Snow Patrol

Last night was London’s celebration of the Chinese New Year in Chinatown, Soho, and Trafalgar Square. I had planned to go, at least to see the lion dance parade through the theatre district, and the fireworks in Trafalgar Square. All the hype we had been hearing about an “extreme weather event” had me wary, however, and by mid-afternoon the wind was whipping the bare trees around and the temperature had dropped to negative 3 Centigrade. The predicted arctic cold snap had arrived! It was in the mid-twenties F, and our Flat on Abbey Road seemed much cozier than the streets of central London would be, even amongst a throng of people.

I decided to take a nap, and slept from 3-5:30 pm. Hubster made a Chinese-style chicken stir-fry, which we all enjoyed when I awoke. By that time, flakes were falling and a dusting of snow was everywhere. TeenE arrived back in NW8 on a Finchley Road bus, having hung out with her pal TeenH up in West Hampstead, which is a mile or so north of here. She usually calls us when she gets off the bus at our stop, and then we can watch for her on the Abbey Road (Studio) webcam. I had trouble identifying which pedestrian she was, as the signal on the webcam was all “snowy”. Then I realized that it was the ambient conditions, and not the signal, that was creating the snow-effect.

I read and knitted until about 11 pm when I heard TeenE come out of her room. I had thought that she was already asleep. She was looking for me to ask me a pressing question: “If they cancel school tomorrow, how will we know?” We are used to looking for the school cancellations on the TV in Boston. Do they do that kind of thing here? “Don’t worry, there’s no such thing as a “snow day” in London. They never get enough snow to cancel school.”

I went to sleep that night to fewer traffic sounds than normal, and was awakened by Hubster standing over me announcing that there was no school today. “How do you know?” I managed to croak. “The school sent out a text message” he replied. It was a good thing that he gets up at 5 am and was able to let us know the news before he left for work. I don’t keep my cell/mobile phone on all the time, so would not have received the message until after I got up and saw the five inches of snow on the ground.

Five inches of snow may not seem like much to us, the hardy weather-beaten NEW Englanders, but to the Brits, it is a rarity. They do not have any plows, sanding trucks, snow-blowers or shovels to move it around. Therefore, NONE of the buses were running, and few of the trains. This included the underground trains, because many of the lines that are underground in central London have over ground portions out in the suburbs.

We received an email from Hubster that it took him two and a half hours to get to work (should take 25 minutes). When he found out there were no trains, he tried to get a taxi. None were working, or were already carrying fares. He went to Starbucks to get a coffee. After that, he tried again for a cab. One finally took pity on him and some other guys and they rode as a group into the City. He would have gotten there faster if he had walked…

I went out to the gym around 10 am. Everything was all fresh and pretty in the new-fallen snow, with the exception of the main road (Finchley), on which I received a major splashing by the cars which were by now zipping along the untreated roads. Mounds of slush were building up along the edges, and there was no way to escape the sprays of muck being churned up by people who had undoubtedly already spent hours in traffic jams on the outer roads.
The people on the street all had their phone-cameras out and were snapping away at the unprecedented scenery.

My first stop was Starbucks. You don’t think I would attempt a workout without any caffeine, do you? I sat at my “usual spot”, a window seat, and took a photo of the street scene. After a while, I took off for the gym, a short five-minute walk away. I managed to avoid being splashed by slush again by going down the “back way”, the Cavendish Ave. short-cut which takes me past Sir You-Know-Who’s house. The gatekeeper at the North Gate at Lord’s Cricket Ground where my gym is located warned me that unless another staff person showed up Very Soon, he would be closing that gate and I would have to use another exit on the far side of the property.

Once inside the gym I was greeted by “my” trainer Matthew, who said it took him two hours to commute in from the 'burbs that morning. The TVs were playing an endless loop of traffic snarls, school closings, travel delays, etc. Heathrow had cancelled all the short-haul flights, and were delaying the long-haul flights until after 5 pm. Good luck to all the travelers.

My workout was quick yet productive. There were only two other people in the gym. As I left, I determined that the back gate was indeed now closed, so I went out the “Main Gate” way, stopping to take photos of the snow-covered cricket playing fields (including sign saying “keep off the grass” and the bronze sculpture of a “bowler” encrusted with snow. I trudged along St. John’s Wood Road. The sidewalk/pavement had just been salted and sanded by a contraption made up of a hopper of salt being pulled by what looked like a Honda All-Terrain Vehicle. Yes, that was the extent of the snow-removal equipment. Turning the corner onto Wellington Road, I was afraid of being sprayed with slush again, as there was no escape from it on the narrow pavement. The cars managed to go single file in the center of the two lanes, however, so the other brave walkers and I stayed dry. At one point I thought to myself “OK, pick up the pace now”, so I did.

As I approached the major intersection that leads to and from Starbucks off the main road, who should cruise on by off my starboard bow but the Ubiquitous Dr. D., looking incongruously tanned after his holiday in the sun. We chatted about the weather (of course!) and then I was off down Circus Road to have a nice cup of tea and file this report. See photos for extent of this “extreme weather event”.