It snowed last week. We were having one of the warmest winters in years, when along came the snow.It started on a Monday afternoon, with the first flakes appearing at 6pm, and by 11pm the world was covered in a white blanket.
As we were sitting by the fire we heard strange cracking noises outside - like gunshots. We went outside and the most incredible sounds were coming from the forest - and our garden. We guessed it might be trees - but we had no idea what it really was.
As we went to bed the lights flickered, but came back on. The next day there was no electricity and no phone.
We then understood that noise was trees loosing their branches and falling over under the weight of the heavy wet snow. It was happening all over Limousin. Roads were closed and it took four days for them to bring the electricity back. In some parts of Limousin it took six days.
Lucky for us, our heating is a wood burning boiler. There was no pump to send the water round the radiators, but the boiler is in the basement, so the heat rose enough to warm the radiators directly above. So with a fire in the chimney we stayed warm.
A neighbour helped out with a generator for a few hours to keep the freezer frozen, but it was too late - we lost quite a lot of our frozen supplies.
Overall it was great to be snowed in with candles and a nice fire and a good excuse for an enforced 'holiday'!
We also managed to go cross country skiiing about 30 minutes away.
