West Yorkshire Today

A strange day of relentless snow, falling steadily in sometimes large flakes, sometimes small, from before daylight, until well into the afternoon, when it was almost growing dark again. A total of 6 inches accumulated outside our door. Piles of it grew tall on top of posts on the allotments opposite, teetered, and fell. It sat thickly along the telegraph wires that span the road, and the washing lines outside the back door. Sometimes a gust of wind blew clouds of powdery whiteness off the trees, evocative of an avalanche. Clumps fell from the wires and lines. All the schools were closed, and sometimes a wild child sped past the window, running into a massive skid down the hill, or a snowball flew by, followed by a darting group of pink-faced boys, dragging plastic sledges. The blackbird returned again and again to eat the bread and apple and dripping L had put out in the morning, a second lot this afternoon. At one point a magpie saw him off, only to be trumped by a jackdaw. Bold magpie came back, held his ground, continued his meal. When they'd all gone, back came the blackbird and the little blackcap.