After the first storm of 2010/11

Overnight the wind blew strong and the snow kept coming down – I measure a total of 12″-14″ but drifting deeper or less all over the place! The problem is that overnight snow was wet and heavy, dragging down many branches (which is what caused our 16 hour power outage, of course!)
Here for instance; a bush normally stands tall and tight but now it’s half the height; elsewhere in the garden, the conifer branches all droop precariously, and in the front one branch threatens wires:

It took me more than an hour this morning to clear paths from the front door, and dig out the Audi (Margaret’s BMW is still on summer tires so no point digging that out yet). Once dug out though, the roads were basically passable, much better than Newcastle a month ago!