Well, while there was us thinking that spring was just on the very cusp of being sprung, when Nigel and the ever fragrant Alice were greeted by a very unexpected environ as they made their way to listen to their beloved readers in school this morning.

Everything was shrouded in a heavy, cold, all encompassing, white, foggy mist .....

..... with the marina and all its moorings barely visible from our side of the river. 

But, although it all very romantic and magical in theory ..........

....... to be honest, their ears, noses, toes and fingers told quite a different story, which had Alice doubling, neigh tripling, up on the lip slave and sharing with Nigel to help prevent any uncomfortable and unsightly lip chaffing later.

As for the gaggle of geese gathering on the water, how must their poor, little webbed toes be feeling in all that freezing water?

If geese do in fact suffer from chilblains, these must all have been prime candidates for this painful, digital affliction, Alice and Nigel mused later!

According to Nigel the hedgerows along their walk looked as if they had all been dusted by a mahoooooosive sieve of icing sugar and the air felt heavy and unusually eerily muted. 

Even the catkins took on a completely different, frosted, appearance against the pure white background, like tiny, emergent, baby stalactites.

And, it goes without saying that the spiders of Evesham, no doubt seeking shelter, were not to be found wanting in the making of their ethereal, woven miracles ...... in all manner of surprising places.

Nigel and Alice both confessed to getting to school after the bell had been rung, but they has both been held spellbound by all that they had seen. Mornings like this are few and far between, so who could blame them for stealing some extra time to embrace it and share companionable awe and wonder, just for a little while at least.

N.B. late notes were not required!