Across the pond

…….. or that’s how it seemed when I got to the prom at Lyme Regis this afternoon. So much so that a yelp of delight leapt from my lips, startling an elderly couple sitting on a bench. The hills were all clear of the snow brought by this week’s Arctic blizzards, which filled many pages in the newspapers. And, for once, it was mostly the good news that was emphasised. Kids and adults frolicking in the snow.

The biggest falls in these parts happened on Thursday night, when two hundred cars got stuck on the A38 just after the M5 junction and another fifty were stranded on the road to Tavistock. But no-one died of hypothermia.

Janet went to see friends in Bath for the day on Wednesday and encountered some of the heaviest falls of week. She left her camera here so I cannot show a picture of the huge Cypress tree in front of our friend’s house, whose branches were touching the ground under the weight of the snow, so today’s view of Lyme Bay will have to suffice.

There were still drifts when she finally escaped from Bath this morning, but most of the roads were clear. Through the Mendips and for much of the journey the fast lane of the M5 was closed and from Taunton on towards Dartmoor, the hard shoulder was thickly covered.

When I woke up this morning there was still a sprinkling of snow on the hills and some serious patches of ice on the local roads. The sun wiped most of it away but even at noon there was an inch of ice in my giant ashtray on the garden table.

Tonight we have been promised seven degrees below zero.

So it isn’t really Spring.