Snow Chaos...

On Friday, school finished a lesson early because the snow of that morning was forecast to get a lot worse, and getting home for many people might be a problem. I took the opportunity to pop into a local supermarket on my way home. As I returned to my car, I noticed that I had a flat rear tyre...

Calling out the breakdown service I pay for along with my car insurance, I resigned myself to a long, cold wait - well, the snow was playing havoc with many people's cars, and the number of breakdowns and crashes being reported was much higher than usual. I felt rather smug as I'd made sure I had a spare tyre in the boot in time for my MOT at Christmas, and so I didn't anticipate any trouble.

Before you ask, yes, I do know how to change a tyre (in theory) but I have knee problems, which means that the practicalities are just too awkward. And anyway, I might break a nail...

Nevertheless, by the time I got home, I was a frozen block of ice, and I regretfully decided against venturing back out for Catholic Evensong at Blackfen, and curled up with a hot water bottle under the duvet for an early night.

By Saturday morning, much of the snow had melted, and I made my way to Mass, Exposition & Benediction without mishap.

This morning everything was blanketed in a fresh layer of the fluffy white stuff. The cats were not at all happy - Monsignor Miaowrini checked it by sticking her head through the cat flap...

... and then she decided to come back in again. Cardinal Furretti, very much a home body at the best of times, and disinclined to leave her creature comforts, watched from a safe distance...

I made my way to the car, cleared the windscreen and mirrors of snow, and started to drive off. It felt a bit odd, but I assumed that it was due to the snow. Halfway down the road I realised that whatever was wrong wasn't just the effect of snow. I pulled over and started to investigate. Sure enough, I had another flat tyre! This time it was a front one... but I hadn't managed to replace the spare...

I must just say that a man waiting by the bus stop actually offered to change the tyre for me, but, as I didn't have a spare I had to decline his kind offer. Still, it cheered me up to think that people still offer help to complete strangers!

I then had a tricky call to make: abandon the attempt to get to church and phone the breakdown services in the hope that they could get me to a garage which sold tyres (and had the correct size in stock) or abandon the car, and deal with it later. The forecast suggested that the weather was going to get worse, and I didn't know whether buses and taxis would still be running if things became icy after dark, so planning to attend the evening Mass seemed like a bad idea. I rang the taxi firm I use most frequently, explained where I'd fetched up, and asked them to come and collect me...

It was definitely the right call. Several of the local garages I phoned after Mass turned out to be shut (a combination of Sunday and snow). The ones that were open couldn't tell me if they had the correct tyre in stock without looking at the wheel (even the franchise dealership I'd bought the car from, which has the car in its computer records, professed themselves unable to access the information!) and I didn't much fancy waiting for the breakdown services to take me from garage to garage on the offchance. I decided to throw in the towel and go out for lunch instead...

When I finally arrived home, the kitties had decided that two bodies were warmer than one, and were curled up together at the top of my wardrobe (normally Miaowrini's domain!), obviously all power games are off for the moment.

The snow continues to fall, and I have great hopes of a "snow day" tomorrow. With any luck, I can get the car sorted out then...