Comment - Our snowy lockdown was an experience beyond words

Yesterday it was the snow. The first fall on a weekday this winter and the first during lockdown.

It started early, and by mid-morning it was clear it was the real deal.

White everywhere, total silence, zero traffic on the roads - and a dilemma on the horizon.

In normal times weekday snow, while not as good as weekend snow, is nevertheless a thrill.

The kids are excited and the trip to school and then into work is an adventure.

Everyone’s talking about it in the office and on the phone - especially whether we’ll need to leave early and whether schools will shut, which buses are cancelled and which roads are closed, besides the Snake Pass obviously.

Even then, the messages and calls come in and what you’re supposed to do, and when, is clear cut.

Of course in normal times you’re not all in the house on a snowy weekday.

Yesterday it came on top of working with less than optimal tech, domestic disarray and so-called remote schooling.

It’s hard enough to concentrate when it’s snowing at the best of times.

And it was stressful when the children thundered down the stairs and piled out of the door at lunchtime, amid frenzied shouts and demands for coats and boots and gloves.

Should I continue with my very important work, ignoring the feelings of guilt and neglect. Or just down tools and join them in this joyful, but rare, magical moment?

The kids are on a countdown from the minute they go out. You don’t want to be emerging just as they come in frozen and bedraggled. It rarely snows these days, especially like this. But work is work and I really wanted to finish this thing.

The pressure to act for the right reasons, but at what felt like the wrong time, grew.

And I’m sorry, not sorry, to say I stepped away from my duties and hit the sledge.

The pandemic has thrown up many new experiences. Some of them very sad, some boring, some inconvenient and some stressful when they should be fun.

Which is a bit of a mouthful. There really should be a word for it.