
The bucket of grit, shovel and brush are back by the front door and Keith has set off to do a job out in the sticks.
"You've got your crampons and grit bucket, haven't you?" I checked.
"But this is Wales, not Russia," I thought as I closed the front door.
Here's hoping February will be better.

Springtime

The tail end of January always seems to be a bit of a nonentity for me. Christmas is over, the new year isn't quite so new any more and winter, short days and long nights seem to be stretching endlessly ahead. Until, that is, you spot these ....
As it's not a very good photo, only snapped on my phone camera, perhaps I need to identify it as the first snowdrops - at least chez Jennyta.
Very uplifting, seeing these frail-looking little blossoms braving the cold. Perhaps Spring is not so far round the corner after all.
Let's hope it's not taking the scenic route!

And now over to the weather forecast...

It appears that BBC weather service has come in for some criticism recently for a certain lack of accuracy in its forecasts. Could be something to do with 'barbecue summer' and 'mild winter', but that's just a wild guess. However, forecasts on the radio and television over the last couple of days have brought 'fence sitting' to new heights.
The main gist has been as follows:
"There will be a swathe of snow stretching diagonally from north east Wales to the south east of England. Now just because we say that now, it doesn't mean that that is what is really going to happen. The snow could be rain or sleet, or it might end up somewhere quite different, like Scotland or Northern Ireland, or then again, it might be diverted to France, in which case Wales might be sunny and hot, although that is about as likely as having a barbecue summer in 2009 was. Of course, at this time of year, and in fact at any time of year, you have to remember that the weather is changeable (yes, really!) so you are not to get your knickers in a twist and start complaining if our forecast isn't quite accurate.
Actually, that's why we are issuing a Severe Weather Warning over the whole of the UK, just to cover all eventualities.
In fact, it's probably advisable to stay at home for the foreseeable future, just in case....You never know..."

Back to square one

Yesterday, it seemed as though the snow was retreating and that life might actually get back to normal in the near future. I mean, we even had a post delivery, for the first time in a week. Apparently the Royal Mail had decided that our local postlady would be putting her life in jeopardy if she ventured down our road. The council obviously agree because, although they don't think it warrants being gritted, the bin wagons couldn't possibly venture down here to empty our bins. Anyway, today we woke up to yet more inches of snow and it's still coming down so we may have to hibernate for the rest of the winter.
I rang Royal Mail on Monday to find out what was happening with our post and was told that, although the weather conditions made it far too difficult for their employees to venture out, it was OK for me to risk breaking my neck if I wanted to come and collect it. I declined the offer. After all, who wants to go to those lengths just to collect a pile of brown envelopes?
However, it did set me thinking about the bygone days of my youth  ... when I were nobbut a lass, well a student anyway.In those days, Christmas post was the thing to do during your Christmas break if you wanted to make a bit of money to supplement your student grant. (Yes, those were the heady days when people got grants to go on to higher education, rather than having to saddle themselves with huge amounts of debt as now.) So for three years, that's what I did and for at least one, maybe two of those years, it snowed in the days before Christmas, quite heavily as I recall.
Now you want to know what was different, don't you?
Well, we carried heavy sacks on our backs - no trolleys on wheels for us- and we got the bus from the sorting office to wherever our round was and then back again for the next delivery. And when it snowed - guess what? We were expected to get on with our rounds, and we did. AND we lived to tell the tale!
OK, rant over for today. It's stopped snowing now so Paddy and I are going out to play.

Happy Shopping

Christmas has come and gone, New Year greetings have been exchanged and for some, New Year resolutions have been made and possibly broken already. But although things have quietened down in the world of supermarkets, it seems that not everyone is happy. In fact, some checkout staff are living proof that 'Kevin' is still around and is not necessarily male.


My 'Here to help you' person was female; no, not a sulky teenager but a (very) mature woman who was obviously not having a good day. When it came to my turn, she completely ignored me and let me get on with packing my shopping unaided.
(Sign above our head: "Happy to help with your packing!")
"Could you give me a hand with packing, please?" I said politely, noticing the queue building up behind me.
She looked at me for the first time and made a sort of hrrumphing noise, just like Kevin. Very reluctantly, she picked up one of my bags and carelessly stuffed a few items into it. And that was the full extent of her packing. Having finished scanning, that was her part of the procedure done and she turned round to exchange a few words with a customer at the neighbouring checkout who was obviously a friend.
I had picked up an unexpected bargain on my tour round the store, a 30 litre stainless steel kitchen bin, but as I only had a small trolley, I was going to need some help.
(Sign overhead: "Happy to carry your shopping to the car for you.")
I did toy with the idea of asking her to do it, just to see her reaction, but instead,
"Could someone help me carry this out to the car, please?" I asked politely.
She looked at me incredulously, hrrumphed again and finally turned to the male employee behind her to make the request.
He, on the other hand, was very friendly and helpful.
Afterwards, I sat in the car and wondered why on earth I had put up with such bad service...

The street beneath your feet

This was mentioned in passing in a review of the papers on television this morning. I already knew what the legal position was, or at least I think I did. (It took ages to find anything very authoritative on the subject when I looked on the internet.) Basically, during snowy or icy weather, the legal position in the UK is that a householder bears responsibility for ensuring that the pathways on his own property are clear for anyone likely to use them, such as the postman. (Haven't seen one of those for several days.)
But when it comes to the pavement outside, the position is different.
Councils generally do not grit pavements, nor do they grit most of the less busy roads. In fact, now that grit is becoming less available, even fewer roads will be gritted, which means that many people will decide to leave the car at home and walk. This could be a sensible decision except that walking on ice and compacted snow carries its own risk - ask any A&E department.
It is possible that many  householders would  be quite happy to clear the pavement in front of their property and if everyone, or even the majority of people, did this, it would make life so much easier for pedestrians. In fact in many other countries, this is positively encouraged or even required.
Oh but, hang on, this is the UK we're are talking about here, land of the 'blame culture', where people who have an accident are then encouraged to look for someone to blame and claim compensation from, whether it was due to lack of care or simply 'one of those things.' So, householders are warned not to clear the pavement in front of their property in case they are sued. After all, the argument goes, by clearing away the snow and ice, passers-by will assume that the pavement beneath their feet is clear and they can dance along it without a care in the world and without having the intelligence to realise that, although the surface is reasonably clear, it is not the same as walking on it on a sunny summer's day.
So everyone's a loser. Householders play safe as they decide not to run the risk of being sued and pedestrians continue to hobble along, hoping they will not end up measuring their length at any moment, or, worse still, especially if they are elderly or disabled, they decide not to venture out at all.