The Beast from the East – Nottingham

As last night’s forecast firmed up it became clear that Nottingham was going to get some of the threatened wintry weather, but even as it fell we were told it was sleet. It wasn’t, it was snow. The advantage of sleet is that it doesn’t stay. Snow stays. Then, if it doesn’t thaw, it freezes. On our street we don’t see much sun in winter and that ice can stay for days. The temperature is just hovering a whisker above freezing at the moment and nothing is thawing.

It is nothing like the snow experienced by many of my readers, but as a nation we generally have so little snow that we are never properly prepared.

Buses have been cancelled locally and schools across Nottingham are closed (though it is very patchy and many remain open). I suspect this is more to do with where the staff live, rather than the conditions round the schools. There’s no point opening a school if you have no staff.

Snow in Sherwood – though not much

Julia did some shopping yesterday so we have plenty of food, despite running stocks down for the move. I say “running stocks down” but as long as we can do without bread and milk I think we probably still have enough for two weeks. When we get our new freezer at the bungalow I intend freezing bread, so even that won’t be a problem. I may get some long-life milk too, or look into freezing milk.

In fact, I just did look up freezing milk. You can do it, but it may separate, and can only be frozen for a month. It’s easier just to buy long life milk and put up with complaints about the flavour. Personally I don’t mind it, but I know some people do.

The header picture is one Julia took from the front window at 9am. Other pictures are from past years.

Snowy Detail