Snow at The LeeBy Liz Stewart-Liberty
For once the weather forecaster managed to get it right
The snow began to fall in the middle of Wednesday night.
First it came as powder blown from the Nor-Nor-East,
Changed its gentle character and became a raging beast.
Flakes as big as dusters blancoed the scenery,
Gone were roads and paths, trees and greenery.
Beautiful to look at with fun in Martin Dell,
But for those getting to work an icy manic hell.
Footprints in the snow gave away a tale
Of badger, fox and deer (panther*) and wagtail
Going about their business in the early morn,
Looking for food and water in that icy snowy dawn.
(* Incidentally I saw the black panther at the end of January in Erriwig Lane. I stopped later and spoke to a man walking two big dogs to warn him and he said he too had seen it!)
Picture: Yvonne and Steve Smith.
Ruby and Laura Stewart-Liberty, Oskar Rice
and James and Neil Addison created this ice sculpture.
Dell sledgers cut up rough
By Jules SwainI woke up, looked outside. Yes!!!! There’s a mountain of snow.
First question I asked: “Can we go sledging?”. “Yes” (Anonymous).
“Can we go sledging at the dell behind the Cricket Club?” (Me). “NO!” (Anonymous).
“Why not?” (Me). “Because the car won’t get round there in this snow” (Anonymous).
“Easy – we can walk” (Me). “It’s half a mile” (Anonymous).
“You’ve walked half a mile before” (Me).
After some careful negotiation, I made a deal: I shovelled some snow; Mum made hot chocolate and we were off!
Ten minutes later: “That wasn’t so bad was it?”, but I didn’t hear any answer because I was off to the top of the hill; the snow was perfect for sledging and snowballs. At first it was just getting down there without falling off; next just getting that turning worked out. Then it began to get competitive: just some gentle races then ALL-OUT WAR; no trick was too dirty, no crime too heinous, no stunt too dangerous.
Some tricks were: sledges with brakes found themselves going nowhere at the start, soon to discover their brakes had been pulled up. Some unlucky racers had snow shoved in their faces. There was also the ramp trick (go down very fast then ramp jump and land in front of the other racers). So as I said no trick was too dirty!
Ah yes the ramp – fun to go down but a bit sore on the landing!! The worst bit was walking back up!!
Eventually I had to call it a day.
The snow also stirred up memories for Jules’ Dad Jon Swain:
I am, sadly, old enough to remember the winter of 1962/63, when a late spell
of extremely low temperatures, coupled with snow, led to chaos. I recall that
the snow was powdery and the howling winds that accompanied the cold snap
caused a lot of drifting. This meant that roads were blocked; in some places
for days, if not weeks. Certainly the road just below our home, between Kingswood
and St Leonards, was closed off for a week. As quickly as the snow was dug
out (by Humphreys’ men with shovels) more blew in off the fields to block
it.One clear memory for me is of walking to Old Bruns Farm to buy eggs. The snow had blown up over the hedges and had frozen there. As I was only two-and-a-half years old at the time, and rather lighter, I was able to walk on top of the hedge! I have been unable to repeat the experience since.
Winters seemed colder then, but summers seemed longer and hotter too, so I think it’s the distortion of time. Perhaps it is also the fact that modern fleeces and footwear are much more efficient at keeping us warm. Snow is like so many things in life: we are pleased to see it arrive, but even more pleased at its departure, but left regretting the mess.