Late snow

I suppose that, looking back to the 1940's and 1950's, the moderate snow we have had in the last twenty-four hours would not have been considered particularly late, but we have been cossetted over recent years and this latest fall has become as a bit of a shock to the system.
Earlier today Chris and I went to Rugby for a spot of shopping and we found that there were patches of surprisingly heavy snow on the A45. Between Braunston and Willoughby there is quite a large rookery and there was much activity around the nests. Rooks are early nesters and this snow could hardly have come at a worse time; about three inches of snow covered the landscape, effectively cutting the birds off from their food supplies of worms, insects and seeds.
We did our shopping at Elliotts Fields, a fairly new retail development to the east of Rugby and having parked up we set off for the joys of Debenhams, Marks and Sparks and so on. The biting east wind had, within seconds, made my face numb and i.m.o. these are the coldest conditions we've experienced this winter. The temperature was around -2 degrees but once again it was the wind chill which really caused the problem. Now I am not a great fan of Fatface and similar retail outlets but I was very glad to plunge into the warmth they offered.

Out garden table currently has a snowy-white cloth. 18 March, 2018

In my last blog I mentioned our Purple Saxifrage in flower. As an arctic-alpine plant this snow will bother it not one whit (whatever a whit is) but it bothers most other species, especially Homo sapiens, a peculiar species of ape apparently of African origins. Come to think of it, a fortnight in South Africa right now wouldn't go amiss.