03.02.10

Today's heart.......

A small wire heart bobs in a flower starved, snow rich garden.

I make them to support anything a bit too delicate to survive the gentle footfall of my gallumping boys and giddy dog - does it work? 

Not necessarily, but I still hold on to that hope that one day it will!

**********************

Today the roads were icy and the skies leaden.

Winter was making another attempt at thwarting normality.

The main roads on the way to school were clear, 

but when I turned off into the village where the junior school loiters, 

the lane turned from a tranquil ribbon of tar meandering through small hamlets, 

to an evil spirited ice laden death trap.

I shifted into a low gear and gently pressed the brake so not to force a skid as I rolled down the hill into the village.

All we could hear in the car was the scratchy sound of tyres sliding gracefully on ice.

I turned the steering wheel in an attempt to guide the car into the ditch to avoid collecting a row of parked cars.

I could almost hear the music to Swan Lake as we elegantly slid down hill.

I managed to grind to a halt just before rearranging the six foot tall stone wall, and asked Eldest to get out and go down to the house where we were to stop.

He opened the door - and disappeared from sight immediately.

All I could see was one leg in the air as he continued to slide down the hill on his back.

He managed in an amazingly delightful slap-stick style to get up and flap, slip, slop, slide, flop, glide his way to the door.

At this point I noticed that despite the fact I had my foot firmly pressed on the brake pedal, we were moving at a snails pace but at an unstoppable snails pace, towards the back of a parked car.

I also noticed that just before the parked car was a rather inviting large hole - and the car had taken up the invitation.............

Our friends in the house managed to carefully pick their way across their lane and slot themselves between my car, the wall, the ditch and the parked vehicle. Bracing their bodies against the stones they pushed my now gathering speed car away into the middle of the lane. Missing the parked car by a narrow squeak.

All I could taste was my heart thumping - and I still had to get Eldest to senior school.

Note: No cars, children, ice or stone walls were hurt in the making of this episode of 'The school Run', however my ribs are still bruised at the beating my heart gave them.....