...And Then The Snow Came...

The flakes of hope and innocence.

We've had a dusting or rather an inch of snow this last week. More of an icy crystal type of snow. The type that makes walking on it seem more like inching on it one centimeter at a time. Only the brave or foolhardy try and step lively on this surface.

Austria is blessed with so many things and one of them was another public holiday yesterday. A day where hardly anybody works, everybody is in a good mood and the TV is littered with fantastic programs. Well, halfway into yesterday morning, the heavens opened up and scattered thick flakes of hope over our village.

Within the space of a few hours, the roads, rooftops, cars and gardens were covered in a foot of snow. Pretty snow, gentle snow, soft snow, white snow and snow that lures most of us outside.

The snow that fell yesterday is the type we've read about in fairytales and seen in movies. It just looks so soft and downy and inviting. Despite knowing it is cold as ice, one just wants to roll around in it like the proverbial pigs in mud...

Even Bob, who tends to eshew the cold for a warm cozy lounge was tempted outside. Although, to be honest it might have been the lure of the fishing club and the friends in it. He dressed up in his winter gear and went across the road, to the local pond. A mere 100 meters as the crow flies.

Time has a tendency to speed up sometimes and when I glanced at the clock, I noticed that over an hour had elapsed and time had moved into the scared local lunch hour. Usually everyone clears out and heads for home where wives have slaved over a hot stove to make a proper lunch. Being late is not allowed...

Well, at one stage I leaned out the bedroom window ( which faces onto the clubhouse ) to see if perhaps Bob had slipped in the snow and was calling out for me. But no, nothing. Even calling out his name loudly and hoping that nobody would think me a nagging wife, got no response.

Seriously, I was minutes away from donning my winter gear in search of Bob who might be glued to the snow somewhere when I heard him come home. What a relief indeed as firewood needed to be chopped as well!

It turns out that the local club house ( more of a wooden hut ) is equipped with a satellite television and the men were watching an Alpine Skiing World Cup race on it. Well, I'll tuck that bit of info away for the next time Bob is a tad bit late...

Biggi

Around the corner of our house...