Today it's the weather and the World Cup bid

There are only two stories out there today: the weather and the World Cup bid.

It seems that the news channels will be following the FIFA World Cup vote throughout the day, interspersed only by bulletins about how bad the weather is and the travel chaos it causes.

Our endless fascination with the weather in this country is amazing. We appear to love seeing pictures taken from a helicopter of a white screen, cut by dark lines - white fields, dark hedgerows! The kids get up early on snowy days - but only to check the local websites to see if their schools are closed! The parents hope the schools will be closed to avoid the dreaded school run on icy roads.

But after a few days we're fed up. Snow is either a slushy mess or compacted to ice; the kids are restless; the heating's been on too long; and we all need to get back to work to earn some money. Bring on the thaw!

It would be nice to think that our mood in the UK (well, England, anyway) will be brightened shortly after 3pm by an announcement that England will host the World Cup in 2018. We'll see.

Snow! We love it and hate it!

Snow is promised for the UK at the end of November. I live in the south east of England, so our chnaces of getting snow are, mercifully, only small.

However, everyone is noticeably twitchy as we get nightly warnings of snow, and memories of the disruption caused by the white stuff earlier this year come flooding back.

And yet, we have a fascination for the stuff. It's magical as it falls, exciting as it settles, thrilling as it gets deeper - and then disruptive when we have to go out in it!
We love it. We hate it. We're definitely affected by it!

This was our back garden in January with almost six inches of freshly fallen snow whiting everything out.
This is a prettier image of trees in the same month, but on a sunnier day.