YORKSHIRE

I'm not a native from Yorkshire. 

I'm not even a native "northerner" and in the scheme of things I've only been here five minutes, well 4 years to be precise. 

When I first arrived it was just me and Bob the Dog. It was October and it was cold.  I was cold.  Cold enough to have the heating on all the time, cold enough to need a thermal vest AND thermal leggings.  Cold enough to sleep with an extra duvet and maybe even sometimes in my dressing gown. 

And then it snowed.  

Now having spent the previous 10 years on the South Coast snow was something of a novelty.  

Snow meant days at home, log fires and sledging or at least watching others sledge.  Snow meant Chaos.  Roads closed, food shelves empty (especially bread and milk) and a general feeling of battening down the hatches. 

But in Yorkshire it's different.  In Yorkshire we have a winter every year - and for every year I have been here we have had snow.  Varying degrees but always a spell of snow. 

And the gritters grit (most of the time) and the roads are passable. The shops stay open, the milkman's round continues and the coal man keeps us warm,  and even if we can't get out there someone with a tractor that can.

Four years on, the thermal vest has been removed and packed away along with the leggings.  There is just an extra blanket on the bed and the log burner keeps the house warm enough without the need to have the heating all the time. 

Snow days still make me smile, Yorkshire is beautiful but even more so in the Snow but snow days are just another day.