As the snow edges imperceptibly across the country and towards out little corner, dads everywhere are anxiously checking the garages and outbuildings for the sledge they last got out a couple of years ago.

Snow is an interesting thing.  Water's actually rather interesting, as it's the only substance that expands when cold, which is a useful characteristic, since without it we couldn't skate on frozen lakes.  But whenever the first snowflakes start wending their delicate way to wards us, we become all nostalgic, remembering the last time we had snow at Christmas, and comments such as "We always had deep snow when we were young" fly thick and fast, despite not having a grain of truth in them.  But it's the change wrought to our normally staid personas that's possibly the most interesting facet of snow. Five inches of the white, fluffy stuff, and we're all little kids again, building snowmen (under the guise of teaching the kids, of course), grabbing the sledge (to show them how to use it) and lobbing snowballs like trainee marines.

But there's no denying the place looks beautiful immediately after a thick fall.  Just as long as no one has to go anywhere by road, it's a great time.