Desperate times

Call for desperate measures. I know I said I was going nowhere until the snow melted, but that’s not looking likely any time soon. Not only was I running out of drinking water (my well water isn’t potable), but I also had an empty box’o’plonk. I was going to have to risk flashbacks and panic attacks, shift the snow off the car and head down to the village. 

The road was actually not bad and there was no blinding snow, so no flashbacks.

This is the size of water bottle I usually buy.

It may not weigh an actual ton, but it is bloody heavy. I knew there was no way I could get the car up the back drive when I returned and there was also no way I’d be able to manage to carry a regular water bottle up the side of the house. So, this is the size I bought.

Won’t last a week, but, with any luck, by then we might actually have a thaw. Or not.

If I had to go to the village anyway, I could also solve some Arctic flow problems. 

As I wrote about at the time, last year my Christmas present to me was a replacement pair of my much loved Clarks knee high black boots. 

They’re beautiful, but totally impractical for this sort of snow. Even with a thick pair of socks, my Wellies leave me with frozen toes. If I want to get back on the trails with Georgie and Joe any time soon, I needed to sort out some appropriate footwear.

Happily the shop was having its Boxing Week sale, so no difficulty justifying this purchase.  

If they look black, they aren’t. Nor are they brown (which would have been a tough sell). They’re a sort of olive colour. Not my first choice, but they’re waterproof and warm.

While I was there I decided to solve the other problem of my split-seamed, unlined gloves. Bought a fantastic pair of woollen mittens. (Of course, after I got home I found Mike’s old sheepskin gloves – which I’d been looking for everywhere indoors – in the shed.) So now both my feet and hands are covered. I’d like to think this means it will soon warm up, but I have my doubts.

Woke up to find it had snowed another two or three inches overnight. Apparently it’s going to warm up (and rain) on Sunday, then the temperature will be heading back to zero. Ordinarily in the winter the big chunk of wood I put in the woodstove last thing at night keep the place fairly warm for several hours. Not at the moment. Before even getting a fire going in the morning I have to crank the expensive electric heaters up full to take the edge off. Looking forward to higher-than-I’ve-had-in-years hydro bills in the not too distant future.

In other, more positive, snowageddon news, Rhodo Dave assures me the rhododendrons will survive and he should know. That’s something.