Last week's events were exciting as anything. And no, it didn't have anything to do with EastEnders, Brookside or the fact that I didn't have to make any more samosas for Eid. This was serious.

One morning we were rushing around trying to get organised for work: Toddler, as usual, waited till there was no time at all and emptied his bowl of corn flakes all over the floor and simultaneously filled his nappy.

By the time we'd finished getting organised (drat - I knew there was a New Year's resolution I'd forgotten to make) and opened the front door we were totally unprepared for the sight in front of us- huge fluffy white flakes of the softest, loveliest snow. Wow. Toddler, having never seen it before, couldn't believe it. He kept asking: "Who sent it? Who sent it?" as if it had been delivered that morning by the postman.

Everything was covered and looked clean and bright as if it had been Tippexed over.

Had we had time it would have been a perfect opportunity to inspire awe and wonder in the boy, accompanied by the Snowman video, but then in awe I wondered how I was going to drive.

I turned on the local radio station to find out what had been shut/cancelled but nobody even mentioned the snow. Everyone else was coping fine- I was the only one throwing a wobbly.

I hate driving in perfect weather conditions. How was I going to manage with a foot of snow on the ground and traffic problems?

As I scraped off tons of snow from the car and Toddler surreptitiously made snowballs, I wondered if I should load essential supplies into the car (if I could ever get into it) such as spare coats, blankets and food parcels. Unluckily, I only had enough petrol to get me to work that morning but I was panicking enough and didn't want to dwell too much on that fact. Skidding all over the jam-packed roads like Starsky and Hutch and being stranded in Bradford Cathedral for three days in the cold was not my idea of fun.

As we drove out into the white wilderness the roads were quiet and I started to feel confident. This is not so bad, I thought. We were doing fine - until I got to the main road. And then it hit me. Aargh. Not a snowball, not a car, but the realisation that it was not going to be easy getting from A to B.

An hour later we arrived safe and sound. Rain had started to melt away the snow and all that was left of the excitement was my slightly erratic heart rate.

"Humph," I thought, "I don't know what all the fuss is about, it's no big deal when it snows."

And then the next day I stepped out of the front door and slipped on the ice.

And then it really hit me...

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.