This morning I woke up to a magical world: everything in sight was covered by a thick coat of snow under a spotless, blue sky. The two parks on both sides of our home are picture-perfect. One side is pink in the morning sunlight; the other is blue. Nowadays, this is a rare sight in this part of England. I do not remember such an abundance of snow in the ten years here. The snow, rare as it is, usually melts as soon as it hits the ground. The only pity is the spectacle has missed Christmas by three full days. Especially the children would have been delighted by it.