9 January 2010 (Saturday) - A Walk in the Snow

I expect my loyal readership is fed up with hearing about my insomnia, but today I realised something. Wide awake at 4am, and at 6.30am. But when I went back to bed at 7am I slept like a log until 10am. Perhaps I’m sleeping at the wrong times? I consulted the font of all knowledge (the Internet). The BBC’s Science & Nature website features a “sleep profiler” which told me that my sleep is not well optimised, scoring 16 %. I’m not sure what it’s scoring 16% of, but I’ve not done that badly in a test since my abortive attempts at first year “A” level exams. Apparently I am a “lark” which means I’m an early morning person. (No surprises there!). The cheeky website dared to suggest I might be overweight, and said I might be snoring which would disturb my sleep. It also suggested I should see my doctor. He also would tell me I’m overweight. Perhaps I’ll re-start that diet. I’d rather do that then mess about with the BBC’s other suggestions of massage, aromatherapy or acupuncture.

The plan for today was to go mob-handed to Folkestone to finish the decorating, but the snow put paid to that idea. Local roads were covered in thick ice, and snow was falling more and more. Rather than sitting inside sulking, we went for a walk in the snow. Through the park to Great Chart. It was really pretty going through Viccy park, and the birds on the lake at Singleton were quite comical to watch.

The Hooden Horse in Great Chart must be one of my top two most visited pubs of the last year. It’s ideally placed for popping in for a pint whilst cycling home on a day’s cycling trip. But because it’s somewhere we call in on the way home from somewhere else, we’ve never eaten there. Today I realised that it was at just the right distance for a walk through the snow. We took nearly an hour to get there, and the Younger’s winter warmer ale was a treat worth walking for. I then had the ham, egg and chips, which was brill. And we sat in the warm and watched the snow outside get deeper and deeper as I polished off a pint of Directors

The Hooden often has up to five ales on the hand pumps. Today they had two ales and two ciders. Which was probably for the best – I’m not a cider fan. Had there been more beer, I would have settled down for the duration. But two pints were an elegant sufficiency, and we then wandered back through a winter wonderland. On the way to the pub some smaller kids were tin-traying down a snowy slope. On the way back some bigger kids were having a go. Being bigger they had they much more momentum, and one came down with such force that when he reached the bottom, he kept going and he managed to wedge himself underneath a nearby bramble bush.

I have often mentioned that there is nothing more amusing than other peoples’ misfortunes, and this episode was nothing if not amusing.

To Asda for bread and milk. Not so much panic buying as panic-ing because we’d run out. I popped into Halfords on the way past to see if they had any sledges. No luck. Asda had sold out of sledges at Xmas, and B&Q were closed. I wonder why.

Whilst having a warming cuppa, the phone rang. “Norman Stanley” informed me that HMP Slade is also having problems with the snow. The wardens either can’t get in, or can’t get out quick enough. Yesterday’s visiting session was entertaining. Because of the snow, only five inmates had visitors. Twenty wardens supervised the visits. And today, having been given lunch, tea is planned for three hours later so they can all be banged up by 4pm. He’s not best chuffed. I apologised for our not decorating today, and offered him a full refund (!) He seemed happy with that.

And so to NeverWinter for the evening. I seem to be aching rather a lot, and my rollerblading injury is playing up. I blame yesterday’s sledging…