The Great Freeze

Advantages of all this snow:

1. Four and a half days off work.
2. More cat time.
3. Getting my mother's Christmas cards written and posted.
4. Getting the Christmas cakes made.
5. The Blitz spirit - people speak to each other in the street to complain of the snow.
6. If you're a cat - having heating on in the house in the daytime.


Disadvantages of all this snow:

1. Daughter 2, who was planning to come home from London for the weekend, wisely deciding not to - the trains are somewhat disrupted.
2. Not getting enough exercise - it's too much effort to walk very far on the snow and slush.
3. Spending too much on heating and still not being terribly warm some of the time.
4. Worrying about the birds and foxes and rabbits and badgers and mice and other local wildlife.
5. Spending lots of money on bird food which the birds don't seem terribly interested in - I even bought some very expensive dried wormy things and only some are being eaten. (Mind you, I wouldn't eat them myself.)
6. If you're my mother - being stuck in the house.
7. Being carless - our street isn't driveable. Also no deliveries, rubbish collections etc.


So on balance? Not working is great, though I've spent a lot of time visiting my mum. It's not just that I've had days off - I've also had evenings off, since I've no marking to do. So wonderful. Normally my non-working time is at Easter (tidying the garden after the winter), summer (keeping up with the gardening), October (tidying up the garden for the autumn) or Christmas (doing Christmassy things and seeing friends who've come up for the festive season). I've never had this extra time before. It's wonderful. It's what it must be like not to work. Why haven't I written a novel this week?

It's about time we got back to normal, though. Time feels suspended and it's all a bit odd and the rabbits must be getting awfully hungry. And I'm longing to see Daughter 2 again. She's been away for three weeks.