snow and ice

Although the amount of snow we get in a winter seems to be gradually getting less, we still have enough to cover everything for a good few months. The road outside our house disappeared under a thick layer of compacted snow a couple of months ago. The snow above the manholes melts though, forming deep potholes which should be avoided if you want to save your car's suspension. Occasionally we have some milder days when some of this snow and ice melts and then refreezes, making driving around something akin to rally driving. The roads gradually narrow too as snow piles up at the sides. Add to this the fact that many pavements disappear too, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road, and driving becomes something only for the hardy or foolish. We've had a couple of milder days recently, leaving the road outside our house (or the half of it that is left) full of deep frozen ruts. Then Lorna woke up to find that someone had obviously not managed to stay in those ruts and instead had taken a route straight into the trees that separate our small 'garden' from the road. One tree is knocked down and a couple of others are minus quite a number of branches. A phone call to report this to the Local City Office brought someone out immediately, followed by the arrival of a digger to clear that part of the road. Great efficiency. But there's still another month to go before we can safely say winter is over.