The first few snowfalls of the year are fun. It's different, it's not too cold yet, and fresh snow is pretty.

It's only after the first few that it becomes a drag. People stop shoveling, drivers lose their initial respect for the conditions, and snowbanks become crusted ashtrays of dirty ice. And worse, late-winter snow is likely to hide unexpected patches of ice from the brief melts in the afternoon sun. At the beginning of the winter, when the ground is still a bit too warm, is much less treacherous.

But I can't complain. Too many places in the world are beginning to dread summer; my people in Australia are facing drought, fires, and killing heat. It's not yet winter here, and it's not yet summer there.

I've been using a lot of black and white film recently, but this isn't it. When it snows I like to carry my little GRDIV, the digital GR first made in 2011 with a little 10mpx CCD sensor. It's pocketable, and I can use it with the screen turned off, which is much nicer at night. Bought in 2013, this is the oldest digital camera that I still have in regular service; it predates my buying its 1.5x sensor successor, and has now outlasted it, too.