It’s been quite cool the last couple of mornings driving to work, surrounded by a snowy landscape. Sadly it hasn’t been cold enough for it to hang around for too long – something I used to really like when I was little was when it was snowy for the best part of a week and you could get to enjoy it.
I suppose with all the traffic chaos it causes I should be glad it’s over and done with by mid day, so I can get home without too much hassle. I do remember some great times when I was little where the snow would open up a whole avenue of fun to be had that wasn’t normally available, like rolling giant snow balls to make snow men, along with throwing the smaller ones.
Sledging is another obvious snow related activity, and when I was wee the best place to go was the steep banks in Hermitage Park. My mum and auntie Helen would take me and cousin Iain (who’s coincidentally skiing in France right now), as well as Snowy the dog. Snowy was a great name for a dog to have when it was snowing – even if he was yellow. Loads of kids used to go to the park and sledge on anything they could lay their hands on – trays, boxes, bin liners, you name it. One year Snowy had chased so many kids down the slope that they were all calling on him and he was just joining in the fun, checking to see if they were okay when they tumbled to a stop at the foot of the hill. He got his name in the local paper, actually, because a journalist had been there with his family and remembered “Snowy the dog” when he was writing it up in the days that followed.
Another unique snow related thing was Jam Snow. This was tapped from the vast reserviours of genius that reside within the mind of Crazy Uncle John. He would collect fresh snow and add jam, then serve in a bowl with a spoon. Stifle that cringe – acid rain and pollution hadn’t been invented back then, or at least I didn’t know about them, so Jam Snow was a rare treat.