Another rant is on the way

Just got back from a session at our nearest supermarket whose name I won't mention 'cos it upsets my regular reader. At the tills are stands of plastic carriers (although one is encouraged to take one's own bags as we do) and on the top of the stand is a notice: "We are using less bags". GRRRRRR!!!

I'm tempted to write to the company.

Cold case

Sussex Police have re-opened an 83-year-old murder case. The story is in our "local" paper.

The Checkout Girl

Spending a few idle minutes browsing other blogs, I stumbled across the Checkout Girl which I found amusing.

That's quite enough of that, thank you very much

Thank goodness the temperature has been above zero all day and the snow is going fast. Our buses started on one (shortened) route yesterday afternoon about 2.00 and other services were gradually brought back, but even this morning there were some services still not covering their full routes, although everything is back to normal this afternoon. We are told that this is the heaviest snowfall in Britain for 20 years or so and I can well believe it. I will be quite happy if we don't have another like it for another twenty years! I know that people in places like Switzerland or Moscow would laugh at the way England grinds - or slithers - to a halt when we have just a few inches of the white stuff. But it doesn't happen often enough to make it worth while having snow ploughs and other expensive machinery on stand-by, so we just grit our teeth and hope for the best.

Fern didn't waste any time when I let her down the garden before breakfast yesterday and she was so unhappy about the snow - which reached her armpits - that I didn't take her out at all. I missed the fresh air and exercise but have made up for it today. As well as walking Fern twice for an hour each time, I also walked to the newspaper office (half an hour each way) to place the ad for the Lions' book fair this weekend., and spent nearly another hour clearing snow off the drive. I'm shattered!

Bright side? What bright side?

So much for the snow staying north of the Downs. It started yesterday afternoon while I was walking Fern and by about half past four a car was stuck trying to get up the road. This morning we have six inches, drifting to twelve, and south-east England is virtually at a standstill. Here in Sussex many major roads are closed, trains are severely delayed (there are none running at all in Kent), and we have no buses running in Brighton.

The bright side (well, brighter, or less dull) is that we have heat, light and food, albeit we are short of milk and potatoes. The milkman didn't deliver this morning so I will have to walk to the shop later and hope that they haven't sold out.

Look on the bright side

We currently have a ‘severe weather' warning of snow starting tonight with strong easterly winds. With a bit of luck it will pass us by on the other side of the Downs. Despite this, and the bitter cold, there are signs of spring. The snowdrops in our garden are looking good and those under the trees in the park are starting to show their blooms. I noticed a small clump of crocuses in our front garden that would come into full flower if only the sun would shine for a while, and there is just one deep purple one towards the bottom of the back garden that is almost there as well.

It's not often I'm right,

but I'm wrong again. ‘The Associate' is on the High Street in hard cover and has leapt into the number one slot on the best sellers list.