Snow!

They say it never snows in London, but leave it to me to move here the year they have the coldest snowiest winter in 30 years. It is pretty to see the streets lined with snow, and having the two dogs has led me out to the parks in the early hours of the morning to witness a lot of fresh powder.



Now when I say snow, I'm not talking Mammoth snow, I'm talking about a couple inches. Just enough to make it look pretty, and enough to make everything icy. I was carrying home a Christmas pudding, and took a great fall on a dark, lamp lit, incredibly Dickensian ICY alley. I consider myself lucky as my coworker, Paul, slipped and twisted his ankle.

It has been a very dramatic time for the UK as there have been airport closures due to snow, and train service failing all over the place. Even the Eurostar Chunnel had trains that for some reason, when going from the exterior cold sub 0 Celsius weather to the warm interior channel tunnel, broke down. Some people were trapped in the tunnel overnight, and then had to be carried out using a service passageway. There were delays for days with people trapped in both the UK and on the mainland.

There have been shortages on a material they spread on the ground to both speed melting and to allow for better traction. They call it simply enough, "Grit". It is made up of salt and some sort of gravel that is mined in the exotic country of Egypt. It is strange to think that we use a common place material that comes all the way from there.

Tony and I went to IKEA yesterday, and were on a train that was delayed due to some sort of signal relay failure. It was freezing when we got to the station, and were then waiting for the shuttle to get us to the store. Thankfully then were giving out free espressos and hot chocolate as you entered the store. Our trip home was equally dramatic with yet more line closures. OY!

It's crazy to think that we have just entered snow season, and still have around 2 more months until we get to March and spring at last.



With the most snow in 30 years, and the French and Italian Alps so close, I can't wait to go skiing.