24th March 2008

It’s the end of term at last, and right on cue, the weather has turned bitterly cold. One morning, we woke to several centimetres of snow, a rare and magical sight, prompting Sarah to build a rather impressive snowman. I took some photos for posterity (and evidence), but that marked the end of my outdoor activity for the day. The rest of us wisely chose to remain indoors, huddled in the warm, muttering “brrrrrr” into our hot drinks.

On Saturday, Charlotte, Suraj, and young Lucas arrived for the Easter weekend. The weather remained stubbornly unpleasant, so we largely stayed inside, keeping warm and trying to keep up with Lucas, who has perfected the fine art of getting into everything the moment you blink. He now requires constant surveillance, like a miniature, giggling MI5 suspect.

By Monday afternoon, in a rare bout of optimism, we braved the cold for a walk through Bluebell Woods in Dingley. Sadly, the bluebells had taken one look at the weather and decided to stay in bed, completely understandable. Still, we made the most of it, swinging gleefully on ropes left dangling from the trees like some sort of enchanted woodland playground. Cold hands, muddy boots, but plenty of fun!

All in all, it was a very quiet Easter, chilled in every sense of the word. Not quite the springtime frolic we’d hoped for, but there’s always next year. Preferably with daffodils and double-digit temperatures.