Snow creeps up on us...and kind of ruins things

On New Year's Day I went for a long walk around Knole, a National Trust property. It was great and much needed. We drove there, it's around 30-40 minutes and it's all pretty straightforward. Then, when I awoke the following morning and peered out of the window on 2 January 2026, my world had been transformed into a winter wonderland of the worst possible kind. I'm talking about snow. It was everywhere and while it was little more than a light dusting, it was enough to cause problems underfoot and on the roads. The worst thing being it was going nowhere. The temperatures were not warm enough to thaw the snow so it simply loitered with intent and now, on Sunday 4 January 2026, it's still there and the forecasts suggest it will be hanging around for a few more days, certainly the rest of this week. Normally, we get two helpings and if that happens this week then you can bet your arse we'll have snow for the next fortnight, which means little in the way of cycling or driving or walking.

Two days of staying indoors

Andy and I were going to meet in Costa Coffee in Purley, which would have meant an 80-minute round trip on foot, but when I awoke at 0550hrs this morning I started to think no, it would be treacherous in the extreme and, therefore, not worth doing. I might have been wrong, but over here (perhaps not where Andy is) there's a lot of snow and ice on roads and paths. I can't get my car on to the drive so it's sitting outside the house like a guest, not a resident. But that's not the problem. The issue is really the fact that snow is bedding in, making itself comfortable and is, quite literally, an unwelcomed guest. In some respects, it's great; it means I can sit and read Uncommon Danger by Eric Ambler or, as now, write something on the blog. I guess the phrase 'it is what it is' springs to mind and if so there's no point in worrying about it, but in truth I was planning a ride to Esquires Coffee in Westerham, I really fancied the ride and, of course, the large cup of tea, the whole idea of just chilling for a bit before the ride back. But no, it's not to be and I won't make a fuss about it.

Outside now the sun is shining and the skies are blue, but the ground is brilliant white. I've resigned myself to doing nothing although I'm strongly considering 'testing the water' so to speak, ie taking a walk to see just how bad it is. The last thing I want is to go 'arse over tit' to use a well-worn phrase, but it's highly likely. I don't know what it is around here, but whenever it snows we do tend to get a fair bit of it compared to, say, Sutton, where mum resides. Perhaps it's because we're fairly high up. I did drive the car the day before yesterday, very slowly until we reached the main road and then I managed to get to the supermarket. I'm sure that's the way things still are, hence my tentative plan to get out there and test things out. I've had breakfast and I'm considering another cup of tea and a short read. I know there's some shortbread biscuits around somewhere but I can't be bothered to go in search of them, not yet at any rate. This is dressing gown weather and I quite enjoy it. Tomorrow, it's work, and that means getting up early, something I haven't done for a while. I'm not looking forward to it, put it that way.

I stayed in all day and did absolutely nothing. There is snow all over the place, not driving or walking weather. While there was some mid-afternoon sunshine that seemed to be thawing the snow, it's still there. Right now, it's dark, in fact it's 1800hrs, dinner is being made and I'm sitting here writing. I'm rambling so I'll shut up and try to enjoy the last few hours of my Christmas holidays.

New Year's Eve ride

There's no fixed event, we don't have a New Year's Ride on our agenda and never have, but sometimes New Year's Eve falls on a day when we're riding so, by default, that ride becomes a New Year's Eve ride. On this occasion, we weren't really planning to ride on New Year's Eve, Andy had suggested we ride earlier in the week, I think it was Monday he was suggesting, but I said something along the lines of "I was thinking of Wednesday", which just so happened to be New Year's Eve. 

Clear skies...

The temperatures have plummeted of late so Andy suggested meeting at 1030hrs and I agreed, we didn't want to risk icy roads and accidents. I left around 0930, feeling over-confident that I would easily reach Esquire's Coffee within the hour based on my performance on Boxing Day. It was cold, but not as cold as it looked even if the weather app on my phone was saying 'feels like zero degrees' or whatever it said. I pushed up Church Way, the only real hill on the outward ride, and soon found myself on the 269 heading for Botley Hill and beyond. 

