Snow in Britain
by David James Wright
Winter in Britain is not that different from other times of the year. It is colder, the days are shorter and it rains even more often than in the summer. We have some harsh1 winds coming down from the north occasionally and we seem to have an increasing amount of flooding but most of the time the British winter would best be described as “a bit chilly”.
So when we awoke one morning to find it had snowed, it was the cause of some excitement in the Wright household2. It had snowed all through the night and by morning there was a layer of 3, maybe 4 cm, of snow covering everything. This was the first, and so far3 only, time it had snowed this winter. The children got dressed much more quickly than on a normal school day and were outside in their Wellington boots4 and coats without a thought for the usual distractions of television and breakfast. Emily and Eleanor trod5 gingerly6 on the pristine7 snow, aware that to build a snowman they needed all the clean untouched snow they could get. Max and Milly by contrast rushed about the garden like a couple of excited puppy dogs!
This is how Eleanor remembers the day: “I was woken up one morning by Emily. She made me follow her to the window, then I saw it was snowing. I went to get ready to go out. We each made a big snow ball by rolling the snow round and round and we put them together to make a snowman. And we threw snowballs at each other. The snowman had a carrot for a nose, coal as the eyes and mouth, two sticks for the arms, straw for hair and a hat and scarf on him to keep him cold. After that we were getting too cold, so we went inside and sat by the radiator to get warm.”
Emily remembers the day like this: “I woke in the night and looked out the window. When I saw it had snowed I was excited because it hardly ever snows but it was early in the morning so I went back to sleep knowing that in the morning we’d have lots of fun. When I woke up the second time I got dressed quickly and put on my scarf, hat and wellies8. I was the first one outside and I threw snowballs at the house while I waited for Ellie. The snow was so white and beautiful; the garden looked like a garden on the moon. We used nearly all the snow to build a snowman and dressed him in a hat and scarf. The next day all the snow had melted except our snowman then his head fell off. Eventually all that was left was a wet hat and scarf, some coal and a carrot. But we loved the snow and we are looking forwards to the next time!”
1 harsh – суровый;
2 the Wright household – семейство Райтов;
3 so far – пока;
4 Wellington boots – высокие резиновые или прорезиненные сапоги;
5 tread – ступать, шагать;
6 gingerly – осторожно;
7 pristine – чистый, нетронутый;
8 wellies – (разг. UK) Wellington boots
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