Phew!
Just finished one of our responsibilities as house-owners at this time of year --- `scotting´ snow, as we say in this country.
Liam and I went skiing at our local resort, Ulricehamn, today. Good fun --- their steepest slope was open today, which it isn't usually, and we spent most of the day on that. Mind you, it only takes one minute (that's 60 seconds exactly) from top to bottom, which isn't so much considering it takes three to go back up in the lift! Anyway, when we got home, I found that I couldn't drive in to our yard, because it was blocked by a wall of snow over 2ft high!
There was a fairly massive snowfall during the day, actually about 18 inches, and then the snow plough had helpfully piled all the snow from our road across our entrance. There was only one thing for it; park the car outside our neighbours', and start `scotting´.
You don't scot snow with a shovel; that would be hopeless. Instead, you use a device like a big flat wheelbarrow without wheels, with a long handle. There was one in the shed here when we moved in, and of course I thought it was broken until I saw the neighbours using one. In a way, it's a giant shovel, say 3 feet wide and 2 feet long. You push it along the ground under the snow, then pull it back, and all the snow above it comes with it. Then you can pick it up and sling the snow onto a heap. Sound like hard work? You betcha!
Of course, it's tempting to think `Well, the stuff is going to melt anyway, sooner or later´, and just leave it. That's a mistake you only make once. It's true, it does melt, normally later rather than sooner. But it's the time in between that is the problem! If you don't get rid of the stuff on the first day, you've got trouble. When it falls, it is at least light and fluffy. There may be a lot of it, but it's not heavy and it has the structural strength of a soap bubble. So you can shift it fairly easily. On the second day, that changes. The snow packs down a bit, the density increases, the crystals melt a bit and freeze together, and suddenly stuff you could have blown away yesterday has to be chipped off the ground bit by bit. The more days you wait, the harder, stronger, and heavier the stuff gets. And as the days pass, that originally oh-so-fluffy, then at least solidly-grippy surface starts turning to ICE! The stone steps up to our door become a death trap; the slight slope of our yard makes it impossible to walk up, let alone drive up. And by then, there is nothing one can do but wait. Scotting is hopeless; the ice is rock-hard. And it melts oh-so-slowly, since that treacherous icy surface is refrigerated from below by a thick layer of snow. As the surface melts, the water trickles just far enough to freeze again onto the crystals below...
On the other hand, if you scot on the first day, then your virtue is rewarded. You can't remove all the snow of course, but the little that remains disappears even if the temperature remains below zero. Believe it or not, snow can evaporate directly without ever passing through the liquid stage, and that's what happens to it in the sunshine. After a few problem-free days, it's gone!
Two hours of hard work, and a job well done!