Minnie’s Musings

Teachers and school children across the South East got terribly excited for roughly one hour yesterday morning as a blizzard engulfed the Home Counties and telephone trees got ready to ring into action.

And then the fat, fluffy flakes (alliteration there) turned to half hearted rain and hope faded. Not a snowball in sight by break time.

One snow day is fun. The covering is crisp and the hillsides are ready for trammelling by sleds. Snowmen benefit from a carrot nose and an old scarf, happily hosting a robin on their bonnets (better a red breast than a crow). Warm clothes and boots are largely holding back the chill. And the fridge still has food.

Day Two and things go rapidly downhill. Snow is is pockmarked and increasingly grubby. The radiators are festooned with soggy gloves and coats. The milk has run out and the snowman is looking suspiciously at the sky. Teachers are beginning to plan for squishing two hours of learning into one and school children are glued to Netflix (blithely pretending they don’t know Snow Day resources are on the website).

By Day Three we silently debate whether slush covered pavements are better than treacherous ice just waiting for a pensioner to break a hip. The street starts to resemble a post apocalyptic bomb site with dirty boulders of snow and shovelled piles littering gardens.

Teachers are now panicking that mocks are in the offing and valuable learning time is evaporating. Children have been forcefully reminded that there is online material to be getting on with as the smart TV is turned off and phones confiscated (I wish).

Return to school is welcomed by Day Four. But not the grey, half melted snow that finds its way into classrooms. Students sigh with resignation as pens and exercise books are dug out of bags and attention swings to the white board. It was nice while it lasted.