Half way down Clarks Lane the road was closed and a detour in place and then there was a short burst along Pilgrim's Lane before rejoining Clarks Lane and heading into Westerham. Andy was already there and it was fairly crowded. I took a seat, ordered a tea and then we found ourselves talking about 'third places', the idea being that we have home and work and then a third place where we chill and read and talk and do whatever. For a lot of people, the pub is their third place, but for me, my third place will always be a coffee shop or caff, Andy's the same. The whole notion of a 'third place' was to do with the development of the coffee retailing chain Starbucks, which started life in Pike Street Market in Seattle (I've been there a couple of times and, as you might expect, it looks different from the Starbucks we all know and love). In fact, I was in Starbucks in Oxted the day before yesterday and that looks like a good 'third place' to me, but having said that so does Caffe Nero just up the road, and Coughlan's across the street. Third places can be anywhere and depend entirely on individual tastes. In other words, the third place, be it a coffee shop, a leisure centre cafeteria or a pub is subjective. I wonder if there are any coffee shops called The Third Place anywhere in the world (I'll check it out on Google).

On Pilgrims Lane just outside of Westerham...

A friend of Andy's from his cycling club arrived and said hello and suddenly the place was packed. Next to us were mums with their kids playing cards, in other parts of the store there were groups of friends and families and Esquires did a good job in catering for them all.

There are many good things about Esquires Coffee in Westerham (remember, this is a franchised concept so each one is liable to be slightly different from the next one and so on). The space is large and airy (more so when it's half empty) and the vibe is good, the place has warmth and, I hasten to add, a plentiful range of cakes, cookies and savoury items and, for Andy, they cater for vegans too. I noticed a few vegan sausage rolls, but also a load of bacon sandwiches, millionaires shortbreads, the usual stuff you expect to find plus sandwiches, everything you might need.

We stayed for a couple of cups of tea and then, realising that I had no urgent need to return home, I stayed on and read Uncommon Danger, the last of the Penguin Modern Classics range of Eric Ambler novels. One chapter in and I already know that it's going to be good. I've just finished reading The Absence by Peter Clark aka Budgie, the drummer from the Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Creatures. I thought I was going to struggle with it at first until I got around a third of the way through and then I found it enlightening; it was all about Budgie's loss of his mother when he was a child and how her absence had a knock-on effect on virtually everything in his life, including his relationship with Siouxsie who, incidentally, lost her father to alcoholism when she was young. You might have thought they would be kindred spirits (and on some level probably were) but they eventually divorced and Peter later remarried and moved to Berlin where he lives with cats and dogs, his wife and children. In a sense, all's well that ends well, but I'm sure Peter might say that's not how it is, who knows. I'd imagine that losing a parent early on in life has life-long consequences. He was born in the same year as me so we probably share a few things about life even if it's as low brow as Parma Violets, Sherbert Fountains and Whacky Races.

Pilgrims Lane, nobody around!

I left Esquires around 1230hrs and moseyed on back home, then I drove to Waitrose to buy chicken and rolls and stuff for lunch. I always end up spending a small fortune in Waitrose. Later I tucked in to a vegetable samosa and a chicken and mustard roll as we lurched towards the boredom of Hootenanny and awful people long past their sell-by date, like Sir Lenny Henry. I switched channels constantly, watching snippets of Jaws 2, glimpses of Ronan Keating (I couldn't really take any more than a second of it) and then back to Hootenanny, which, ultimately, is rubbish. I'm fed up with Jools Holland, he's kind of past it (as is Ronan Keating, the 'family favourite'). They're both 'safe pairs of hands' and in Ronan's case, he's a very sensible man, a grown-up and the last thing we need on New Year's Eve are 'the grown-ups'! We need another musical revolution like in 1977 when the Sex Pistols arrived on the scene and shook things up a little. 

What's really annoying about new year shows is that they're not live so when you see Jools or Ronan or whoever it might be bringing in the new year, you know that it's probably recorded just before or immediately after Christmas (during Crimbo Limbo). So I can't take it seriously when he's wishing people a happy new year or when people are embracing one another as the new year beds in...because I know it's all lies.

The fireworks roared and rumbled for all of 10 minutes and then stopped, normally they tend to go on all night (or most of it) but not this year. There were calls for unity and togetherness but I sensed politics at play and wanted none of it.