Snow and sun

At last. I didn't think, when I woke this morning, that the day was going to be any better than we've been having - there was a thick layer of cloud at the time - but when I was ready to go out at 8am I realised that the ground was white with newly-fallen snow and was in fact quite slippery. So I slithered carefully up the back garden, surrounded by blackbird song from the holly tree, and sat demisting the car before heading to the supermarket. Missing items today included the really good baking potatoes, and carrots - there had been no delivery of either. You could play a wee guessing game each time as to what wouldn't be available - it keeps changing.

The rest of the morning whizzed past, mostly on a planning meeting about Lent and Easter in church (much more fun than it sounds). By the time we'd had lunch, the sun was pouring into the dining room and we headed off to Benmore Gardens, in the hope of avoiding the showers that kept spoiling things in Dunoon. Blipping the scene as we arrived, when the sun hadn't yet disappeared behind the hills - I had to step behind a tree to stop the glare.

The gardens were full of the calls (and the grubby red waterproofs) of some pretty young children from the Outdoor Centre, clearly having a lovely time; we exchanged a word with one of their teachers, who complained that they were supposed to be having "adventures" on their own, without adults, but that her group kept getting interested in things and letting her catch them up. The wind whistled in the trees but not around us until we reached the exposed top part of the gardens overlooking Glen Massan, where we seemed to be the only people around. A little family of deer crossed the path in front of us and bobbed off across the moss, their white scuts bouncing along through the trees and we knew we'd made the right choice of walk.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but the sky is still clear and dotted with stars. It's cold, and I've spent the last hour or so fighting to stay awake as the news washed over me, of resignations and positive Covid tests and Bojo dashing off somewhere else to escape scrutiny. Truly we are living through a bizarre nightmare - but I'd really like to waken up now.