overnight fall

I finally did what I've been meaning to do but have failed to do for several weekends' mornings and got up nice and early whilst it was still dark to trundle and crunch around in the lovely snow which arrived last night. Despite not being the sort of snow to properly settle it had settled nicely, hadn't thawed at all and was not much more marked than when I popped out last night with no memory cards. There were a few other people pottering about in a wrapped-up way but few dog-irritants and only one person making too much noise, a bloke dressed in black toting a camera and taking pictures of the tree-lined paths but who felt the need to whistle loudly and warblingly when walking, though he stopped when stopped. Almost-normal walking was achieved with the aid of the slightly shortened steps required for moving around on deepish powdery snow, though walking-boots were reasonably vital to prevent damp toes.

A goodish hour of the afternoon was spent inspecting and asking questions about the various tools of infant transportation in the popular John Lewis department store's infant transportation-module section. It's quite rare to encounter a section of shop where all the staff are polite, helpful without being too aggressive and know their stuff inside-out. It's a pity that the devices on sale (whilst all featuring various interchangeable components depending upon the manner of perambulation required for varying masses and quantities of cargo) are not truly modular, so that one could pick the sturdy chassis and large-radius pneumatic tyres from one with the sensibly-designed catches of another with the handle-mounted brakes of a third and ease of dismantlement of a fourth. We've no intention of getting anything so soon but Nicky's mum has offered to buy the required device(s) (as she did for Nicky's sister) and has been hassling us for ideas. At least the exterior conditions highlighted the importance of choosing something which can handle terrain far different from the smooth and even carpet of the shop floor. Also bumped into MAIT on the way back from the third floor who described an hitherto-unknown variant to the car seat, further complicating the choice of things available.

I think I've done everything I need for returning to work tomorrow. I know that I can remember my password as I've used it today and similarly know that I've no nasty-surprise emails waiting and that the first couple of days of each month are fairly predictable but there'll still be the picking-up-where-I-left-off with the more fun and variable things, which I didn't leave an email about seeing as the whole general department was dormant over the winter festive period rather than having to explain why things have stopped where they have before the start of a normal holiday when the lack of progress during one's absence can have some effect on other people. By the look of things there might still be quite an holidayish air to the department if anyone chooses to claim that they couldn't make it to the office due to a combination of snow and quasi-public-holiday public transport timetabling.