The best days are snow days. If you’re due snow where you are, and maybe a surprise day at home, here’s how to make the most of it…
There’s a fine line where snow’s concerned. Ideally you want more than a light dusting, or there’s no chance of duvet days and snowman-building, but anything too extreme can be at best a bit of a pain and at worst put people in danger. We’re hoping for some of that middle ground. Just enough to ensure a day off work, but not so much that it’s no longer enjoyable. And if you’re lucky enough to hit that snowy sweet spot, where life slows down, just for a couple of days, and you get to enjoy a bonus snow day you weren’t expecting, you should make the most of it.
We’ve put together a suggested timetable for getting the best from a snow day.
7am Look outside and assess your front path.
7.30am Ring work and leave a message declaring your driveway ‘impassable’ and your front door ‘snowed shut’ and excuse yourself for the day.
8am Check on any elderly or vulnerable neighbours and see if they need paths clearing, heating tinkering with or any food provisions. Bask in the warm glow of being neighbourly.
8.30am Make yourself a hot breakfast; eggs and bacon would be ideal, but feel free to press an avocado into use for something more fancy. A sprinkling of paprika gives any savoury breakfast a decadent feel. If you were underprepared for a snow day, seek out some porridge oats in the back of the cupboard or scrape together the ingredients for a pancake or three.
9am Eat breakfast, smugly contemplating the fact that on any normal day you would currently be armpit to armpit with several hundred commuters, or sitting in gridlocked traffic.
9.30am Make your living space as cosy as you can. Lay a fire if you have one. Get out the blankets. Treat yourself and turn the heating up a notch. Generally behave as though you are preparing for a siege at Ice Station Zebra, rather than a bit of chilly weather in the UK.
10.30am Get wrapped up in old clothes and dig out the wellies. It’s time for a bit of light snowballing. If you don’t have children or other company to join in, add an element of competition for yourself by setting up a target. A wheelie bin works well.
11am It’s been three hours since your last act of altruism so put out some bird food and fresh dishes of water to help out your feathered friends.
11.30am Come back inside for hot drinks and slippers. Watch the birds hopping about in the snow, hoovering up your treats and feel grateful for your slippers (and your wellies).
12 noon Time to start considering the question of lunch. This is a bonus day, remember, so, as with breakfast, you need to make a bit of an event of this if possible. Leftover Christmas goodies are a good place to start. A posh chutney would make a bit of an event of cheese on toast. If you have veg to use up, source a stock cube from the cupboard and throw a homemade soup together. Bonus points for adding fancy toppings to your homemade soup: a swirl of cream, some home-toasted croutons, a scattering of grated parmesan, a few herbs rescued from the snowy patio and chopped as a garnish.
1pm Eat your delicious and warming lunch, with a view of the snow falling if possible. Pretend you’re in the Alps, enjoying a quick lunch on the mountain before popping your skis on and whizzing back to your chalet for the afternoon.
1.30pm Rouse yourself from your ski chalet reverie and email the office to tell them you’ve had to start on your emergency tins from your bunker but you were forced to eat your spaghetti hoops cold, from the tin because the electricity is down and the pipes are frozen so you couldn’t risk making washing up.
2pm Wellies on again. Pop outside again for a turn around the garden, get some photos of the snowiest parts of your property as ‘evidence’. Bonus points for capturing any actual snow drifts.
2.30pm Back inside, change into lounge attire (that’s PJs to anyone else) and a big woolly jumper and nice thick socks. Post your snowy pictures to social media, for the look of the thing and declare yourself most annoyed to be kept from your desk.
3pm Gather together a packet of biscuits, a large mug of tea and head for your newly cosied-up living room and watch Dr Zhivago under a blanket.
5.20pm Remember that Dr Zhivago was actually quite long and wonder where on earth the afternoon went.
6pm Get dinner on nice and early and pity the poor cold souls struggling home through the slush now.
9pm Have a decadently early night with a good book and notice the way the night sounds that bit more silent than usual covered in a blanket of snow.
If you’re looking forward to making the most of the cold weather, don’t miss our feature on how to thrive in winter in the January issue, out now. Cold Comfort Balm starts on p18.
Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe
