I can't remember the last time the snow brought everything to a halt. It has happened in my life time but I cannot remember the last time it was so long ago. And I've lived in different places. Today though that is what happened. As I said in my last post things were slowing down but even then I didn't think it would come to stand still but it did. Living in Scotland you get used to adverse weather and to be honest looking out at the day I have seen a hell of a lot worse but the council thought differently.
Yesterday with just over 2 hours left of school to go the council decided all schools in the county should be shut and so did most other counties. Why I don't know because parents had already dropped kids off and the weather didn't get any worse. Their decision meant thousands, I expect, of parents and carers around the country had to make instant arrangements, leave work, etc. for the sake of just over 2 hours. My wife for example had to leave work early and luckily could only get away with doing so because her manager is off this week and then she had to walk through the snow to school and back. The council decided also that all schools in the county would be shut today not taking individual cases into consideration and today we had to wait until after two in the afternoon for them to make up their mind whether they were going to close them tomorrow too.
So the girls had a day off school and despite a long talk last night I opened one eye at the crack of dawn this morning to see them approaching my wife's side of the bed. The reason it turned out was they wanted to know if they could open the advent calender. So I got up and allowing my wife to sleep on gave them a lecture about waking up their mum when she was trying to catch up on sleep. The thing is all week they have been reluctant to get out of bed for school and in a foul mood when they do but a day off they are up earlier than usual of their own volition. But as I spoke I realised they were excited, they don't understand and they have a dad who at the moment just gets angry at the slightest thing.
You probably read it in the tone of this post that I do let things get under my skin very easily. I have a long list. Apparently because we have a combi boiler we can't install a shower so we have to rely on those one that cling to the taps and for the life of me I can't understand that stupid design on rubber trying to cling to a wet, usually, metal surface and being forced backs. Straps surely to secure it. I mean if you were trying to hold on to a pipe that had water jetting out of it surely you would strap yourself to the pipe rather then try to hold on to the mouth of it with a giant plunger. Metal teas spoons, what is the point? I thought that couldn't be topped until one day my wife decided to through out her old pots and pans and buy new ones. She came back with these all-metal variety. Surely there is a design stage and surely someone thought that the handle might get hot. I don't cook on the stove much but if I still get caught out with these bloody things picking up a hot metal handle to move it.
My wife has told me many times I need to calm down and also that I need to get off the kids' back. Although today I came to the realisation that I do need to calm myself down and not get so worked up I'm not in total agreement about the kids. I do need to stop getting so wound up by them but at the same time I am the only one who gives them any discipline and this is undermined by my wife who prefers not to be the bad one. Nothing bad in that but they are defiant at times and cheeky and act in ways I would never have gotten away with when I was their age. As an example my I put the kids to bed tonight and my oldest got up to go to the toilet, heard my wife in the kitchen and although I told her to go to bed she walked right past me as if I was not there into the kitchen. I knew what for. Its like groundhog day. Apart from being angry at being ignored and giving another lecture that fell on deaf ears I explained the her mum has one proper meal a day not breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks inbetween like herself. I explained that she should be allowed to eat that meal in piece but my wife said she could have a little bit which as usual turned into her eating about a third of my wife's dinner and my wife having crisps after because she was still hungry. Little things but I worry that the lack of discipline is doing them no good and also that my place in the household as father has moved because of my anxiety problems to one more akin to older brother.
That aside though I have been trying harder today not to blow that short fuse which wasn't always easy with 3 hyperactive kids in a small room who speak like the have fog horns attached to their vocal chords. They are constantly fighting over toys or what to watch or what they are playing and constantly winding each other up. Just being kids. If you haven't been there as a parent then you will I am sure remember it well as a child. That is the way things are. And I have managed to get on top of it today and had no panic too which is not the norm these days. I have been more tired this evening than I usually am and I think that is because I also feel more relaxed than usual.
We did have a good day today and made the most of the day off. In the photo above my oldest is holding an icicle she spotted on the roof outside her bedroom window and her mum leaned out and got it. I took the oldest icicle spotting around the local area seeing if we could find bigger and better than the last. On the church across the road from us there is a beauty which I hope doesn't ever fall on some passing soul. I noticed there are snowball marks dotted around it where kids have tried to bring it down but it would take a chainsaw. While my wife turned over the engine I was going to make a snowman with the kids but it was too fluffy and wouldn't stick together but we mucked about in the snow. Even the boy has taken to throwing it at me. It was cut short though when the youngest girl started crying from the cold. Although the air is not cold being in the snow is so to shorten her pain I took the kids upstairs and then later went for another walk with the oldest. All in all a good day.
With the schools re-opening tomorrow I think the stand still is over and the world is beginning to turn again. No snow predicted for the weekend anyway and it will soon be business as usual in this little town. I think today though was a vital lesson for me about watching my own feelings and how better to deal with them. In turned from something I was dreading into something good so that is something I should be looking to do more of.
