Pinpricks of brightness (38/365)

[white_hart]

It may be close to freezing with a bitter east wind making it feel much colder, but as I was sitting in my car waiting for my friend to go swimming today I spotted that the daffodils are up along the edge of the (currently flooded) park.



Also, my dad has now had his first vaccination, which is good news, though somehow I don't feel the huge surge of relief a lot of people have described feeling as their vulnerable people were vaccinated. Maybe because it's not COVID that is really curtailing his life, it's his general health? But it's still good news. My mother hasn't been vaccinated yet as she's not 70 until May.

And tomorrow our new sofa is arriving, as after about two years of saying "we really should get a new sofa" we finally gave in and ordered one. (Our old sofa is 18 years old, and has partly collapsed at one end; for the last couple of years we've been sitting in the even-older armchairs that we were given secondhand when we moved in together in 1999 but the armrests of both are now pretty much destroyed and have nails sticking out of them, so a new sofa really isn't just wanton extravagance.)

Comments

[white_hart]

I've seen snowdrops and spotted some emerging crocuses in the snow this morning, but I think we are probably a bit behind you. (Also, Actual Countryside is a bit more hit and miss for these things than parks.)

[perennialanna]

Snowdrops on the sheltered bank of the sheltered park (former station goods yard, surrounded by embankment), but that is about it. Norfolk is further north than it feels like it ought to be though.

[white_hart]

Also always chilled by the wind off the North Sea. Given how bitter the East wind was here this morning, I do feel for you at the moment!

[perennialanna]

Horizontal blizzard most of the day. The children's school are very sad about probably being closed tomorrow too, "despite our best efforts". I would quite like to know exactly what efforts they made. Did they talk to the clouds particularly sternly? Is the wind in Restart for the rest of the week?

My own place set work for the children today. "Use all your senses to investigate the snow thoroughly. Send us some pictures of your snowmen!". I was able to report to the Head that tiny H next door had worked her way through that and was up to the extension tasks of stuffing snow down her mother's back and rescuing the cat from the horrifying weather by 9am.

[white_hart]

Your school always sounds like such a sensible school.

[perennialanna]

I can see the temptation to carry on with the usual remote learning on snow days, but giving them the chance to live in the moment and snatch at joy when it comes is also important - the more we can do for their mental health now, the better they will catch up with the academic side once they can all be in school again.

[serriadh]

Most of my Brownies said they had had "too much homeschool" to be out in the snow yesterday, which does seem a bit sad for them. We spent a long time being Chinese New Year fireworks over Zoom to make up for it.

[perennialanna]

It is very sad. My children reported a normal amount of schoolwork yesterday, and as they had to share a laptop (being at their father's) it took them most of the day to complete it. When they are at mine I can give them a device each and we generally finish the bulk of our work in time for a long lunchtime walk and a minimum of afternoon fiddling.

There was quite a lot of debate about snow days during remote learning on educational Twitter a few weeks ago, and most of the primary Heads were in favour of snow days being for snow - but I think that is a reflection of the kind of primary Heads I follow as congenial souls.