Fractured days on the Arctic Farm

I wish I could report a triumph of creativity over adversity in these savage conditions, but the truth is that the deep freeze brings life back to simpler times, to basics. In the UK we can routinely go through an entire winter without so much as a snowflake falling from the sky, which makes this current situation all the more exceptional.


Last night we had the largest single dump of snow I can remember in the UK (and certainly on our farm) ... when it finally wound down this lunchtime we'd had an additional 12 inches (30cm) on top of the 6 inches that was already cloaking the farm. My wife had an urgent court case in London, which meant we were all up before 6am, shovelling, digging, defrosting & layering up for a chaotic ride to the station. As the 4x4 spun & reeled, gracelessly on the driveway it was soon clear this was a complete non-starter for both us & our childcare (snowbound too).

I am bemused though by the *outcry* that goes up every time an event as rare as this unfolds, as if we should somehow be expected to be as prepared as our Canadian or Scandinavian cousins. We have 18 inches of snow on the ground in places & it means putting our lives, and in my place the sonics I so enjoy fashioning, on hold for a few days; but it's also a timely chance to enjoy some quality family time in an exceptionally 'changed' landscape free from the norms that govern the every day.