Sunday 20 January, 2002 at 7:36PM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (0)

It's been snowing. In fact, it's been snowing for at least four hours now and is still going strong. There is virtually zero wind outside, and it's not what I'd call a blizzard by any stretch of the imagination, but there is about three or four inches on the ground so far. I just returned from a walk to the shops for supplies and it was quite enjoyable walking in the snow. Although it is after sunset here now, there is a kind of surreal light that is not originating from any particular direction, but rather just a 'glow' that is constant across the sky. It's almost like walking in an enclosed space, like a really really big studio or something. Bizarre, but in a real groovy way.

On my way to the shops I saw something that struck me as particularly futile - people out shoveling snow from their driveways and the footpaths outside their houses. All it seemed to achieve on the footpaths was to leave a thin layer of snow that quickly turns to ice and becomes very slippery - I ended up walking on the un-shoveled areas in order to have a more secure footing. If they're trying to do someone a favor by shoveling the footpaths, they shouldn't have bothered, it's not deep enough snow to be a hindrance to anyone anyway. Regardless of that, hello, it's still snowing! I bet these are the same people you see outside on a really windy day in autumn attempting to sweep up all the fallen leaves. I just don't get it.