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The plan was for a blog post entitled The Snowmen of Wivenhoe. Except during my Wednesday morning cycle from the Cross down to the Quay, I failed to find a single snowman. Front gardens uptown had the recycling boxes covered in a coupe of inches of snow. Squint hard enough, and the green boxes could possibly pass as a most peculiar form of snowman.

Past The Greyhound, and I swung right for the KGV fields. Surly this must be the ideal breeding ground for the Snowmen and Snowwomen of Wivenhoe?

A bloke was out early was out early walking his dog – not at the most briskest of paces, but even a prolonged squint down towards the Wood, and you would be hard pressed to describe a docile dog walker as a snowman.

I put the lack of Wivenhoe Snowmen all down to the timing. We were blessed with our heavy covering of snow rather late in the day on Tuesday. Most of the kids from both schools were already back at base, with only a delicate snow covering at chucking out time.

I presume both Broomgrove and Millfieds were both open on Wednesday? Scholarship is the enemy of the Snowmen of Wivenhoe. Plus by lunchtime, and the Park Road and Queens Road area had been reduced to a rather large ice rink.

Take it easy out there, folks.

Instead I carried on cycling down towards the Quay. By mid-morning, and most of the virgin snow had been sullied by the daily business of the town. The view downstream was gloomy, as further bursts of snow threatened down the Colne, although ultimately stayed away.

Work was calling for me, and so I abandoned the idea of a ride out to Alresford to try and capture the snow along the Trail. An earlier ride in the opposite direction towards the Hythe was almost aborted. The snow was patchy in the sheltered spot around Ferry Marsh, yet extremely thick under foot (and tyre) opposite the University.

And so with the Snowmen of Wivenhoe keeping a low profile, I settled instead for a hit and miss photo shoot of what was left down at the Quay. I still haven’t found the Christmas card picture that I’m craving for, and the clock is counting down on printing deadlines.

A light flurry is forecast for Thursday – it would be lovely to have a fresh covering for the late night shopping. If you feel inspired, a Snowman of Wivenhoe would be ace. You never know – it may even make its way onto a Christmas card coming your way.

Watch where yer sticking that carrot…

Full flickr set over here.