However, our friends in Canada would laugh at us …..” snow?” they’d say. We struggle with 3 inches – their snow starts at 3 feet !
However, I remember winters here when we had Canadian measures of snow – 1979 springs to mind …Forgive a digression here , I can’t remember if I’ve told you that I’m an adopted Northerner, not born and bred here. I’ll explain ….I was originally truly wafted in from paradise ( for those of you too young to remember the Lorraine Chase advert for Campari, do look it up ) born not far from Luton Airport! So I was born a Southerner. However, as I explained yesterday, I moved from London to Sheffield in 1980. I remember the journey up here – just me and my Citroen Dianne , Tigger ( named according to its motion , a bouncy trounce car ….) – and I remember to this day, feeling as if I was coming home . I had only been to Sheffield once before ( in fact I hadn’t been north of Watford Gap before – of course there is the joke that you have to show your passport at Watford Gap to pass into the northern part of the UK) – and that was in the Winter of 1979. My friend Sue (who I met at Bart’s Hospital in 1978 where we both started our real working life!!!) came from Leeds , and we were both going up there together, stopping for lunch with my cousin who was working in Sheffield at the time ….
He lived just down the road from here and I remember having to park the car far down the road from his house and walk , rather trudge, up to his house. Life went on, even when there were walls of snow taller than people . I know we don’t get such severe winters on a regular basis in the UK , but now even with a few centimetres of snow , schools close, buses stop running and people are advised to stay indoors 🥴🥴🥴
I remember as a six year old in 1963 – yes my memory does reach that far back – going out with my father and grandmother in the car and the snow was so high , rather than walking through a gate we just climbed over it ! Remarkably I recall his Rover 200 getting us there too , so the roads must have been passable….
I do apologise- look where that digression took me!
Due to the weather conditions…. Pathetic really isn’t it ? Anyway it is what it is, and we are where we are , so the weather conditions will dictate today ……..and we will walk into Penistone again! That is my friend Julia , Millie and I . No chance of getting lost then if 3 feet of snow should fall as we perambulate…so once again we walk along the TPT
Surprisingly not too many cyclists today and the one rude jogger who passed us got his comeuppance as he turned the corner to the train station and measured his length! Clearly embarrassed, he was up and off before we could proffer our first aid support!
Clearly at the time it was the right kind of snow on the line so the trains could run ……not so sure now 😜
Our passage to Penistone was uneventful- called at the butcher’s , the doctor’s ( the baker and candlestick maker were shut due to snow ….) and then to the market …….What? No market …also because of the snow 🥴🥴🥴Only one thing for it – a coffee and possibly a toasted tea cake ( bang go the calories I’ve used to walk here …) Another digression if you’ll permit it ……when you look at the time taken for my walks, please understand that it is not pure walking time . It includes chats , conversations and coffees along the way – I may not be an Olympic walker but I walk faster than the times indicate , I just talk a lot 😉😉😉
So in we go to the dog friendly cafe where we order 2 americano coffees with 2 toasted tea cakes …..the coffees arrive, and the waitress asks if Millie would like a “ Puppaccino” . True! – and of course Miss Millie would love a Puppaccino! It arrived with our tea cakes ……
What is a Puppaccino you ask – rightly so, you wouldn’t want to get confused with a cappuccino, frappaccino, macchiato and the rest now, would you? A puppaccino is an expresso sized takeaway cup, filled with squirty cream and adorned delicately with two gravy bones. Important to know the difference I feel!
After we were all refreshed we set off home …..
Now I’m sure you’ll think I have inserted a rogue photograph here . I do hope you recognise this to be a spring onion. When I posted the photo of the daffodils I remembered a warning put out recently ( seriously) for shoppers to beware that when buying spring onions , not to buy daffodils by mistake because eating the latter can make you very ill. Once again I ask the question – is it me? Does the above resemble in any shape or form , a daffodil. Do people not know that a daffodil has either a bud or yellow flower at the top… if they don’t what hope do we have ? Another risk assessment required 🙄🙄🙄
Perhaps not an action packed walk but my daily goal achieved ….
We’ll see what tomorrow brings – the snow continues to fall here, but don’t worry , I will be out walking regardless! Keep safe and warm everyone …
Camino Romero 