Snow - The downsides

When I put pictures of the snow up on Blipfoto they are usually showing how beautiful, intriguing, lovely, or impressive the snow is, or the fun to be had with snow. I love the winter here, and that means I love the snow.  However, today we had to put up with one of the other aspects of snow - just how hard work it can be when it comes dumping down in large quantities.
Last night we were due about 10 cm snow and since we had to be in town at 10:30 I made a mental note to get out early and clear the snow off the car. Next morning, about 8:30 I popped out to do just that.
As soon as I was out of the door I realised this was not as forecast. I was up to my knees in fresh snow, and it was still pouring out of the sky. I started to shovel a path to the car. As I got closer I was relieved to see Ricard had been up early and before going to work had cleared the path between our car and the road with his tractor.
To dig to the car, and then to dig the car out and clear the snow from it took us at least an hour.
Go to town - do our jobs - eat lunch - a few more tasks - head for home. (See Jan’s blip for details.)
Coming home we realised once we left the main road that there had been a lot of snow during the day. We were slithering and sliding a little in the deep snow on the back road but it felt under control. At the bottom of the hill up to our village there was a bus, half across the road with a back wheel in the ditch. I squeezed past but without any momentum there was no way our car was getting up that hill in the deep snow.  Backed down, past the bus again, and decided to try a smaller road that cuts out half the hill. That worked well and with wheels spinning and us mentally urging the car to keep going we made it to the top of the hill. Almost home, but the drive had filled with snow in the day and with 50 meters to go, where we turn left, the car finally got stuck, and I took the photo that is my blip today.
Another 45 minutes of digging and at the third attempt, with a helping push from a neighbour, the car got round the corner. Drove that final 50 meters and parked.  Wheeeew.
Before going in I cleared the snow from the roof of the camper van, and Jan cleared down to the cellar.
We took some recovery time and a G&T to celebrate making it home.
Rikard and tractor arrived outside and worked for a fair while moving the snow from our drive and into a giant heap behind the house! He earned his money today!!
We went out one final time with head torches and spent another hour clearing the snow from the kayak tent.  Tonight we’ll sleep well!
I’m glad these really heavy snowfalls are not so common here, maybe 2 or 3  in a winter, but I still love the snow, and even if a day like today is exhausting it’s also very satisfying, almost fun!