Snow event

We never have snow in Woking but we did today, lots of it, more in fact than I can remember falling over a single night when we lived in Yorkshire, apart from in 1963 and in the winter of 1979. It hung around a while those years.

We took Doug the dog for a walk this morning but had to bring him back as so much snow was clinging to his fur, he could hardly walk. He wasn't amused. I must have spoken to more of my neighbours in half an hour than I usually do in six months. Everyone was saying hello to each other. It was like Christmas.

One of my neighbours was on the hill trying to clear a path for cars. He had been there nearly three hours since 7 am when I strolled past. It didn't look great weather for cars but Gill needed to work this afternoon so I ran her in to work and the car cleared the hill just fine, the hill-clearing neighbour having thrown in the towel.

It seemed that everyone with a four-wheeled drive car was out on the road, looking smug, whether or not they had anywhere to go. It's better when the snow fall is so bad that most people leave their cars at home. The worst is when the snow comes just before evening rush hour and everyone is trying to drive home. That can be a nightmare.

A big snowfall like this is fun for about a day and then you realise that you can't hibernate for ever although I don't have a pressing need to go out for a day or two. I suppose that this kind of weather is a good opportunity to test the merits of home-working. I notice that the BBC weather forecasters were calling it a "snow event." It looked to me very much like a snowfall.

I did a bit of snow-clearing, not that I needed to do so, but because it felt good. I noticed other people doing likewise for the same reason. Odd, that.

George, meanwhile, made a snow man in the garden which has lasted a little bit longer than the last one he made(OK, it does sometimes snow a little bit in Woking). His school was closed and he's hoping it will be closed tomorrow. If it is we might venture over to Box Hill, my favourite sledge run.

It's brightened up an otherwise dreary winter. You have to make the most of snow like this. It's an event.

Good dog, bad dog

The river Dee was as majestic as ever. We could and should have had more fish. Five fish lost of eight hooked is not the greatest return from six days of hard fishing. But one of those caught was a first salmon for Bryan Kruse who can now add game fishing to an impressive list of pursuits that includes shooting, sailing, skiing and canoeing. "I'm going to have to clear a new shelf," he says.

Bryan has a springer spaniel called Solo. Will Sadler, another of our party, described Solo as "the best behaved dog I have ever encountered." What hope then for our West Highland white terrier, Dougie, in that kind of company?

Solo is a class swat among dogs; the sort of swat who is popular with everyone and gets to be head boy at school. Solo likes to please. Dougie pleases himself. He would have Friday detentions every week. He's the sort of dog that likes to stuff his nose in the backside of other dogs and bark at the postman. I don't think I have ever heard Solo bark.

I like to take Dougie along the river bank when fishing. Solo stays where he's put. Dougie disappears. He's not a bad dog. He's just stubborn, like all Westies.

The weather was sunny at the start of the week and the river needed some water. Still, there were fish about and I had a couple within an hour of each other on my birthday - a fitting present. The pool had been thrashed all week, mostly by the rods on the other side (although they would say it was us, such is the antipathy of anglers to those on opposing banks).

I put finesse to one side and swung through a big fly that provoked the takes. I had lost a fish the previous evening because of a badly tied knot on my fly. I cannot remember having made such a fundamental error before.

There was a lot of whisky downed as usual and haggis on my birthday. But no incidents. Well, just the one, involving Dougie again after we had returned south.

Gill had called to pick me up from Will's house and Dougie was behaving badly among his dogs. I put Dougie in the car for some peace and quiet.

My keys were inside and the other set was in the ignition but there was no need to lock the car. Dougie, however, thought otherwise when he triggered the central locking system. There was nothing for it but to smash a rear passenger window. The repair will cost £200. I have explained this to Dougie but he doesn't seem to care. So long as he gets regular walks and kibbles, nothing else matters. Next time I think we'll be getting a springer.