the corner office

I timed it rather well. The forecast had said that snow was imminent. A few flakes were starting to come down as the boys and I bundled into the car, and it started snowing properly just as we got to the park. The snow got progressively heavier as we trudged towards the woods. An hour or so later, the snow had stopped, and we made our way back to the car, a thin blanket covering the fields.

And that, sadly, was all the snow we've had this winter. We were treated to some extremely cold weather in the weeks after that - dropping to -5C at some point, which is the coldest I've ever known it to be in our part of the world. But other than that, it's been another winter of storms, which, as always, isn't snow, but is at least interesting.

I don't know if this happens each year, and I just forget it, but I realised that winter was drawing to a close when I was standing on the train platform one mid-afternoon, and I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face; it no longer just being a cold, watery orb hanging low in the sky (not that I mind it being a cold, watery orb hanging low in the sky, that's what makes winter, winter). And then, within the space of two weeks I went from wearing a coat, to just wearing a hoodie, to taking my hoodie off on the longer, scenic walk home because it was getting too warm, to my Kiwi colleague coming to work in shorts and a t-shirt. The weather turned again, and he had to admit defeat, but coat weather is long gone, and the daily highs and lows inch upwards with the inevitability of the new season.

(Previous snow report, in keeping with long tradition, with gaps for 2022 and 2023. I don't remember whether it snowed in winter 2022, but my photos tell me we had snow last winter, enough for the boys to roll around in, at least).