Still no snow. Forays into Oldham in search of re-soled shoes and magic gloves.

Today the top of the milk was frozen in the bottles delivered by the milkman. It wasn’t enough to push the tops off the bottles but it needed a good shake before it would pour and there was ice floating around in the milk. It’s a good job we were on porridge and not cold cereal for breakfast today.

I was reminded of winters in my childhood, when we had a small bottle of milk at school at mid-morning break, long before Margaret Milk-Snatcher came and put a stop to it. In the depths of winter the foil tops were always pushed up by frozen milk, which we scooped with our straws, pretending it was ice cream. In the summer time, of course, on hot days we had the problem of slightly sour milk from its having stood in the sun for a good part of the morning. Happy days!

It hasn’t snowed here. The day began crisp and cold and bright. Frozen puddles abound - and ponds for that matter. By late morning, however, the cloud had moved in again. I fully expected snow but it seems not to have happened. The frost is still thick on the garden and on the roofs around here but closer into Oldham it seems to have gone, leaving everything just grey and damp. 

I went into Oldham to collect Phil’s shoes that were finally re-soled and to buy various odds and ends. My daughter had commissioned me to look for 31 pairs of “magic gloves”. Magic gloves come in children's sizes and adults' sizes but in each range it’s one size fits all. She wants to give a pair to each child in her class but they have to be at the right price. There used to be a shop in Uppermill that sold such things at a reasonable price but Covid saw her off. They are available on Amazon but we are trying to buy from small traders where possible. Unfortunately I was unable to find any. One market stall holder assured me she would ask her husband if he had any at the warehouse but she would need to call me back as her husband was currently busy praying. So far no call! It may have to be Amazon after all.

My bus for home left Oldham on time and I was hoping to get home in time to say home in time to say hello-goodbye to the prodigal granddaughter. Granddaughter Number Two has been collected from York university and they called in at our house to kill time before going on to collect her small sister from school. However, on the way home a fool drove out of a side road at speed and clipped our bus, or our bus clipped him. We were inches away from a nasty accident. Nobody was hurt. The fool turned his car around and drove off as the bus driver approached, despite possible damage to his vehicle. So we sat for about ten minutes while our driver reported the incident to the relevant people. Annoying!

I was able to wave to the prodigal and her mother as they passed me as I walked from the bus stop. So it goes! 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!