Day 25

                                                        An English Winter? No Joke.

Those who gave advice on these things told us not to worry, English winters are mild.  So we left most of the serious winter things at our home in western New York.  We live an hour from Buffalo, which has a reputation for fierce winter weather even though Syracuse regularly gets far more snow and Watertown is a virtual ice box in comparison.

So we packed light for the winter that we thought might give us a few days of cold wind and a dusting of powder.

But we suspected something more serious was up when reports of cold (-22 C) in Wales and highway-closing snow fall in Scotland and northern England began to make news as headline stories. In the aftermath of one storm after Thanksgiving, two elderly people died, having gone outside and lost their way.

As we found seats at St. Paul's Cathedral for a Christmas performance of the Messiah on 8 December, the couple sitting next to us expressed their concerns they would have to cancel their trip down from Yorkshire because of bad road conditions.

London itself seemed to have been spared.  Our day or two of snowfall left picturesque icing on buildings, as on the steeple of St. Mary's below. It was sloppy for a bit and created a few hours of inconvenience, but within days all traces were melted away and life went on without a pause.

The view from our window, pictured in early morning, was snowless again by nightfall.

I went out and took pictures of various snowy scenes involving humans, thinking they might give an idea of what that snow was like.  But I favor the bird tracks more.  These are from the pond in Clissold Park, a seven minute walk from our flat.  The coots and geese and swans were walking on ice that was so close to the freezing - melting point that they left watery imprints as they padded about.

Those of us who live in snow country joke about the havoc created by a "little snow" where it is rare.  Now, having lived in London for four months, I understand that -- all joking aside -- this is serious weather.

As I write, Heathrow has been closed for several days, stranding thousands of passangers in the airport and disrupting travel around the world.  This, from the storm that rolled in hours after we departed.

I am happy to report, to quote John Lennon, these birds have flown.  For those who were not so fortunate, I can only express sympathy. In this kind of weather it is better to find a secure spot, like these hearty souls in the bare tree, and ride it out.