WELL, IT WAS NICE while it lasted. It's been several winters since we had a snowfall that lingered more than a few days. Last year's only snowstorm dumped about a foot of snow on a Sunday, and it was literally gone by mid-week. Last Wednesday's six-inch snow-and-sleet-fall is still causing parking problems on city streets, where frozen piles and rutted ice paths remain traffic hazards.

But the surest sign that snow still covers the city landscape during this Winter of '07 are the sledders in Clark Park, the premier sledding hill in West Philadelphia. The modest hill is part of a natural bowl formed by a pond on Mill Creek, that now runs under the park at 43rd and Chester Ave. Kids and adults have been sledding day and night ever since the snow stopped falling. By today with the coming of above-freezing temperatures, the sledding hill was beginning to show signs of wear.