Snow!!!

Actually, the worst of the snow was yesterday, but it was far too cold to sit in the study writing diary entries, so I followed the cats’ example and stayed by the fire most of the day.

The snow was a bit of a shock, really. The forecast had been for some nasty weather to blow up from the south, but I don’t think anyone, Met Service included, expected it to get quite that nasty – heavy snowfalls over most of the South Island, a tornado in Greymouth, and storms in the North Island. Auckland had a wee power cut, which from the way the media reacted you’d think was the end of the world (guess where most of our media is based), but there are a lot of small towns in the South Island that also lost their power yesterday, and several *still* don’t have any and probably won’t have for another day or two.

As usual, I was running late yesterday morning, so I hadn’t actually looked outside to see what the weather was like – I could hear the sound of wet tires on the cars passing outside, so I assumed the predicted overnight rain had come, grabbed my umbrella and opened the door to run for the bus – only to see a blanket of snow outside, and more falling! I could see the bus coming down the street, so I didn’t have time to go back for warmer clothes, I just had to go as I was (I did have on a warm jacket (it is winter, after all!), but I didn’t have a hat or gloves). When I got on the bus, the driver warned me that they were starting to cancel bus services all over the city, and said I should try and go home as early as possible, and make sure I phone the bus company before I left to make sure my bus was still running.

The thought of being stranded at work was not a pleasant one, and neither was the idea of walking home (I wouldn’t have minded if I’d been prepared, and brought warmer clothes and shoes more suitable for walking in snow, but it would have been a very long cold walk dressed the way I was), so when I got into work I consulted with my boss, and he agreed it was probably better if I worked from home for the day (luckily the main task I’d had planned for the day was something I could do just as easily at home, and I could redirect my phone and email to reach me there too). So I headed back home, and probably had a more productive day there than I would have if I’d stayed at work, because there weren’t the usual distractions of people coming into my office for a chat 🙂

The snow finally stopped late afternoon, and some of it had melted by this morning, but it’s clouded over again now, and there’s been little flurries of snow falling off and on all morning. Doesn’t look like it’s going to get so heavy as yesterday, though (and I’ve come prepared this time, anyway!)

I would have some exciting photos of the snow, but my camera has developed an aversion to getting cold, so every time I tried to take a photo it would switch itself off. MrPloppy did take a photo on his camera, but he can’t find the connection lead to download photos from his camera to the computer…

Oh, and Ming’s foot seems to have recovered – he was racing up and down the hallway like a mad thing yesterday, and using the scratching post, so I don’t think it’s hurting him any more.

Currently reading: Idioglossia by Eleanor Bailey