Snowy Sunday & good neighbours...

So it snowed yesterday, we had about 4 inches in total (10 cm for those that do metric), and then it froze... as I discovered at 5 am when I got as far as the end of the drive in a somewhat overly optimistic attempt to walk the dogs... luckily grabbing the fence post with one hand and hooking my hand round the recycling bin prevented me from landing on my backside in the middle of the road (again).... and I kept hold of the leads - which is a bloody good thing or Gretchen would probably be still skipping around the local park staying out of reach.

So I then spent much of the day hiding in the kitchen and hoping that it would all go away .... I was supposed to be using my time wisely (yeah right) and doing my next assignment (a 1500 letter of advice on a particular legal matter.... they think of some really really boring things for us to do) but got sidetracked by the plot bunny and wrote about 4000 words of story instead.

This evening, I ventured out to consider the feasibility of getting the car out tomorrow morning, as opposed to having to brave public transport (shudder... I seem to have a magnetic attraction to small children when on the bus, particularly those covered in horrible sticky substances)... As I crunched down the driveway on the ice feeling very pessimistic about my prospects of driving to work tomorrow, I realised that in fact my car had been cleared of snow, and my driveway and road directly outside my house had all be cleared and then gritted!

Now, I live on a small caul-de-sac of 8 houses which is kind of a spur off another part of the street.  It's a mix of privately owned and Council/Housing Association properties and is very diverse ethnically, culturally and socially (I love it, after growing up in a predominantly white middle class area I love the mix I get living here). Of the 8 houses, there are no two who have the same family structure, ethnicity, social make up or age range.

Anyway, not knowing who had been out clearing the road I wondered next door to see my neighbour and apparently the kids on the street, as well as some others from the next street, had decided that they would clear the road for everyone because they were bored!  Sometimes it's easy to forget what good neighbours are... until presented with something this damn obvious.

So I shall be driving to work tomorrow, and on the way home I will stop at the shop and try find something nice for them all to share.