Too Little, Too Late

It snowed today! Too late for a white Christmas. And, as usual, the snow did not last very long. Brad had to go back to work today. In the morning I went to the train station to get our ticket refunds. Unfortunately Vince is out £32 for his tickets. His were the cheap day return tickets for which you cannot get a refund. I had had to purchase the more expensive return ticket at £72 as the cheap ones were all bought up for my original departure date of 27 December. The good thing about those tickets is that I could get a refund -- all but 5 pounds for a processing fee. So, all in all, the only loss of Vince's cancelled trip is the £32 for his train tickets.

In the afternoon I went with Jean on a walk advertised in Nigel's column. The walk started at 2 p.m. at the Stonehouse Inn in Thruscross and was to be led by a fellow from a local archeological group who would be pointing out features of historical significance. Nigel was there for bird and wildlife identification. It was advertised as a gentle one-mile hike. Just what I needed to begin to get myself back in shape. I haven't been walking or exercising much at all lately. When we arrived at the Stonehouse Inn the carpark was nearly full. We thought it was everyone who had come for the walk. Turns out that we had just missed a performance by some mummers who we saw leaving the pub as we gathered for our hike. They were colorfully dressed in what I can only describe as hobo-chic. Their faces were blackened and they were wearing clogs. Apparently they go from pub to pub performing mimes and dances and collect money for a charity. Sorry we missed that! Anyhow, the walk started out gently enough. Then the wind picked up and chilled us to the bone. Then it started snowing. Hard. Almost white-out conditions. And it was very muddy going uphill. Yuck. Even so, I enjoyed the walk. We didn't see many birds or any wildlife but we learned more about the West End village that was purposely submerged when Thruscross Reservoir was filled in. After the walk, Nigel invited us all in to the pub for further discussion, but I just wanted to get back on the road and get home before the weather got even nastier. It wasn't snowing so hard but it was cold and windy. The thermometer read -4C. That's 24F. Doesn't sound like much from a U.S. perspective, but somehow 24F feels much colder here in England.