Snow: The Drive and Determination

One of the most tiresome things about winter is clearing the drive. The snow arrived in earnest in Saturday evening and, although it had stopped by Sunday morning, daylight revealed a full covering of snow. The routine clearing chore had begun.



Not just the drive: the area in front of the house as well.



My basic method for the drive is to clear a line going down the fence side.



I then clear a second line coming back up to the house, which provides enough space to shovel directly onto the strip of garden at the side.



The snow, varying on the drive between 2 and 4cms, was quite light and dry and easy to move. The snow shovel (see previous pictures) has an aluminium handle, and is quite light, so there wasn't enormous effort this time. The drive only took half an hour or so.



Then came the area in front of the house. This was out of the wind and with less snow. The old orange shovel, on the left below, lasted two years and is fine except for the aluminium edging at the digging edge, which is loose , worn and buckled. I haven't seen a replacement edge anywhere, hence the new one. It carries slightly more, but the wood is also heavier.



Having cleared the front, I was pleased to have finished. It hadn't been hard work and it wasn't very cold (+1c), but it's not fun. Then I remembered the patio.



I just needed a final picture to show off my handiwork at the front of the house.



So a self-satisfied return indoors awaited me. I still had feeling in my fingers and my feet were still warm, so a pretty good result. No wait, what's that heap of white to the right? It's the dreaded 'hhhhhrumpf'. Back to work.



'Hhhhhrumpf' is as close a description as I can think of of the sound of snow sliding from the roof to the ground. Once this was cleared, everything had taken about an hour - in easy conditions.



Coming home from shopping mid-afternoon, no more snow had fallen off the roof. All was well. About 5:30 this morning - Monday - I looked out and no more snow. I could relax. However, Mika, the dog came in wet from the garden at about 6:15. It has continued for 3 hours now. The process starts again ... and again ... and again.