Snow

Adults and children love snow , the only difference is that children admit that they like it and adults pretend that they don't but , deep down inside , the child in them remembers....

A very heavy snowfall when I was young still stays in my memory . We woke up one morning and there it was ....The whole suburban neighbourhood looked different . During the night an invisible hand (as the saying goes ) , had decorated trees ,walls , fences , and made ordinary or in some cases , ugly -looking buildings look beautiful . At first it wasn't really deep , certainly not crisp , it wasn't even even....even . But it was SNOW....and later on it snowed some more and more until footpaths were indistinguishable from roadways . We decided to make a giant snow-boulder , just as we had seen ' Desperate Dan ' do in the Dandy .
It was not as easy as it looked and three of us struggled to push a huge ever -increasing snowball in the general direction of Orwell Hill , gathering leaves , twigs , empty cigarette cartons , all the pavement detritus of the locality including occasionally , pieces of dog-poo . But despite our efforts we never did make it as far as the hill and had to abandon it , and for all I know it may still be slowly melting away somewhere in the area to this day .
We made our snowmen , pelted each other with snowballs and enjoyed the free entertainment .
But the best was still to come . It froze . This must have been 1947 , because , since , I have heard many people who are even older than I am talk about the terrible winter of '47 .
When the snow froze , the deep ruts that had been made , by the few cars that were around at the time , became icy channels , we built tunnels and bridges for our toy soldiers . We made slides on the already slippery footpaths , completely oblivious of the danger to our elderly neighbours .
These slides were 10 or 12 feet long and gave us great excitement but were very dangerous ,and we occasionally received a 'skelp' of a walking stick or an umbrella from the old folk . No running to parents or guardians or the police in those days , we reckoned that we had it coming . Besides , we could always get our own back by throwing snowballs , but even snowballs were dangerous then , because when the snow was compacted it became ice and could cause serious injury....
For the growups that must have been a particularly bad time .Most deliveries were still being made by horse-drawn vehicles , and horses often slipped on the frozen surfaces and had to be removed from the carts . Trams stopped or had infrequent services .But people generally seemed to manage and the older generation were particularly cared for by their neighbours and close family.
Eventually the snow melted and the traffic reclaimed the streets , frozen waterpipes were fixed , schools re-opened and we walked to school , still trying to make slides on the , now almost ice-free , footpaths.......

Robin

Robin had been feeling uneasy all day . He had been awakened on his perch in the little barn by the sound of wind-driven icy branches tapping against the window . The weather had grown even colder during the day , flurries of snow were already falling . The coming of cold weather meant little food would be available inside or outside the barn . He ruffled his rust-red feathers .
Robin had a clear view of the front door of the inn-tavern beside the barn .The man inside was locking up for the night ,shutters slammed down , door closed and bolted , lanterns dimmed .All was quiet.
Darkness was closing in and Robin decided to fly back to his nest in the barn as there would be no more food available this night .
But the uneasy feeling persisted , something extra-ordinary was going to happen .He heard a sound .
Despite the falling snow he could see a short distance up the road and was soon able to identify a donkey with a woman on his back , being led by a man walking beside . The man had been consoling the woman with gentle comments , but his voice rose with excitement when he saw the dim light of the tavern . When they arrived at the tavern the man pounded with his fists on the door . No reply . He pounded again , still no reply and again ...until eventually the man inside opened a shutter and shouted something to the man outside . The man outside was persistent and eventually the man inside came and opened the door slightly but wide enough for Robin to be able to catch a brief glimpse of a blazing fire and food laid out on tables....giving a feeling of warmth and companionship . The man outside appealed to the man inside who eventually pointed to the barn where Robin lived .
The barn was small and the animals that stalled there kept the absolute cold out with their body-heat and the couple seemed to be grateful to have some shelter .
Robin flew back to his nest in the rafters and watched as the man and the woman settled in .The woman unwound her long heavy cloak , the man took the blanket off the donkey and made her as comfortable as possible . Robin was disappointed that no food seemed available and eventually he went to sleep listening to the soothing sounds that the man made to comfort the woman .
He woke again to the sound of a baby 's cry . The man and the woman were making sounds of joy mixed with a little weeping , over their new-born boy . Robin knew that he was experiencing something special and felt privilaged to be part of this beautiful , intimate , family scene , before the world at large came in to share it .
Over the following days the world did come , by some mysterious means the word went out that something special had happened and old and young , rich and poor , foreign and local came to visit the child . The local children came first of course , Robin knew them well and there was always spare food scattered when they came , Rebecca , Amber , Sophie , David closely followed by Gracie .
As days passed the man and the woman became anxious , again , and they appeared to be preparing to travel . And then , one morning , they were gone.......

That was the beginning ......
Robin was not to know that many years later and not too far away , another robin from another generation would witness that baby , now grown , when the young man was once again alone except for his mother and a small group of people , or images of thorns , cross , nails , blood staining a robins breast.....and Robin-Redbreast would forever be associated with another wonderful event.......
And even today , over two thousand years later , although almost everything else has changed , the message of peace and justice and goodwill to all men still remains the same .

LOOK OUT !..Here comes Gracie....!

''It's not really fair , I mean , after all the trouble I took to get here , you would think that SOMEONE would have made an effort to clean up the mess . I'm not really blaming Maw and Paw , for I love them dearly and they did their best . But just think about it , here I am arriving in all my glory and what have they laid on for me ? ....A RECESSION !...and not just an ordinary , common or garden , recession , oh no , it's a GLOBAL RECESSION , the WORST IN 100 years (whatever they are ) , and that's not all .........how about GLOBAL WARMING ??? They are melting the planet , before I even get a chance to cuddle a Polar Bear ( whatever THEY are ) and as for the State of Africa ! I can't wait to get out there and kick some ass , ( I've had plenty of practice at THAT ! ) , and sort out that continent .
Just as soon as I can figure out how to get out of this crib , open the door , and head outside I'm off to Africa , nothing will stop me . WAIT ?Oh ! HELP , WHAT's THAT ?? , o.k...o.k...o.k , nothing to worry about , it's just the shadow of my hand on the crib-cover ....whew ! that was scary for a while !!!! Maybe I won't go to Africa today .....I'll go tomorrer instead ( please don't criticize my pronounceation , or my spelling , after all I'm only a few hours old .)
All that excitement has made me feel tired again , so...I....thinkk . I'lllll...just have ....another ....little .....nap......g'night....Maw....g'night Paw.... g'night Doc...........

ALL :GOODNIGHT GRACIE ........WELCOME !!!!

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