Sunday, 10 January 2010

Oyez! Oyez! Blizzard Coming ....or not .

Sonata :
There were blizzard alerts all over North Europe this weekend
We were all veering from "Ooh-er " to "Nah ! " on Saturday . We could have been eating Roasted Tomato Sorbet ( Easy recipe this , just let bag of roasted tomatoes semi-thaw and serve ) by the light of the last Christmas candle .Or it could go just south and incommode someone else .

For any bemused North American reading this and wondering why Europe has collapsed under a couple of feet of snow ...... here you're never far from a bag of crisps and a banana . We don't usually see blizzards or mammoth power cuts and , if it does snow for a while we marvel at helicopters dropping bales of hay to mountain sheep far , far away . The recommendations by the German authorities on Friday to stock up on everything from carbohydrates to camping gas gave me a twinge . By the time the Dutch authorities were recommending filling a jerry can with water , just in case ....three litres per family they suggested ..... I felt mildly uneasy . Dug around and found 4 extra night lights and the Scrabble board .

This morning I can see a beautiful Persil white blanket everywhere I look .... feet of it . The nearby street , where daughter watched children skating ( not sliding , actually skating with skates ) on the inches-thick ice on the pavement , will be the same .

Getting to work should be fun tomorrow !




This lovely drawing by Eve Garnett for her Winter Anthology , published in 1952 and treasured by me since then , shows a gentler snowy day , with Roly Poly Pudding and Custard to look forward to .

5 comments:

rachel said...

Roasted Tomato Sorbet -- hahaha! Gives me ideas for all that frozen rhubarb that seemed such a good idea at the time. Sit everyone down, give 'em a freezer-bagful, a bowl of sugar, and a spoon, and tell them it's the latest thing.....

My mother had friends who would skate MILES along the canals from Belgium to Holland, just for the joy of it. We rarely see real winter in the UK. Sadly our snow here in Newcastle seems to be thawing at last.

I hope you don't have to resort to eating the Scrabble board.

lisette said...

swap you some of our 45 degree heat for some of your snow?? please?

mountainear said...

It still looks wonderful here but I'm getting mighty fed up with the ritual of layering everytime I go outside - glad the style police aren't around too. Am very sorry for the hen which has chosen this month to moult.

Enjoy it while you can - hope that Scrabble board isn't too chewy.

Von said...

3 litres of water...to last how long? Custard and rolypoly pudding now you're talking!If you put currants in it you could call it Spotted Richard as I hear they do in Sainsbury's after the PC Police arrived.
Keep cosy,fed and reading.Lovely illustration!You like MillyMollyMandy too?

Tamsyn said...

Hi, I hope your not to snowed in! we wanted the snow soo much and then after a week of days off and having fun everyone in uk is wishing to get back to normal! )
It has just thawed here and it is so good to be able to walk along the streets without falling over lol :)