Country diary: snow changes everything the other side of the doorstep

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Suddenly the familiar had been enchanted, even the bull and the blackbird in the blizzard

Black-white-black-white: the bull watches the bird through the snow. This is the first flurry for years, long enough to have forgotten how snow changes everything the other side of the doorstep. It began with the supermoon, a silver florin in a halo of limelight. Then came Storm Caroline - "good times never seemed so good," sang Neil Diamond - and although not such good times elsewhere, it was easy going here.

Weather presenters spread long fingers over maps and warned that the departing storm would pull down Arctic air, leading to snow at low levels. No one warned the dogs, they felt the excitement of a world changed around them, a duty to redraw their scent maps, a camaraderie with humans daft enough to roam abroad in a blizzard.