Monday, February 2, 2009

London Shuts Down

Street scenes late afternoon on the street in front of our house (left). Along the main thoroughfare, King Street(right) busses weren't running because of "extremely hazardous driving conditions." Meanwhile, the girls enjoyed making a snowman in the park.

London simply stopped functioning today (excepting the pubs, of course.) The city is convulsed by six inches of snow on the ground. Most of the tubes were not operational, bus service was suspended, and Heathrow and London Airport shut down. If your place of business was open, there wasn't anyway to get there (although the pub staff all seem to have showed up to work.) We eventually walked to the mall to get a few essentials only to find half of it closed. Along the way, we were amused to watch one lady trying to shovel her front walk with a pair of rubber gloves and a plastic container--that apparently being her only snow removal tool. All day long we've watched Londoners pick up snow from the ground with the wonderment of toddlers discovering the joys of a snowball for the first time. We joined a large group in the park to make a snowman, make snowballs and sled around. My personal favorite occurred as we emerged from the house this morning, and the girls were greeted by a party of three 20-somethings. The girls almost didn't know how to react, since reserved Londoners don't strike up casual conversations. Apparently their astonishment was evident, for one of the young men observed, "When it snows, even we even talk to each other!" With six more inches headed our way tonight, we are probably going to be snowed in a few more days, but the girls are using the time to practice ballet, do homework, play games and catch up on sleep.

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