The snow that arrived on Friday, 18 January is still lying and hasn't melted yet. This is a bit out of the ordinary for Northern Ireland where locals generally describe our weather as 'mild' meaning it never gets too hot or too cold. (Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F)
in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January.)
I've enjoyed the snow flurries and colder weather this week, however, we had nearly 100 schools closed, buses not able to get to rural areas, and many people basically snowed in. It's not that we've had loads of snow (as you can see in the photos), it's more that our country isn't set up to deal with the colder, icy conditions.
Just a few photos of our lovely snow days...
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| As you might see in this photo, I never got round to removing the dead palm trees - shameful :) |
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| Above: Corkscrew Hazel, also known as Harry Lauder's Walking stick, is at its best this time of year. |
Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.
That last photo of the starkly bare trees casting their shadows on the snow is lovely!
ReplyDeleteYou have a very beautiful house. :)
ReplyDeleteMust admit the school thing has me baffled. I taught for 26 years and our school never closed once in spite of much heavier falls of snow. Even if the school had closed to children the staff were expected to make every effort to turn up. If we couldn't make it to our own schools we had to present ourself to our nearest school to help out there.
ReplyDeleteI think fears of accidents etc. has made headteachers play safe. They say they have to consider the children's safety but shouldn't parents be the ones to make that decision. In many schools they dare not even let the children snowball or make slides in case they injure themselves.
Our school closed on Monday and Tuesday, however, the primary school around the corner was open. I had a look on their website and had to laugh at the message on there asking if parents could bring a shovel to school as they dropped their child off so that they could help clear the paths. I did see a few parents pass by carrying snow shovels so it must have worked. The last photo is lovely showing the freshly laid snow. Totally different to what it's like here at the moment with the snow starting to melt and slush all over the place.
ReplyDeleteI never realized that Northern Ireland had such a mild climate, but I wondered already because of the plants your are able to grow in your garden. It must be fun to have some snow. We have not snow every year, but this month we have real winter with lots of snow and ice.
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't make it up; they closed the schools on 'health and safety' grounds, and the hospitals were inundated with children suffering from sledging injuries.
ReplyDeleteThe snow should be gone by next week, hopefully.
Snow looks beautiful when it is clean and crisp - we still have snow on the ground and it is all rather dirty - I will be glad to see the back of it. Beautiful snowy pics of your garden though.
ReplyDeleteWe've had a bit of snow here, too and one snow day and one early dismissal. I like the cold snaps because they kill black spot spores that torture my roses. Your house/garden are beautiful even with the snow!
ReplyDeleteLike we say around here: There is always next year. Good news, next year is just around the corner. No snow here. Nice and warm--for short spell.
ReplyDeleteThat's so interesting, I would think you would have much colder weather there, but instead you don't have as much variation as we do. I'd miss the warmer days we have in July, but I'd love those milder winters!
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