Sledging or Swimming?

We've had some snow here on two occasions over the past two or three weeks, but somehow we never managed to go out sledging. Last weekend the snow started falling on Friday afternoon, and by Saturday morning there was a good covering of 4 inches or so. Lara's ice skating lessons were postponed - nothing to do with the snow, they'd had a break-in at the rink - so I was fully expecting to have to deploy the sledge, and started researching on the web the best local hills.  However, Lara decided she would prefer to go swimming, and neither Olga nor I had taken her swimming since we'd come back from holiday, so we headed to the local pool. Lara did want to walk into Bury through the snow, which took half an hour, and the snow was already turning to slush along the roads and footpaths, the temperature was at least 5 degrees C, and it seemed that sledging that afternoon might be a wet affair.

The swimming pool was almost empty, given it was a Saturday morning, probably most of the kids had chosen sledging over swimming. It was the same pool where I'd learnt to swim 30 years ago, which was a sobering thought, as it was the first thing I could easily identify as being achieved that long ago. I'm not sure very much had changed at the pool since then! The water was warm though, and Lara has expressed an interest in swimming lessons, which is something we've had on her list for a while now, and really should try to squeeze into her packed weekly schedule.

By the time we had a McDonalds  dinner, and done some shopping to replenish her school uniform supply, it was mid-afternoon when we got home, and the topic of sledging never really came up. I took Danny and the dogs for a nice long walk in what was left of the snow and Lara just chilled out for the afternoon. 

Grandma came over for a sleepover that evening so Olga and I could go out for some liquid refreshment, and by the morning almost all of the snow had melted. 

Lara of course had the chance to play in some snow the next morning, as she had skiing lesson #2 of her Level 5 course. She's a skier of extremes at the moment, she either comes down very slowly, but correctly, or switches her skis from "pizza" to "chips" and comes straight down very quickly, although she is able to stop (she just neglects to steer).  The instructor was happy with her and the rest of the group of 6, and it should be more of the same tomorrow morning.