What I Will Remember

Salty tide marks around the bottoms of my trousers. Melting snow on floors where anyone walks in their outdoor shoes. Shoes in the porch, drying, getting cold... Cars and buses filthy with salt and grit-melted spray. Having to think carefully about a viable route before deciding to go anywhere, by car or on foot. Icicles on cars, hanging from gutters, on the sides of railway cuttings. Taking five minutes to get dressed to go out - coat, scarf, hat, gloves, boots. Wearing four layers of clothing at all times (inside). Checking the weather forecast obsessively. Being 3 feet (the other side of a window) from the blackbird visiting our window-box to eat food put there by L. Seeing our breath in great plumes in the new house. The smell of cardboard boxes. Putting all my poetry books out of reach for a few weeks. Learning that modern electrical standards demand the presence of an earth rod if you have overhead electric cables, and that earth rods have to be sunk a metre deep into the ground... That in -4C birds can't get at worms, graves can't be dug, and yes, earth rods can't be installed...