So in case your friends, relatives or anglo colleagues haven't been calling or emailing you at all hours, IT SNOWED IN LONDON. (In fact, it also snowed any may well still be snowing in other parts of the country, but a lot of people tend to forget about the other parts.)
The headlines screamed incompetence, London transport chaos, UTTER BREAKDOWN of public services, this would NEVER have happened before the war etc etc.
What I think the headlines meant, and I say this after a fairly snowy January in New York (in fact, the coldest January in five years), is that Brits don't half enjoy that white stuff.
To wit, take a look at the Londonist flickr pool for some photos of people having fun in the snow...(I was hoping to post some but my delightful TWC internet connection is not cooperating.)
We're on course for more snow here in New York - but I'm rather envious I wasn't back home today. Here, snow JUST ISN'T THAT FUN. It won't be a quasi public holiday, just because it snows. It will be dirty and slushy and icy and miserable. And the buses will still run, they'll just have chains on their wheels. Everyone has boots and hats and probably more than one pair of gloves. And people think to grit the streets before the clouds pull in. So maybe New York is a more efficient city, a harder-working city, a city unfazed by a bit of frozen precipitation. But it's definitely a city full of snow-fun killjoys.
Monday, February 2, 2009
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Funny, I was a little homesick to be there today too. After speaking to parents in the north and south-east, it's still dumping on them!
As it happened... you heard it here first!
A major snowfall well in excess of two inches - up to three where drifting in the light breeze was a problem - caused major disruption in the south coast metropolis of Havant.
By mid morning, London Heathrow had been closed, trains were at a standstill, and the buses stayed tucked up in the warm of their garages.
By 2:30, employees at the UK headquarters of the once great IBM corporation were greated by a public address system announcement that 'Due to the severe weather conditions, employees are strongly advised to leave the site and return to their homes'. Around eighty percent of the few stalwarts who'd made it in put on their scarves, gloves and hats and ran for their cars.
By 3:30, a second announcement, warning of the imminent closure of all tea bars on site caused the rapid exit of the rest of the staff - the final straw for us Brits.
Back in the safety of my home, having made a fresh cuppa and partially revived, I logged back onto the Big Blue network to find warning that the London South Bank office will only have a skeleton staff and no tea bar facilities tomorrow - again, employees are strongly advised to stay away from the city.
As for 'The day after tomorrow', well it just doesn't bear thinking about. Am going to strap on the snowshoes this morning and lay in a stockpile of PG Tips.
I love the pictures of the people treating it like a holiday. True, in the Big Apple snow rarely inspires that kind of fun. But a few years ago I was waiting for the subway while a blizzard raged outside. I noticed a shaft of light and some snow falling through an air vent. The light and the contrast of the darkness of the tunnel made it look beautiful. I felt my legs begin to quiver as two words from my childhood raced up my chest and nearly bolted out of my mouth. Every child's favorite part of the snow... "NO SCHOOL!"
I can't help but chuckle when something like this happens. All of Britain shuts down at the very sight of a snowflake - I remember being forced to go to school as a kid when there was a foot of snow outside!
That's the impression I got too - not so much 'transport chaos' as people taking a mass skive and spending time with their kids having fun.
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