The snow did come. Overnight we had quite a covering. I peered out at about 2am and it looked fantastic, but by this morning it's melted away from any hard surfaces like paths. Plenty remains on the grass and beds though. No sledging to school this morning unfortunately. Maybe we will have some more over the half-term holiday, and finally get the sledge out?
And the shops who have been displaying sledges since October might finally shift some. The drastic sale reductions in places like Blacks and Millets, which presage their closure (here we are losing one and keeping the other, apparently), are good news for stocking up on outdoor/gardening clothes. But it's bad news for the high street and the local economy generally (even though those two stores are a chain - we also lost an independent outdoor shop a couple of weeks ago). I always feel a bit like a vulture when sniffing out bargains in shops that are having (genuine) closing down sales: when, I ask myself, did you last go in and buy something there at full price? And when will nurseries and independent garden centres start to go the same way...?