Sunday night to Monday (2nd February), the skies decided to open and treat the UK to some proper winter weather. Especially in Surrey, things came to a standstill, with lots of people not making it to work or school – a lot of schools actually shut for a couple of days. Ian didn’t manage to get to work either – the station was shut, with all trains cancelled, and when he phoned work to say he was going to be a bit late in and drive instead, he was told that traffic into Redhill was horrendous and not to worry, but stay at home. So suddenly we had an extra day the whole family together!
We certainly didn’t want to miss the opportunity for the kids to experience all the snow, so we set off to the park and the playground. There was plenty of the white stuff for Daddy to make a sizeable snowman in a not too short space of time whilst Mummy put a pair of wellies on Conrad to let him stand and walk outside for the first time and get a closer look at the snow.
He was quite wobbly on his feet, understandably, as the snow was thick and uneven under foot, Conrad not having worn anything but socks on his feet, and I’m not sure the wellies were the best fit, either. But he was giggling away happily, so he must have been enjoying himself. I didn’t wait too long until I tucked him back into his cosy toe, though, as it felt pretty cold.
With a lot of parents not making it to work, we saw lots of couples with young kids out for walks or playing in the snow. And with schools closed, there were several groups of excited kids roaming around Horley. It was a bit of an odd day and the kids suddenly having a day off probably felt like the whole day was a bit of an exception to routines and rules – as we were in Lidl getting a pack of nappies a group ran through the shop, cheering and throwing snow balls at the tills. We did see several police cars driving slowly around Horley the rest of the day, every so often stopping a few kids for a chat.
Today I decided to not go to the park at all. Snow starting to melt yesterday afternoon, then freezing overnight, had made roads and pavements slippery. So I took the kids food shopping and back in the double buggy. Schools were still closed but more people, including Ian (though it took him longer than usual and he had to catch a bus instead of the train) made it to work.
Gabriella