Winter wonderland

It was wonderful to wake up to snow, in Painswick, on 27 December. Not only was it wonderful to be somewhere so congenial, but how likely are we to see "Christmas" snow in England?

Churchyard fairyland

Slushy reality

People say, "But you come from Canada, you must be used to snow!" Indeed, most of Canada does have an extended, hard winter as the cold north wind sweeps down over the prairie and all points east - and I have experienced the long, cold winter in Calgary and in Halifax - but mostly I lived near Vancouver, on the west coast, where the mild wet winds sweep in from the Pacific and rise up when they get to the mountains, and dump their moisture ... and what we get all year round is rain, rain, rain. There is snow up the mountains in winter, but infrequently near sea level, though I'm told there have been various episodes already this year.

End of geographical disquisition, here are the "drive-by shootings" from Cranham Common as we drove towards the motorway and home -

The strong winds plastered the snow onto the trees in a narrow stripe

Highway traffic - slow and careful, everyone, please