my day in the snow...

in the last 24 hours London has had the most snow drop on it that it's experienced in the last 18 years and pretty much everything ground to a halt. it was snowing lightly yesterday when i was on the bus, then while i was in Woolwich it started in earnest, laying a thin layer on everything. out on the balcony at SiJ's place i could see little kids running around, cars sliding down the hill and one poor motorcyclist who seemed desperate to get safely home while his rear end kept sliding out on him.

i headed for the bus fairly early and managed to get back to basecamp without mishap, where it was up to ~2 inches. comparing notes with louise, we looked out the window half an hour later to see it coming down thick and fast, and our reaction was the same: let's go downstairs! rugged up and down in the cold it was beautiful - everything was white, still frozen. no slush yet, traffic hadn't melted any of it yet. we were laughing, jumping around the footpath like children. i jokingly threw a snowball at her and she landed on her arse giggling. we horsed around until i lost feeling in my hands and came back in and watched it out the window for a while before we hit the sack.

it snowed through most of the night and by this morning it was a complete and total debacle out there. 4-6 inches covered everything that'd take it. louise managed to get to work eventually, but TFL canceled every bus route, every overland train and most of the tubes were either suspended or on massively reduced services. i got a call at 10ish advising that my interview for the day had been postponed, which did not impress me, but so many people were unable to get to work that it was almost like an unofficial holiday. London just... stopped. i lay around and checked the news and before too long realised that i had a mission for the day: rug up, go out in it, experience REAL snow and take as many photos as possible.

i cruised Facebook for a while to see if anyone wanted to join in, and suggested that if louise was considering getting out of work early she should hook in and come for the ride. by midday i was getting off the tube (Northern Line was the 2nd-least effected tube line) at Embankment and walking down the north bank of the Thames towards Westminster with my camera going mad. it took me nearly an hour and a half to get from from Westminster to Trafalgar Square to St Martin's-in-the-Fields to Charing Cross Station, partly because i kept stopping to take photos, partly because trudging down icy footpaths was slow going. louise met me near Trafalgar Square and fed me the second half of her sandwich, and we moved on through Admiralty Arch and through the park running alongside The Mall until we eventually reached Buckingham Palace, on through St James' Park and then up to Green Park where we parked ourselves in a pub and had hot chocolate. by the time we'd gone through Leicester Square it was 4:30 and she was getting dizzy spells so i helped her to Leicester Square Station and we headed back, getting in just as it was starting to get dark.

i was incredibly glad i'd dressed appropriately for it - two pairs of socks under my boots which were laced up to the top (by the time we were done in the parks my trousers were soaked to the knees. my feet? toasty and dry. thank you Steel Blue work boots!), singlet, long-sleeved shirt, short-sleeved shirt, coat, gloves, scarf and hat. i'd brought louise her gloves and mittens, as well as my spare hat, and with her boots and ski-jacket she was sorted. when we stopped at The Clarence in Green Park it took quite a while to remove all the layers, and our jackets and scarves etc took up a couch of their own.

it was quite amazing how quiet it was in town - with transport links cut off sod all anyone was getting anywhere, but there were a huge number of people in the parks mucking around, rolling snowmen, throwing snowballs, lads out with their girlfriends, parents playing with their kids... everyone having a lovely time and just simply loving it. the atmosphere was infectious and we spent four-odd hours with the biggest, stupidest grins on our faces. louise commented on it as being the best single day we've had since we got here and i find it hard to disagree too loudly. i wound up taking 240 photos over the course of the day which i'll be culling down a little, but most of them came out really well so it won't be by much. we had the best time, and all it took was a blizzard which ground the entire city to a screeching halt!

meanwhile, i was called in to do some more work tomorrow for Louis Vuitton - they have one computer that refuses to boot and i've negotiated a flat day-rate - no matter how quick i get it done, i get paid for the whole day to make it worth my while. this means i need to be up pretty early to get in there, but i suppose it's worth it... that said, i'm pretty worn out from today so i can see me sleeping well tonight...