It's been a little bit...............

........................ wintry around here

Last Friday we had the snow the Met Office warned us about.

My boss rang me early to tell me he'd decided to close the school for the day as although the children, who virtually all live within easy walking distance of the school, could get there relatively easily, he was concerned for the staff who drive in from further away.

Nick's college lessons were cancelled so he went off sledging with his friends

But Louise's school was open - much to her disappointment and my dismay as it meant I had to get the car out onto the slithery roads to get her there

Our usual morning routine means I drive her part of the way across town to a certain point.  From there she can walk safely and comfortably to school in plenty of time for registration at 8.40 but I can also make my way back across town to my own school in time for an  8.30 start.  This means taking a journey through the rat runs and back streets.  Because the streets were pretty snow-ridden I took her along the main roads right to the school door as that gave me a safe area to turn and retrace my steps

I then enjoyed a quiet day at home stitching in the warm

Yesterday evening the Met Office had promised us sleet

By the time I was collecting Nick from college at 4.30 the sleet had had an identity crisis and was coming down as very wet snow which was settling rapidly

An evening of hand stitching on the sofa whilst occasionally glancing out of the window and we had a good 2 to 3 inches of wet snow which hadn't changed by the time the alarm went off this morning

Louise had a History GCSE exam this morning so had to go into school for that even if the rest of the school had been closed

My Headteacher then phoned me to tell me he had managed to get to school and he was going to try and open which meant I had to try and get there somehow

Although the snow was wetter than Friday's offering the roads were pretty treacherous and I also had great reservations about parking my car in the cul-de-sac which houses my school in case someone else slid into it while dropping their little darlings at school

So Nigel volunteered to drop Louise off at school in plenty of time for her exam and then offload me at the end of the little road that leads to our school before heading off to his office about 20 miles away

All in all it meant I got to school on time without having any scary driving moments

We gave all our parents the opportunity to decide whether to bring their children to school or not and we had about two thirds of them in - some parents made a huge effort bringing them in from a distance others who lived on the same street decided to keep them at home to play in the snow - interesting!

Our new Head is a lovely guy with a great understanding of kids and putting the fun into education - he gave the teachers carte blanche to take all their charges out into the snow as and when they saw fit.  As a result we had a wonderful crop of snowmen on the school field and lots of squealy happy little people.  Then to make the day extra special he nipped up to the local shop and bought enough hot chocolate powder for them to all have a warming cheery cup when they came back inside to dry out and warm up.  Inspired!  I think those kids who had been kept at home missed out somehow

Although everything feels much lighter here with the reflection of the snow I do think the monochrome surroundings give off a very strange light.  A little bit of cheer from my first daffodil purchase of the year goes a long way to brightening up the snowy view through the window

I haven't done much machine stitching this week so far but I did resurrect a handwork project - Liberty Tana Lawn Hexagons (scroll down a little on he link to find what these diamonds will join onto) - slow and steady gets you there eventually