the fourth place

I decided to take the day off today, not becuase I'm so sick that I can't go to work, but because if I struggled into work through the confirmed transport chaos caused by today's snow then I would probably be too sick to work in the near future, or else would simply continue to suffer in my own time.

Anyway, after checking out the (congested and closed) local tube, the bus link (crammed with freezing commuters staring at firmly closed bus doors), and calling in my abscence I find that melt-water is slowly dripping onto the tiled floor of my hallway - presumably from where snow had collected on the set of stairs leading up to the house above. Therefore, on what was supposed to be a day of rest and recuperation, I end up out in the cold clearing snow from the steps with a trowel and broom.

While doing this I could at least anticipate the gratitude of my neighbours, since clearing the snow for my benefit also gives them a clear path from their home. However, I couldn't help but worry about whether having cleared away an inch of soft crunchy snow I might eventually find myself sued for leaving ice behind and causing someone to slip. Caught between a health and safety nightmare and a water damaged home I ended up doing the most thorough job of snow-cleaning I could manage. I scraped with the trowel at every peice of transparent grey smush I could discern from the patterned stonework and brushed away any pooled water with a broom. I then shovelled the resulting ice-piles out of harms way.

All this was ironically much harder work than I would have been doing while sat at work coding. I may not be resting yet, but at least I won't need to put the heating up!