It's just a memory now

It's been a busy time, quite a while since I have blogged and it turns out I am even coming under pressure to write when visiting the George and Dragon.
It's a strange thing how people who live in the village may have to read a blog about the village to find out what wonders are happening in the village.
I may have to start a newspaper.

Most of the snow has gone. You can catch sight of a little of it (if you look hard at the picture) on the higher peaks as you drop down into the village, but apart from the odd summer hail shower the weather here has risen by a whole 2 or 3 degrees and there are a range of people coming through wearing fancy dress of totally opposite extremes. 

Right now my weekends are filled with people wearing the thinnest of skin tight lycra and a florescent impact hat or multiple layers of waterproof oilskin based wet weather gear with walking poles and a wooly hat, all of them asking where the public toilets are.

I was remembering the snow as a kind of adventure. In particular the road out of the village in the picture above. 

There was one particular morning as I raced toward the top of the hill at a fair speed because to stop is to get stuck and to brake is to go sideways, when over the crest came another car going at a fair speed because to stop is to get stuck and when coming down a hill to brake is to end up anywhere.

I remember having a flash of thought that we had a clearance at the point we were going to pass of about 6 inches. Easy to navigate on a light bright dry day with control of the brakes and the ability to slow down. Not so easy coming up and in the case of the other car coming down a thickly covered snowy bank at 60mph unable to turn the wheel or apply any kind of braking. 

There was a flash of all this knowledge and a second flash that the person in the car coming down had been having exactly the same realization, and so feet down on the accelerators in an act of unspoken and mutual trust we hurtled toward each other at a combined speed of about 120mph and in a flash of shared knowledge we passed with inches to spare.

Winter is just in the background now. The tourists are coming through all of them wishing they could live here and all of us understanding that you wont make it unless you have the bollocks to keep your foot on the accelerator and trust the person in the car coming towards you. 

Oh...by the way, tractors stop for no-one!