Suddenly, during the Eucharist ...

And it was as quick as that. We arrived at church with a fine smirr of tiny snowflakes powdering the ground, and emerged an hour or so later to find this magical transformation. Lovely, yes - but we had, even on an already icy morning, over 30 people in church, including several old people (like us, and more so!), all depending on the cars which they would hope to drive down this hill.

And this is where something happened that has never occurred in the 45 years (give or take a month or two) that I've been worshipping here. Our heroic Rector (swiftmidges) and Mrs Rector (yellow boots) told everyone to have a cup of coffee while they attempted to clear the snow on the sharp turn at the middle of the track. Some of us disobeyed and went out to play instead - hence this and other photos. 

We got down, though even with a 4x4 we skidded a bit on the steepest bit. The roads were virgin territory as we headed into town, but a gritter/snowplough passed our house 30 minutes later as we were hauling two laden wheelie-bins round to the front of the house in the hope that they might be emptied tomorrow. 

Now it's dark, and it's been raining for two hours. We'll see what the morning brings. But I wish I'd had a grandchild or two here to take sledging...