Skip to main content

Sunshine & snow!

 
Weather wise it's been a real week of extremes, with glorious sunshine at the start of the week and then some of the heaviest snowfalls in South East memory at the end - must be Britain!

It's also been a week of ups and downs with this lurgy that's been going around. Poor Abi had to take Monday and Tuesday off school, begging to go back through a combination of boredom and fear that she would miss out on the Year 7 sports tour, only to have the tour cancelled due to the number of kids off ill and the impending weather warnings. It does seem a bit unfair, the boys have been on a couple of trips away and this was the only one planned for the girls and they've missed out. At least going back to an all girls school that won't happen I guess.

Both girls couldn't wait to get out into the snow, making the most of it while it was still pristine. On Thursday evening despite a day of beautiful sunshine the clouds started to come in and then the snow began to fall, not stopping until late Friday night by which point we had about 8 inches in places. The school made a valiant effort to open on Friday although after everyone had struggled to get in, they then announced that the catering staff hadn't made it so they would close at lunchtime - at least for us its only a walk around the corner!

The kids therefore spent all of Friday morning building snowmen at school, coming home only to ask to go back out in it again. Given we have this sort of snow so rarely we certainly weren't going to stop them, even if Izzy's snow gear shows just how much she's grown since last year's ski trip! The country has gone to pot with the snow, with people getting stuck all over the place, Basingstoke becoming almost impassable with people sleeping in their cars and abandoned vehicles stranded all over the place - you'd think it had been 8 feet of snow rather than 8 inches!

Of course someone had to catch Abi's cold and it had to be me. At least I didn't get the full on fever - just the headache, sore throat and painful chesty cough. I've been dosed up on ibuprofen and willing it to go away since Tuesday - it's the last thing I want now that I have some time off.
This week has been lovely despite feeling under the weather. I had to go into London for work (new work not old) on Wednesday, but other than that I've been enjoying a much slower pace of life. On Tuesday I met Simon and Audrey for an impromptu walk at Westonbirt and on Thursday I finally made it to Welford Park to see the snowdrop gardens with a friend. I was a bit disappointed at the latter - not much better than the swathes of flowers we have in our woods - but at least we went before they all got squished by the snow. I presume they'll pop back up given they bloom at this time of the year - bit of a design fault otherwise. I also had a yoga retreat yesterday which we all managed to get to despite the snow - a perfect way to spend a snowy Saturday - wrapped up in a beautiful warm studio eating healthy but lovely food while practising lots of yoga. Couldn't have been a better way to spend the day.

This week I have a trip to Mum and Dad's on Tuesday / Wednesday to look forward to, followed by my leaving party in London on Thursday evening.  I'm also going to book myself a massage and a trip to Oxford, plus some other little bits a pieces - I am planning on making the most of the next 4 weeks before the world speeds up again - what a treat!

Happy boy in the sunshine!








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cough, cough

Izzy - can't do a photo without rude finger gestures It's fair to say that the last couple of weeks have been rough. I managed to get the cough Mum had a while back and it has been horrible! Both Dad and Glenn seemed to get a very mild version of it but Mum and I got the full dose and I can safely say that it has been a stark reminder of just how bad a viral infection can be. It also illustrates the whole Covid experience - some get it worse than others. For me it has meant that for over 2 weeks I have had the worst cough which has left me unable to sleep properly. I still can't sleep lying down fully, and have to be propped up on pillows on my back which is not my favoured sleeping position! It has also meant that Glenn has spent the last 10 days in the spare room because I have been coughing so badly he is unable to sleep in the same room. Thank goodness we didn't all have it - we'd have shaken the house to its foundations! It has also meant that I have been exhau
Post a Comment
Read more

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

I was sure I write the blog last week.... but, it seems another 2 weeks have flown by and now we are staring down the barrel of the Christmas holidays and the end of the year! Currently it's all about Doug and what a star he has proved to be so far. He has now been with us for 3 weeks and he is (so far, I keep thinking at some point it will change) a pretty chilled out puppy. As a second dog he has been thrown in at the deep end and has been to Sunday lunch with Alan & Sarah (which he loved), socialised at home with friends and their dogs, met babies (he loved Elsie) and started to go for walks. The walking has been a bit different to our previous approaches with new dogs. In the past we have ventured out carefully, making sure that our new baby only walks a short distance so they can experience all the new sights and sounds. Doug's first walk was after Sunday lunch last week, just him and 8 other dogs for bout 45 mins - he loved it! In our defence we didn't let him wal
Post a Comment
Read more

March!

Betty kisses! Blink and 3 weeks have sped by - just like that! The good news is that it's a) beginning to feel like Spring (well, some of the time), and b) that means we are nearly through year end at work which is a blessed relief - that last couple of weeks have been pretty intense.  Although it's been busy, we have a good few weeks, including a lovely weekend where Glenn and I managed to get away on our own for the first time in 2 years - amazing! We only went to a cottage in Devon for 2 nights but the cottage was really nicely arranged and we settled in very quickly. We did have to adjust a bit t the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere - us and sheep - but Glenn had Wi-Fi and the rugby and I had plenty of time to walk so we were both happy. Kerrie and Elsie came and stayed with the kids so they had a great time also, with lots of time to realise that a young baby might look like fun but it's a lot of hard work! Betty and Doug went to Mum and Dad's. They surviv
Post a Comment
Read more