All white now...

Asian cats don't like the white stuff much. As they have very thin, silky coats and are heat-seekers, I don't blame them. Bomble tried to wake me at 7.30, but I shrugged him off and waited till 8 before seeing what the weathermaker had brought us. To my unsurprise, there was snow! lots of it. The council website that I had checked at 1am for school closures had showed about ten schools or colleges; but by 8.30 am it was running into the hundreds.

Having checked that neither the rehab nor school would be open for classes today, I spent the day knocking snow off the bird feeders and endlessly replenishing them. A robin acting as a bouncer or doorman repelled nearly all comers to the hanging feeding tray, which was supposed to be for the blackbirds. Unfortunately some of them were too heavy to land on it! I put food on the ground on a plate, but as fast as the jays and magpies could gobble it, the snow and ice were obscuring the suet pellets. In the end I hung up the non-squirrel proof feeders as well. Never has so much suet been put out in one morning!

There is no indication of a thaw any time soon, and it has been snowing all day. Some epic snowboarding has been taking place in the fields behind our house! Our estate is ok for 4-WD vehicles to use, but not much else. It's very hilly, and we live at the top end. So, with the fear of entrapment growing, I shovelled pathways to and from the front and back doors to the street , taking in the bird feeding route and all the steps. I put down salt and cinders on the shovelled areas. By this time, I was feeling a bit Cinderella-ish myself, but no fairy godmother appeared. CleanSteve did make me a cup of tea, though! We talked about the Big Blip challenge in the Nature and Wildlife group, as CleanSteve had several bird shots. We found a mystery bird among them.

I've also done a bit of the jigsaw I've been doing for weeks now, (and starting to hate!) while listening to Brick lane by Monica Ali, which has been my iPod companion for several weeks as well. She so aptly describes the lives of Bangladeshi families on the "Dogwood Estate" in Tower Hamlets that I am riveted. I lived on a similar estate there myself, though oddly enough she has not yet mentioned pharaoh ants or cockroaches!

Forgive my rabbiting. I am not used to being at home all day. CleanSteve's course tomorrow is cancelled, and I don't know that I will bother to go and deliver/collect goods in Nailsworth, 5 miles away. We shall see. I expect what I shall see is more whiteness.

We did take Bomble out when I'd cleared the pathways, but after a couple of minutes he set up a wailing to rival a banshee, the like of which we had never heard from him before! He has spent the evening either on his mat by the fire or on his other mat called CleanSteve's lap!