Monday 2 February 2009

Cold snap

According to the news we've ground to a halt over here in snowy Britain. London is under six inches of snow. Can you imagine? Six inches. That's the height of a stiletto heel. Or half the height of a school ruler. Leave the house at your peril, Londoners. As for me I'm staying in, editing a little, writing a little. Warmed by kind praise from an author I admire for a short story of mine she read online. I have an arthritic shoulder, and the glare from outside (it is rather white, no arguing with that) is making it hard to work at my desk. Maybe I will make a mug of tea and curl up with a good book and my box of salted caramels from Paris. That sounds like a plan. I hope you're all keeping well and warm, wherever you are.

10 comments:

Nik Perring said...

I'm warm now - but I did venture out for a stroll, which was quite lovely. Highly recommended (so long as it's no longer than, say, twenty minutes).

Hope the shoulder's not too bad and that the Paris treats are all good.

Nik

K.C. Ball said...

Ummmm .. salted caramels.

I grew up in Ohio, where six inches of snow is nothing (there's a saying that there is nothing between Ohio and the North Pole but a Great Lake and a lot of barbed wire).

But after four years in the Florida Keys, the recent twelve inches of snow here in Seattle was irksome. Snow is not common here, so everyone in the city was in a panic.

Enjoy your snow day, your book -- and save me some caramels.

Sarah Hilary said...

Thanks, Nik. Yes I'm just back from a gentle stroll to the post office. Lovely, like you say. I'm glad I went.

Sarah Hilary said...

K.C. I love the Ohio saying - wonderful! The salted caramels are going down nicely. I'm not sure there will be many left by the end of the day but if I do I'll put your name on it.

Douglas Bruton said...

Ok so it's not Ohio... but for us it's exciting, to have everyone talking about something 'real' and not those oh-so-dull and too-much-to-bear 'reality' TV shows.

And the promise of schools closed, just the promise is all, hanging in the air. And me a teacher, wanting to be home by the fire, with a good book, or some writing to do. And a box of salted caramels from Paris... sounds pretty close to heaven to me.

Enjoy it all while it lasts.

And if you are in Ohio or the Noth Pole, please feel free to laugh at our little panic at six inches of the white stuff. We can take it. And the world a lot brighter for the snow and the laughter.

Best to all

D

Sarah Hilary said...

It is magical, isn't it, Douglas? I walked through the churchyard with my eight year old who stopped to look up and said, 'It's like feathers falling from the sky.'

aminah said...

i wish things would ground to a halt here in Oslo when the snow falls...BUT we are all to well prepared for the stuff, with our tractors and huge monster salt machines...I envy everyone who has a day free from work today!

Sarah Hilary said...

Aminah, we are ill-prepared over here. Today is far worse, where I am, than it was on Monday. Apparently we're running out of salt for the roads.

Group 8 said...

Salted caramels! 2 of my fave things in one - genius!

No snow here in Galway - we seem to have our own microclimate. There's plenty of snow in Dublin, Donegal etc etc. Odd.

Sarah Hilary said...

Hi, WRW, we have eight inches here in Gloucestershire today! It looks very pretty and, as luck would have it, I have a handful of the Caramels Breton remaining. That and a good book (I'm reading Grace Paley's short stories and enjoying them very much), and I'm all fixed for the day. Or would be, if I wasn't required to do office work. As I work from home I don't get "Snow Days". Boo.