A slow day and a snow day

I was treated to another lie-in this morning, when Stuart went to attend to all the animal duties. He came back to bed for a short doze until we were both woken by Reggie's second toilet alarm call of the day. By this time it was 8.30am, so we both got out of bed, attended to Reggie's needs and waited for Paul and Marie to appear. They had been packing up their car and preparing to set off on their long journey back to Lichfield.

Bang on schedule, Paul, Marie and Nero came to say their farewells at 9am - they were heading first for a trolley dash around the local supermarket before starting the journey towards France, with an overnight stop planned in Reims. We had all been watching weather updates overnight and knew that they were almost guaranteed to encounter snow and wintry weather on their trek, so we waved them off hoping they would have a safe and uneventful journey.

As we headed back into the warmth of the house, a few tiny spots of cold, cold rain were falling. The forecast suggested that the rain would get heavier as the day drew on so, after a warming bowl of porridge, we pulled on our warm clothes and jumped in the car to take Reggie into town for a walk by the river.

The weather was bitterly cold and the rain showers were icy, so after a run or two up and down the river we hurried back to the car and drove home. It wasn't long after we got in that we noticed white blobs falling past the window. On closer inspection, the floaty white missiles did indeed prove to be enormous snow flakes. We finally had our first glimpse of Italian snow!

The snow got steadily heavier and after a while it even began to settle on the lawn, the roof of the rubbish shed and on the terraces above. Reggie was a little unsure as to what to make of it all and it was the first time we've seen him stand at the doorway and refuse to go out any further! With a little coaxing he came out though, and tore around the garden snuffling his nose in the cold wet white stuff.

The snow continued for a couple of hours before turning back into icy cold rain, then hail, and we even had thunder and lightning for good measure - somewhat alarmingly, the biggest flash of lightning and overhead clap of thunder came just as we were cautiously picking our way back down the slippery terrace after putting the geese away.

With chilly temperatures outside, we did nothing more but hunker down for the rest of the afternoon and evening with the fire blazing, only venturing outside on a couple of occasions for a slippy, slidey stagger down the garden steps with Reggie for his toilet duties. The forecast for the next 5 days is for bright, cold weather with sub-zero nights and only just above freezing during the day. We're thankful that (thanks to the help we've had from Chris) we've mastered the art of keeping the house warm with the wood burner!!