Open Writing

Of course I'd seen plenty of snow before but never in such quantities. Everywhere was white, brilliant and sparkling in the sun. The trees bowed down under the weight of it, their branches bending towards the ground, and all around the snow piled higher and higher.

There were times when it was so deep it over-spilled into my fur boots and I found it almost impossible to walk. If one looked carefully one could see the footprints of squirrels and birds making patterns on the virgin whiteness. It was incredibly beautiful especially to me who had never been to the snowy regions of the world, though I do remember 1946 when I was at school and we had a very hard winter.

1977 was the year of the snow. Our American friends kept apologising; they felt embarrassed that their weather was so inhospitable to guests in their country. The fact was that we had expected snow and snow we got!

We had arrived in America in October. The first snows usually fall before Thanksgiving Day, which is the third Thursday in November, and this year was no exception. The skies grow heavy and threatening, yellowish-grey in colour and then the flakes come down, obliterating everything. Being out in such a blizzard is no fun and on these occasions one's well-heated, well-insulated house is the only place to be. If one also has the bonus of a log fire as we did there is really no better place than a wooden home set 'doll's house like' in its own plot of land. It is good to be inside, watching the scenery change to a magic wonderland.

The Americans are very sensible with regard to snow. When a heavy fall is forecast the firms send their employees home early. It is illegal to drive on main roads without snow tyres, so everyone must be prepared. There are no 'cat's eyes' on the roads because of the snowploughs which have to keep the school routes open.

Every one listens to the radio each morning to find out if the various schools, and therefore their roads, are open. A certain number of 'snow days' are allowed each winter when it is impossible for the children to get to school, after that the hours must be made up sometime.

The snowploughs are out early every morning, clearing the roads and annoyingly throwing up the snow onto the end of one's driveway, so that the first job to be done each day is to clear one's own drive so that one can get to work.

My job was to clear the drive so that David could garage the car every night. This was quite fun, as long as the sun was shining and the sky was blue, but because of the quantity of snow I found it a very hard job. We had a big, lightweight snow shovel and there I would be most days throwing the snow up onto the piles beside the drive. They became so high they were taller than I was. It was hard, but warming work.

I didn't have a car that first winter so life was comparatively simple for me. I continued to walk everywhere. It was bitterly cold, colder than I had ever experienced before, the temperatures were well below freezing, but I wrapped up well and loved it. It didn't strike chill into the depths of ones being like the bleak, damp cold of England. Between the snow storms, the sky was a dazzling blue. The sun shone and it was exhilarating. I felt in better health than I had felt for ages and the bugs didn't stand a chance!

I can't say I didn't get bored, I did. It's all very well looking at beauty but it was frustrating. The children were in England continuing their education and were not due to join us until the Christmas holidays and I was quite lonely. I didn't know many people and we kept our visiting to the weekends when David was around with the car. I had to find things that I could do on my own, and by foot. I think the Americans were a little surprised to find me out walking on my own but the country around was very beautiful and it was an easy walk into the village. Whenever I could I explored the area around and became quite an expert on the locality.

I well remember one afternoon when boredom got the better of me. A friend had lent me some snowshoes. These look a bit like lacrosse sticks only much broader. The sun was shining and the sky was blue so with great glee I strapped on the shoes, in the hall of course as my fingers would have frozen outside.

I was glad there was no one to see me as I opened the front door and prepared to go out. We had a step down onto a narrow front path, and there was absolutely no way I could get over the threshold in those shoes! The length prevented me from putting one foot in front to get down the step without doing the splits or treading on the back of the front one, and the width of the shovelled path stopped me from jumping down with my feet side by side.

I ended up sitting on the threshold, re-strapping on the shoes and then shuffling along on my bottom until the path widened, glad of the front hedge and the banks of snow that hid me from any casual passer-by. I stopped feeling foolish when I got round to the back of the house and had a large expanse of pristine, white snow in front of me. I had a wonderful time walking round making pretty patterns like a child would have done.

Do you know how to make angels? You lie on your back and with your arms outstretched at your sides, you move them up and down, then getting up very carefully you look down at a beautiful angel shape with wings. Maybe it wasn't a very profitable way to spend an afternoon but it did make me forget I was over forty

And I forgot to be bored.