Snow then slow

One of my (many) quirks is that I always aim to have my Christmas cards on my long distance friends' doormats on December 1st. By that date this year I had only just resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to have time to make them and would have to buy them instead. I have never been so last minute about Christmas. I hadn't even started my Christmas shopping (bar those for my brother's family in London) until Monday. I actually began to enjoy the horrified looks from supermarket checkout assistants, hairdressers etc. when the customary, "All ready for Christmas?" was met with, "Nope, not even started yet."
So yesterday Peter, Anni and I ventured into our native Manchester to complete the shopping. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of traffic on the way in, coupled with the abundance of snow! This was Albert Square as seen from our car, it was picture postcard perfect. Furthermore, the shops weren't too crowded and we set off home at 4pm, really pleased that we had got it all done in time to miss the rush hour traffic. And then.....
We sat in traffic for a very long time. It took us 2 hours and 47 minutes to get home. Just the kind of thing that makes Peter's back flare up. Tomorrow I shall enjoy not shopping.