Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Not!

The white, silent world is beautiful. All uneveness and ugliness is wiped out. There is a magical quality to the countryside, which hides the struggle that wildlife has to cope. I love the tree skeletons dusted white and the pristine, untrodden, ground that eventually shows where foxes, deer & birds have left their mark.

However, I was trapped in my house from Thursday night to Monday because my small Micra car isn't up to these conditions, even with winter tyres. Another snowfall overnight means I can't get out today either. There was a power cut, fortunately brief, last night. I am prepared though - I have torches & a gas lamp & camping stove.

It is a lesson on one's own inner resources to be marooned in a rural area. Neighbours with 4WD's are great, but essentially one has to simply accept the conditions & the knock on effects. So, I've missed a lunch with friends last week, which was postponed to today & now postponed again. I've missed a weekend of joint birthday celebrations with my daughter & family. Fortunately I got out to go swimming on Monday & Tuesday, so do feel I've had some exercise.

I'm lucky, I don't have the daily struggle to get to work. I'm warm & comfortable & have plenty of food. I find it very difficult to really imagine what it must be like to be living on the streets in weather like this. Or to be trapped in poverty & have to choose between eating & being warm. Or to be old, ill and alone.

We who are fortunate all know that there are people struggling to cope in our rich, developed, country. It is too easy to put the images out of our minds & focus on our own fairly petty struggles. I sometimes think that, particularly in Britain, we care more abour wildlife such as birds & our pets, than we do about our fellow human beings.

It doesn't have to be like that. We could, each one of us, do more.

PS
I give a huge vote of thanks to my post lady who struggled through the snow this morning & the electricity workers who did the same last night to restore power. In fact the thousands of people who put themselves out, & sometimes in harms way, to make sure that the wheels of society keep turning. We shouldn't take them for granted.