The Exasperated Teacher Blog UK

At the beginning of March, my county experienced the heaviest snow fall it had seen in a few years. In the past snow has fallen over half term holidays, weekends etc so getting to work was not a problem – I didn’t need to.

This week of snow was made worse by the fact that I had an observation on the Tuesday and two parents evening nights which just ended up being rescheduled.

Monday

The snow wasn’t too bad. I managed to get to and from school ok but more snow was expected to arrive throughout the rest of the week.

Tuesday

Driving to school was an absolute nightmare. First of all, I was skidding about the neighbourhood, trying to get out of the housing estate and onto the main roads. Once I hit the main roads, driving conditions were fine. No problems. Or so I thought. I arrive at the first major roundabout that I travel on and discover that I can’t get off on my exit because the road has been blocked by police and nobody is allowed to pass. Great – just what you need on the morning of your observation. So I turn back and travel the same diversion that everyone else is using. Most people turn off onto an icy, slippery, hilly road. There was no way I was driving on it in my little car, so I drove on and found an alternative road. But eventually I discovered that the accident blocking the main road wasn’t where I assumed it would be – where most accidents happen on my route to and from school. In fact it was much further on and led me to the worst driving surface I have ever driven on.

All vehicles were diverted down a country road that was literally an ice rink. Driving less than 5 miles per hour using the clutch and no gas, I kept a fair distance away from the Audi in front of me. I wished the van behind me had done the same. Every time we had to slow down or stop, I feared the worst and tensed my grip on the steering wheel. At one point, a double decker bus was trying to pass us so we all had to scooch over. The Audi skidded and almost went head on into an oncoming car… I panicked, the driver in the car driving towards the Audi panicked and the passenger in the oncoming car covered her eyes in sheer horror. Luckily the Audi regained its grip on the slippy road surface and another accident was averted. It was at that point that I decided to take next exit to get off the ice rink.

Getting back onto the main road, many lorries were heading towards the original accident and the roads on my side, were almost clear. Of course, there was heavy traffic and when I eventually got to school, my legs were like jelly and it had taken me over an hour to arrive at school.

My observation was at 11am so I had some time to regain my composure and get myself sorted, but the principal arrived in my classroom to inform me that his Lordship was visiting the school today for an external seclusion. Wonderful news to hear when you are having the worst morning of your entire teaching life – or so it seems.

As it happens, the observation went well, his lordship was no problem and I managed to survive the first parents evening of the week. Unfortunately the snow grew heavier on the drive home. The closer I got to being home (safe and sound) the worse the visibility became. At one point, I could only drive at 10mph and I couldn’t see further than my car bonnet. It was awful. I eventually skidded into my driveway, trudged through the snow to my front door and marched into the warmth of my own home.

Wednesday

Knowing the snowfall would have been bad throughout the night, I woke up extra early to try and clear the snow from my car and set off for school at normal time.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my car out of the drive way and my neighbours even turned back in their work van to say that the roads were blocked and you couldn’t get far out of the neighbourhood. I phoned a colleague who lived nearby and we both decided to try and catch the local bus into the city and then catch another bus to school. This meant trying to find my wellies, which were buried in the cupboard under the stairs, and trying to squeeze them onto my feet whilst wearing three pairs of socks.

We met at the bus stop at roughly 7am and waited a while. Traffic was at a standstill for most of our time stood at the bus stop. There had been another massive accident on the main road and not many cars were getting past it.

Eventually we received a phone call to say that school would be closed for the day. Nobody believed the amount of snow we were battling, trying to get to school. We sent photos and compared snow depths. Apparently, just crossing the county border showed a major difference in snowfall.

When I arrived home, my Fitbit said I had walked 5,596 steps and it was still only 8:45am. The usual time that I’d be opening the classroom door for my class to start school. So Wednesday was the first official Snow day. I did a bit of planning and decided to clean my house.

Thursday

My crazy colleague was super early and managed to get on a bus before heavy traffic had begun, but the bus turned back because the snow was so heavy and the roads were getting blocked with traffic and minor accidents. She phoned me on her way back to where we lived and said I shouldn’t bother leaving the house…right after I had squeezed my foot and three pairs of socks into both Wellington boots.

So Thursday became snow day number 2. I knew I’d need to leave the house at some point that day because I needed milk and staple supplies to survive the snowy weather. I decided to trudge through the snow, wind and icy pavements to get to the supermarket early. On the way home, I managed to snap a picture of just how much snow was still around on day 3.

By Thursday lunchtime, cabin fever had set in and I was thoroughly bored. I knew that I’d have to set off incredibly early for the bus stop the next morning so an extremely early night was needed.

Friday

Setting off for the bus stop at 6am, it took me almost an hour to walk to the bus stop, mainly because the snow had frozen over on the pavements and roads and turned to slippy ice ridges. It was impossible to walk on. When I made it to the open field. It was easier to walk on the snowy surface, but harder to move forward with the freezing wind pushing me back. I had two heavy bags in my hands, one with the school laptop inside, which I was determined not to let fall to the ground.

I made it to the bus stop at 6:45am and started waiting for a bus. I messaged my colleague and she reassured me that she had managed to get onto a bus and was close to the city now. I figured I wouldn’t have to wait very long before I could get onto a warm bus.

School buses were driving past and collecting school children in uniforms to take them to school. There was not a single public service bus available though. Many adults and myself were starting to lose the feeling of our toes inside our boots and our noses were pink and sniffly. One bus driver told us that the public buses would be running soon, in a few minutes in fact.

Over 30 minutes later and everyone had decided to turn back home, one by one. Until there was just one. Me. Standing at the bus stop. Alone. Like a complete and utter fool. I phoned my colleague – who had eventually made it to school – and she told me to walk back home and warm up.

So I did. All day, I couldn’t get warm. I had a hot shower. I had a hot bath. Layered up and piled up the hot water bottles under the duvet, on the sofa. I think I started to feel warm at around mid afternoon, after several hot drinks and hot water bottle top ups. I think knowing that I wouldn’t need to venture far from my warm, cosy bed the next day, made me half glad but half crazy with boredom. I made a list, on my phone, of all the computer based jobs I could do for school, to keep me busy over the weekend and stop me feeling so bored,

Saturday

I managed to keep busy and cross a lot of quick jobs off on the long list of computer based jobs without needing the school books, which were sitting in my classroom. I watched a few DVDs and baked many cookies and cooked warm meals.

Sunday

I needed more food. I had used all of the milk, and knew I had nothing to make a decent lunch for school the next day. The snow seemed to have turned to slush and the land outside was turning green again. I drove slowly and carefully to the supermarkets and shopped with all of the other people – who seemed to have ventured out in their cars for the first time since the snow on Tuesday too.

An early night and over preparation for school the next day, I was excited to see people and speak to people and get back into the school day routine again.

Monday

I arrived in school to find my classroom looking like an absolute tip. I know it isn’t immensely tidy most of the time, but this was unreal. I posted a 360 degrees video of the classroom on my personal Instagram and set out to find out who had been teaching my class in my absence. It was just as I had figured and so clean up in my classroom began. I printed and trimmed resources for the day and then set about fixing the chairs and tables back into their original places.

By 8:45am, I opened the doors to a chorus of relieved and happy greetings from my class. Obviously I had been missed during the snow days. I felt like I had worked a school day already so we settled back into old routines and got on with our day. At the end of the day, we talked about the snow and my class were shocked to see pictures of so much snow was outside my house for the past week. They had received hardly any snow in the city.