Chaos is fun

So while Mum and Dad, and no doubt many others in Australia, are tossing and turning, worrying about bush fires, I have been out and about enjoying our bounteous snowfall. On Monday and Tuesday the biggest snowfalls in 18 years shut my work down, so I was working from home since we didn't have much snow to play in at home. But on Wednesday night we got about 4 inches, which is the most we have seen here I think.

On Thursday, I had to go to London for a meeting, so I pulled on my snow boots, jumped on my bike, and learnt to cycle through snow! Luckily Dad spent many of my formative years teaching me to rally drive, so I was fine with the slippery conditions and deep ruts.

Most of these photos are taken today, Friday, when I have finally had a chance to enjoy the snow. So it isn't quite as deep as it was, but it has been snowing more over night, and all day. The cats have been enjoying it all week - they like to play with it and eat it, but only in very short spells.

Schools are mostly shut, so there are lots of kids around. Like this group who were having a massive snow ball fight in University Parks.

And the parks were littered with giant snow balls, many 5 ft high.And while many people are complaining about the disruption (well they are English, that is what they do along with drinking tea), very few of them are actually prepared themselves or taking any precautions. [begin rant] People insist on driving, but don't wipe the snow off their car or take the recommended supplies. The footwear I saw in Oxford, where there was a lot of ankle deep slush, included high heels, ballet flats, converse (the canvas kind), good dress shoes without grip and plenty of pairs of sneakers designed to let your feet breathe while you exercise. And fair enough, many of them are college students (at least half the girls were wearing miniskirts too), but plenty were adults. Any one out having snow ball fights or going 'sledging' (not the cricket kind, the toboganning kind) were wearing jeans and other absorbant clothes. And the number of people I saw dragging wheely bags through the snow and slush! And the concept of shovelling the sidewalk - I saw council guys doing it in town, but that is it. To sum up: stop whinging about the government not being ready for unusually heavy snow when you aren't - this is why you have a nanny state. [end rant]