A funny thing happened yesterday.
Snow! Lots of it!
We went to bed to a normal landscape, and woke up to a snowscape of beautiful and magical proportions.
School was shut! Work was shut! - thank Goodness I brought home the laptop...
So, as my intrepid husband set off to try and battle into London with a flask of coffee and a blanket (he failed), my son, two dogs and I set off into the dreamy white of this snowy day.
Word had spread. Villagers had phoned their friends and family, and, in the way only a small village can do, the party was on! Everyone was meeting at the Scout Hut around 9.30am. We got there later, about 9.45, and the sight as we walked down towards the sloping field was amazing. Probably 100+ people, screams of excitement, whoops of joy, laughter, shouts - all ringing around the dip. Everyone was there - and what a microcosm of family life. Everyone was borrowing sledges, the kids had already worked out their own systems, with most of them sharing with the kids who hadn't found their sledge or, unlike us, didn't have well-prepared Grandparents ready to produce a sledge and sit-on slidey things for moments like this.
The adults were having as much fun as the kids. The men started getting competitive (funny, that?) and before long were into the serious business of standing on the sledges and trying to "snow board" down the hill. You know what men are like - this is serious stuff!! (Rich and Steve, you know who you are!). We chatted, and drank coffee, and stamped our feet until eventually, when our toes were so numb we'd lost all feeling, and out stomachs were telling us lunch was near, we began the march home, dropping off various kids and families along the way.
What a feeling of "belonging".
At one point, my neighbour (and close friend) and I were standing sipping coffee (hers, of course, I am never that well organised), when she smiled. She has just moved here from London, got married two months ago, and has two lovely daughters aged 9 and 6. She works really hard, as a Head of English for a secondary school, and has been very frazzled lately.
"why the smile?" I said.
"I had just said to my husband that something had to give. I am so tired, and the work I'm doing for school is intense. I just felt I couldn't go on at this pace much longer. Then nature stepped in, and here we are, school shut, a day off, everyone having fun - what an unexpected gift".
Funny how often that happens.
Years ago(!), aged about 20, I bought my first house, and money was exceptionally tight. I was working three jobs to keep the place going, and there was just one bill too many. I woke up one morning, at my wit's end, to find a £10 note on my doormat. I found out years later who it was from - a friend, knowing I was struggling, and knowing I'd refuse it if they offered, had put it through the letterbox, knowing I couldn't return it if I didn't know who'd sent it.
It covered the bill I had, and I made it through.
Sometimes things happen for a reason, and "life" or "nature" or "friends" have a wonderful way of stepping in just when you truly need them.
A lot of people probably viewed the snow yesterday as a problem - I was lucky to have the flexibility to work from home, and lucky that I could be there for my son with his school shut. But even though other working parents were stressed by the lack of control over circumstances, they stepped off the rollercoaster for a few hours yesterday, and were kids again. I'll post some pictures when I've downloaded them. If you could have heard the screams of laughter, and shouts of play and joy echoing round that slope, you'd know how lucky we all felt.
It's snowing now, big fat flakes, outside my office window... staff are asking if it's time to go home early...maybe the rollercoaster will stop again soon...
Make sure you step off the rollercoaster sometimes when life gives you the chance - you'll be surprised how great it feels!
Snow! Lots of it!
We went to bed to a normal landscape, and woke up to a snowscape of beautiful and magical proportions.
School was shut! Work was shut! - thank Goodness I brought home the laptop...
So, as my intrepid husband set off to try and battle into London with a flask of coffee and a blanket (he failed), my son, two dogs and I set off into the dreamy white of this snowy day.
Word had spread. Villagers had phoned their friends and family, and, in the way only a small village can do, the party was on! Everyone was meeting at the Scout Hut around 9.30am. We got there later, about 9.45, and the sight as we walked down towards the sloping field was amazing. Probably 100+ people, screams of excitement, whoops of joy, laughter, shouts - all ringing around the dip. Everyone was there - and what a microcosm of family life. Everyone was borrowing sledges, the kids had already worked out their own systems, with most of them sharing with the kids who hadn't found their sledge or, unlike us, didn't have well-prepared Grandparents ready to produce a sledge and sit-on slidey things for moments like this.
The adults were having as much fun as the kids. The men started getting competitive (funny, that?) and before long were into the serious business of standing on the sledges and trying to "snow board" down the hill. You know what men are like - this is serious stuff!! (Rich and Steve, you know who you are!). We chatted, and drank coffee, and stamped our feet until eventually, when our toes were so numb we'd lost all feeling, and out stomachs were telling us lunch was near, we began the march home, dropping off various kids and families along the way.
What a feeling of "belonging".
At one point, my neighbour (and close friend) and I were standing sipping coffee (hers, of course, I am never that well organised), when she smiled. She has just moved here from London, got married two months ago, and has two lovely daughters aged 9 and 6. She works really hard, as a Head of English for a secondary school, and has been very frazzled lately.
"why the smile?" I said.
"I had just said to my husband that something had to give. I am so tired, and the work I'm doing for school is intense. I just felt I couldn't go on at this pace much longer. Then nature stepped in, and here we are, school shut, a day off, everyone having fun - what an unexpected gift".
Funny how often that happens.
Years ago(!), aged about 20, I bought my first house, and money was exceptionally tight. I was working three jobs to keep the place going, and there was just one bill too many. I woke up one morning, at my wit's end, to find a £10 note on my doormat. I found out years later who it was from - a friend, knowing I was struggling, and knowing I'd refuse it if they offered, had put it through the letterbox, knowing I couldn't return it if I didn't know who'd sent it.
It covered the bill I had, and I made it through.
Sometimes things happen for a reason, and "life" or "nature" or "friends" have a wonderful way of stepping in just when you truly need them.
A lot of people probably viewed the snow yesterday as a problem - I was lucky to have the flexibility to work from home, and lucky that I could be there for my son with his school shut. But even though other working parents were stressed by the lack of control over circumstances, they stepped off the rollercoaster for a few hours yesterday, and were kids again. I'll post some pictures when I've downloaded them. If you could have heard the screams of laughter, and shouts of play and joy echoing round that slope, you'd know how lucky we all felt.
It's snowing now, big fat flakes, outside my office window... staff are asking if it's time to go home early...maybe the rollercoaster will stop again soon...
Make sure you step off the rollercoaster sometimes when life gives you the chance - you'll be surprised how great it feels!
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