The London Life

3 months, 11 days

Well, it snowed here again! All night last night, it started after we left the movie theatre until sometime this morning. It even stuck, the snow actually laid on the ground and didn't melt by sunrise. In fact, it is still out there now! I thought I was excited when I saw it snow the other day, when it sprinkled snow throughout the city and then melted when it hit the ground; but when I saw this I was so excited! I couldn't help but make snowballs and throw them at Doyle and even the ground, it was so exhilarating! And not only did it snow, but it snowed after I watched one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. I know this may be somewhat of a dramatic statement, but Avatar was really one of the best movies I have ever seen. Not only did it have fantastic special effects, that were wonderfully enhanced by watching in 3-D, but it had one of the best stories in a movie I have seen in awhile. It really hit on the fact that humans can't just run around doing whatever they please, that there are actual, real consequences of what we do as human beings.

Well enough about me ranting about my taste in movies. The snow here in London made me realize something interesting about London. When it snows, rains too much or is just a little too windy, people absolutely freak out! I have noticed that if any of these weather events occur, the buse, train and tube system essentially break down! Just this morning, Doyle and I were trying to go into the city to see all of the snow downtown but had a trip getting there! When we reached the station, we looked at the notice board and saw about 5-6 different trains that were "severely delayed due to severe weather conditions." Severe weather conditions???? It snowed a couple of inches and you call this severe weather conditions?? I would expect this maybe if it had snowed like a foot overnight or something, but not a couple of inches that were already beginning to melt. It was really quite funny actually, but I was very relieved to see that the trains were even working at all. From what everyone says, when it snows in London the entire city shuts down! So I was glad to see that there were only a few delays, and not a complete shut down. But!, Gatwick and Luton airport were completely shut down. WHAT??? 2 busy airports, one of which is one of the busiest in the world, were shut down because of a couple of inches of snow!!! I thought these airport were supposed to have de-icers to take care of situations like this, I mean hell even Tallahassee's airport has proper de-icing procedures, though I don't think they have ever had to use them. Even rain and wind cause delays on the trains too. If there is too much rain, they shut the trains down in fear that the slippery conditions will cause an accident. Wouldn't you think of the rainiest cities in the world would have proper ways of dealing with this? The best one I have heard though, was when a train was delayed because of leaves on the track... Leaves on the track!?!? Really?? What are leaves going to do?? Anyway, I'm not trying to be too critical, I just think it is funny. I will say this though, last night when it was snowing pretty hard, we were able to get home on the buses without too many delays, it was great... I am glad to see that they weren't too overly concerned.

But anyway, once again I have gotten carried on about the weather. It's funny though, it is a big topic of conversation here. It seems everyone always talks about the weather over lunch, dinner or coffee. Its good though in a sense, everyone has something to talk about to each other. It never leads to an awkward, silent moment I guess. Well I guess this is all for now, I am enjoying writing these little notes about living here in London, it is a beautiful city and offers new adventures everyday!