The First Snow

I was sitting in Bankeryd drinking coffee and half watching the news and weather. The weather forecast caught my attention. The map of Sweden showed snow in the south, with one narrow finger of it missing Jonkoping but stretching up the west coast of Vattern. That's Vitared and the forest, I commented. The time forecast, NOW! I went to the window to look out, baring in mind here 15 miles south and at lower altitude no snow was forecast. It was raining steadily, and blowing a bit. I decided to start home immediately. No point watching a weather forecast if your not going to act upon the information. Boots and coat on and into the weather. It wasn't rain exactly, it had sleet mixed in. I bid farewell with a promise to phone on arrival home, and set off into the wet. 2 miles (UK) later on the 195 and it was definitely sleet. Windscreen wipers thrashing I headed north with an uneasy feeling. North of Habo I hung a right onto the forest B road home. Within another mile it was snowing hard. Another mile and the road was covered. The oncoming heavy snow formed a glittering silver white tunnel of stars in Darwin's headlights. Absolutely stunning in an oh my God sort of way. My heart was in my mouth. 8 miles/12k to go, up hill, in the face of what was starting to look a lot like a blizzard. I was now in no mans land between towns, deep in the forest. Too late to turn back? 15 minutes to Vitared and the nasty hill track to my place. Would the road behind close in 15 minutes? I thought not. The winter tyres felt secure. Vitared at a virtual crawl in case I skidded past the left hander. Made it. Darwin's little transverse engine pulled nicely and the new winter tyres did their job, which is partly to give me the confidence to drive in this. Into the car port and bail out for the warmth of Peace Cottage. A log fire, a hot cup of tea, the promised "I'm home safe" 'phone call, and an early night wondering just how deep it will be tomorrow.

10cm. This is an elevated position. Down on the lake shore, nothing. Up here, Christmas came early! It's only snow. I'm behaving like a kid. Scrub that. I'm behaving like a foreigner who doesn't see much of this stuff. 1.5 hours of snow clearing warmed me up and cleared the drive and paths. Then the snow plough passed by and deposited a portion of the roads snow onto my drive where I had just cleared. What do you do? Clear it again then sort plenty of firewood for a few days enforced rest.

Ernst reminded me that this is just an early taste of what comes later. -6C rising to 0C in the afternoons briefly, this feels like mid winter to an Englishman. Day light hours are 08:15 - 15:45. That also makes it feel like mid winter. The difference due to latitude is a little disorientating to me at the moment. These conditions match early January in Warwickshire. The Swedish winter is still to arrive. Apprehensive? Yep.