The recent snow has had an unexpected benefit for our sleep patterns. Our road is often used as the downhill straight of a racing circuit by idiots on buzzy little mopeds, an activity which they continue well into the early hours. Since the recent snow falls, they have wisely stayed at home^1^, and we have had blissfully uninterrupted nights. The car traffic has greatly reduced, and even drunks turning out of the pub seem less inclined towards noisy fights when it's cold and snowy out.

It's irritating that I can't ride my bike to work safely, but the trade-off of night-time silence is quite a decent one.

^1^ Which suprises me, because they seem to be exactly the kind of numbskulls who would think that racing down a hill on an unstable, underpowered machine in icy conditions is a great idea. ↑