Frozen World

So far we've been lucky enough not to have any snow. I'm worried that luck won't last though. I've been looking at the news from the North with considerable apprehension after last winter, when we ended up stuck in the house for ages. It must be awful for those up there, who are struggling with such dreadful weather.

I'm already feeling rather claustrophobic at home. The cats are edgy and hate being cooped up in the house. It's hard to keep up with washing and drying all the clothes we're having to wear, and the thought of how much money we are burning to stay warm horrifies me. I also become clumsy and uncoordinated in the cold, partly because I don't cope with lots of clothes, and partly because I get very cold extremities very quickly.

We're also beginning to worry that we'll be unable to do things we've planned since, if there's any significant snow at all, the hill that we have to drive up to get out of the village becomes impossible to negotiate.

Last winter we also noticed that people's attitudes to the wintry weather depended to a large extent on whether they could work from home or not. If the Wonderspouse can't get to work then his pay will be docked and our rent will be in danger. This makes us even more nervous.

Meantime, I've been trying to get on with ordinary jobs today. I'm also thinking I'll do a bit more shopping later - if the snow does come, the only way to the shops will be a 5 mile trudge on hilly ground, through snow, carrying cat litter, milk and so on in a rucksack. Even the Wonderspouse, who is quite fit and strong struggled after doing that a few times last year. I can't manage it at all, and since I'm the only one with credit cards that makes things even more difficult because when we run out of cash that's it.

The countryside may look pretty and Christmascardy, but it soon loses its prettiness when it starts to wreck life. I'm not a happy country dweller at the best of times - we only live here because we can't afford rents in town - and when the weather turns nasty I really really hate it. Today the whole world feels silent and frozen. It gives me the creeps and makes me edgy and nervous.

I think I might go and eat some chocolate and try not to worry about it.