Last night was our leaving do – and a surreal night it was! Earlier on in the evening I was walking back to halls with one of our visitors who was lamenting the fact that he probably wouldn’t see snow before he left the UK. Conversation went something like this:
Him: I really wish it would snow before I leave.
Me: Nah mate, it might snow in March or Feb but never before Christmas. It’ll never snow while you’re here.
Later that same day…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7697040.stm
Check out #4 – “Linda Batting found this chestnut tree covered in snow in Radlett, Hertfordshire.” I’m so glad she found it, I’d heard they’d lost it recently.
So for our leaving do we went to a Chinese around the corner. It was snowing big fat flakes when we left and already starting to settle. The Chinese meal was very nice but veeeeery slow. One of my colleagues arrived late and declared in her typically direct European manner “I don’t know what you are so happy about – it is the end of the world out there!” Throughout the meal the power flickered every know and then with complete blackout near the end – we finished the meal by candlelight, drove home through 4-5 inches of snow, dodging broken branches on the road, through the dark silent villages, to a dark silent snowing campus.
I woke up today to a silent white world – amazing how much noise is made by electricity pumping water, heating water, running the overground trains on the horizon etc. Went to work (luckily was on site as car frozen solid and no hot water to melt the ice off the doors), we stood in the snow outside a darkened building waiting too be told to give up and go home, or go to work if the power was restored. Eventually we were sent home as there was no news of power being restored. Unfortunately I had to go and sit in halls, with no heating, no hot water (no tea!!!), no way to cook food etc for several hours until late afternoon when we gave up and properly left for the day. Whilst stuck there I amused myself with a walk across the snow covered fields (in soft leather shoes with broken soles and thus very damp feet by the end), finished my book, slept and ate chocolate. Unfortunately my cameras are both on the blink so I have no photos of the snow covered oak and chestnut trees, white fields and the numerous rabbit prints (we made giant versions!). Hopefully I’ll get some off a friend to show you.
All in all an enjoyable and surreal 24 hours! First snow to settle in the London area in over 70 years apparently (we were specifically waiting for the predictable answer to the “how long since it last snowed in October” question, and BBC London News just told me). Probably back to boring real life tomorrow. Hey ho!
In other news…
The Restaurant has finished – shock winners imo (assuming you’ve been following events of course). The drippy girl and her depressed bf won! Me and mum disagree. Boo hiss.
Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. Yes, they are pratts. However the show was recorded 2 days before it was broadcasted – why is the producer not held responsible for not broadcasting it? Scapegoatage indeed.
It’s poor little Pumpkin’s worst time of year – she hates fireworks ever since she saw some through the skylight last year and gets very distressed. They started tonight with a bang (ha ha) – massive bang about 2 doors down. Pumpkin = quivering wreck. Good start!
