Snow business...

WE HAD a dusting of snow in Chirk last weekend which gave us our first opportunity to get the sledge out for Harry.

I'm sure some people reading this will be thinking “what snow?” but, if you were awake at 7am last Sunday (we were, of course, thanks to Harry), you would have seen a reasonably heavy shower. Harry was so excited he insisted on sitting at the window to eat his breakfast.

The snow didn't last long – just long enough to cover the grass – and we were outside by 8am.

My job was to run around the garden as fast as I could while pulling Harry along on the sledge. It was not particularly dignified. Not that Harry was worried. “Come on dad, go faster,” was a typical response, as I gasped for breath.

Fortunately, Melissa came to the rescue by suggesting we jump in the car to look for a suitable hill.

We soon found a slope that was plenty fast enough and we spent a good half hour trooping up the bank and sliding down it before deciding that we were cold and wet enough.

When I say “we”, I mean Melissa and I; Harry was not at all happy at having his first proper sledging session cut short. After some bribery – chocolate of course – Harry was back in the car.

One thing I did learn, though, was that sledging isn't as easy as an adult. I couldn't resist having a go (persuading Harry wasn't easy) but I was too heavy for the sledge on that amount of snow. “Get off daddy, you're too heavy,” was Harry's rather blunt response.

Let it snow...

Harry’s got a new favourite word: snow. With the wintry weather we’ve been enjoying (if that’s the right word), Harry’s had plenty of opportunity to see snow first hand and he loves it.

When it started snowing last Friday, Melissa said that Harry was absolutely fascinated, sitting in the window watching it until it was dark. He was still excited when I arrived home from work, running to greet me shouting ‘snow’ as I walked through the door.

But while watching the snow is one thing, letting Harry go outside to play in it is an altogether more complicated process, requiring wrapping him up in so many layers that he can hardly walk. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to mind; the only problem is that if he falls over, he can’t get himself upright again.

Of course I was all for taking him sledging but, as he’s had a bit of a cough lately, commonsense (or Melissa, more precisely) prevailed, so it looks like I’ll have to wait a bit longer.

Anyway, the cold weather has got Melissa feeling festive and Sunday saw us putting up the Christmas decorations. Harry was keen to help, but struggled to spot the difference between baubles and a football; Melissa wasn’t impressed as he kicked them around the living room. Apparently that was my fault.

Apart from the baubles, though, Harry was surprisingly gentle with the decorations. I say surprisingly because I was very concerned about mixing Harry with decorations – it’s not exactly a match made in heaven.

Harry is still – thankfully – a bit too young to understand what Christmas is all about so although he was certainly excited about the decorations, sleepless nights until December 25 shouldn’t be a problem.

Something tells me things will be very different this time next year, though.

Let it snow...

As I've said before on many occasions, I love snow. In fact, I'd go further and say I like cold weather generally.

So, as you can imagine, I'm in my element with the current cold snap. I don't want to sound like a pensioner, but winters don't seem to be as cold as they should be - or as cold as they used to be.

So it's nice to have consistently freezing weather which, incidentally, is expected to last well into the new year (according to GMTV, anyway) to remind us that it's December. The frost is, my nan tells me, also very good for swedes.

I just hope we get a bit of snow now. With a couple of days off work coming up, a stroll in some freshly fallen snow really appeals.

Weird weather

I know it's incredibly British and incredibly boring to go on about the weather, but I was genuinely shocked to see snow in October.

As I've said before (several times probably), I love snow. I do, however, wish it would fall at the weekend when you can go for a walk and enjoy the winter landscape, rather than on a weekday when you have to drive to work. Still, snow is snow, and seeing it in October was a bonus.

Speaking of the seasons, my garden is now almost empty. I've dug up all my potatoes (there's plenty to keep us going through the winter months), while my tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines are now finished (the cold snap this week was the final nail in the coffin). My chili peppers have been fantastic this year, especially the dwarf ones, which are so hot, half of one is enough to make your eyes water.

My swedes are almost ready, and I have one or two cabbages that managed to survive the caterpillar onslaught but the main focus of my work over the next couple of weekends will be digging the garden over in preparation for next year - providing we don't have any more snow.