Snow Better Place to Be

We drove back to Fife yesterday on roads that were on the whole very good, with only a few snowy patches. The glen road was gritted but not yet completely mashed to slush. The Fife roads were noticeably less clear; and the BBC News website today says that Fife has been running out of rock salt. We used our chains as far as the main road, and had to pull over three times for unchained 4x4s.

We stopped at the Tomdoun to wish Mike a good new year. and in ten minutes saw more people than we had for a week. He had more bursts than us: eighteen; but I suppose if you work it out on a bursts to bedrooms ratio we were worse off. Still, it is interesting that even in a fully occupied and heated building the pipes go.

On the bend in the road between the isolated cottage and where the corrugated iron estate houses used to be just after Pattack we saw about two dozen birds on the road. I think they were blackgame and Roy thinks they were merely grouse. Anyway, there were lots of them, all running madly about.

There was deep snow everywhere all the way. On the road to Spean Bridge we had an amazing view of the Loch Arkaig hills deep in snow and pink in the sunlight. And then when the sun was going down as we were leaving the House of Bruar all the hills behind Blair Atholl were apricot-coloured. Most of the trees were no longer snow-covered; but there were stretches where they were still very picturesque. Invergarry seems to be a snow-pocket, in particular.

Out in the snow again

Here are some pictures of Roy working in the snow and a walk we took through the policies.

More snow pictures

I loaded these pictures myself (dragging Livy from her writing to advise). That explains why they are a bit random in the way they are positioned.

Another walk in snow

There is much less snow now than there was, but it is still pretty deep. I was rather feeble and didn't feel up to a scramble down to look at the burn, still audible but completely invisible under ice and snow. The deer hadn't been in the wood in large numbers, if one can believe the tracks; but there were several places where they had scraped the snow away. There were some audible birds; but I don't know what they were and couldn't see them.

We think that some of the horizontal trees are ones that were not that way last time we looked; but we can't be quite sure. At some stage, we will find a friend with a chainsaw, or hire someone with one, to cut up logs (and help us carry them up the hill - a worse job). At present, though, the collection beside the house is serving us very well and the heap seems not to get any smaller. There certainly seems to be enough wood for this winter, at the sadly low rate of occupancy we have managed so far.

We hope to be back later in January, for a weekend.

Notes for Those Interested in Dress

In ideal situations, there is a perfect correspondence between what one wants to wear and what the circumstances and convention determine that one should wear. My ideal place, as any fule kno, is one where one can wear night clothes all day long. And here, as well as at Another Place, this is possible.

So here is a list of the necessities: Tshirt nightdress or respectable pyjamas; sweater; long johns; and socks (but these are not really needed indoors when the floor is doing its thing). To go out, one adds wellingtons; and maybe some or all of the following: hat; coat; gloves; and scarf. Joy.