New Year Madness

I was "on duty" as cook and carer for my mother today, and after her nap and coffee she wanted to go for a little walk, as usual.
But.

My mother's neighbourhood in the Taunus hills is serviced only by a narrow cul-de-sac with houses on one side and the forest on the other. It is about 400 metres higher than the much more densely populated Rhine valley and still covered by the snow that has already melted in the cities. 

So everyone who wanted to go for a walk in the snow went up into the hills today. All the official parking places were full by lunchtime, but the inflow of day-trippers never stopped. 

Normally you won't see a single car parked along my mother's street. Today it was absolutely packed with cars (with license plates not just from our area but also from cities hundreds of kilometres away, like Bonn or Stuttgart). Car after car drove along the street looking for a parking space. Not finding any, they all had to turn around at the end and come back. 

Hardly any of the drivers showed much consideration for a frail, elderly lady on crutches who could not just jump out of their way. My mother still insisted to go on, so we crawled along the crowded street and got splashed with lots of slush.

The beauty of the snow-covered forest sadly got lost somewhat in the onslaught of nature lovers.