Naturally, this being the Easter holidays, it was snowing yesterday. It was completely white when I got up in the night but the lying snow had melted by the time I got up and more was falling. It snowed all day here but nothing was lying. The dogs' coats have been dug out again and the open fire was roaring. Open fires aren't just for the ambience and pretty look, you know - no one except fancy magazine executives and other city refugees can afford to heat their country homes with just oil and tank gas as the bills would be through the roof.
And talking about ambience and pretty look, I wasn't exactly rocking the Country Living vibe when I took the dogs out yesterday afternoon, though ultimately more realistic. Ancient trousers resurrected from the linen basket as I'd freeze in the ones I've been wearing lately, nice thick hand-knitted hoody that pills like mad so kept for keeping warm at home,, big baggy t-shirt, knitted shawlette knotted round the neck, Sea Cadets fleece, newly-finished Bad Girl Socks keeping my tootsies warm under a pair of gum boots (as opposed to Yah Wellies of the Hunter variety) and all topped off by a genuine ragged and ancient Barbour, complete with doggie poo bags (unused), antique tissues and crumbled dog treats. Ah, the fashionable British countryside look - NOT. The dogs were so much smarter than I was in their glamorous and warm coats received from their Aunties Liz and Michele at Christmas.
And those gorgeous houses shown in the magazines never show the realities of the country. Where are all the pawprints and mucky bootmarks on those gleaming floors, particularly the white-scrubbed ones? Where's all the tumbleweeds of animal hair lurking under chairs and radiators? The half of a dead mouse left lying in the kitchen, perfectly presented for the unwary foot? A cat lies photogenically on the sofa but there's no tidal mark of fur outlining it. The logs piled by the fireplace are so perfectly stacked that using one would ruin the aesthetic.
Country Living? More like I Wish This Were Country Living.
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