Did you hear the screaming?

7.43am The phone rings and it my friend M calling to tell me that all Island schools have been....

CLOSED!

The squealing of the Bumble B'eers did reverberate off the walls to say the least, only one day back at school after the Christmas break; you could probably hear the parents groaning mingled in there somewhere.

We had 2mm of snow yesterday and it nearly ground the Island to a halt. Journeys to work which normally took people 15 minutes took up to 2hours and 5 minutes (according to Islands FM).


All the photos in this post were taken at 9.35am yesterday, so the dusting of snow had started to melt and freeze into ice; just enough snow to make things dangerous but not enough to make them fun :(

Yesterday I kept a careful eye on both the 'BBC Guernsey' and the 'This is Guernsey' websites to see if we were expecting more snow. I went to the shops to stock up on milk, bread, meat, vegetables and butter and eggs (so the Bumble B'eers and I can make a few cakes as cakes cure all house bound boredom didn't you know!) 'just in case'.

Last night the Islands was put on ORANGE alert, which is the second highest alert, behind RED I suppose. So I sent Mr Bee out to buy and emergency bottle of wine, 'just in case' :P

They can not salt the roads in Guernsey, as they do in the UK, due to the problems of the salt getting into the water catchment area. They use grit instead but apparently it will only work once the snow has stopped falling and has been compacted, otherwise the grit just falls beneath the snow and is totally ineffective.

We were supposed to get snow last night but we woke up to only a few half melted patches this morning.

The weather person (we must be politically correct mustn't we?) has advised that we should expect more snow and THUNDER this afternoon. Most Australians would not find the presence of thunder a noteworthy weather event but in the two and a half years we have lived here I have only heard thunder in Guernsey three times, so in Guernsey it counts as unusual.

The Bumble B'eers are happily Hama Beading away and squabbling over who is using up all the white beads - a highly prized colour apparently! Mr Bee has gone to work on his bike as usual, ignoring my request that he work from home; there have been alot of Black Ice warnings on roads and footpaths. He has promised if snow starts to fall in earnest he will walk home rather than cycle. The Powers That Be have advised people not to drive unless they absolutely have to so we are staying put. I have never had a car accident and I would like to keep it that way.

The Bumble B'eers are dreaming of snowmen later in the day. I hope their wishes come true.......but only after Mr Bee is safely home.