Tuesday 3 February 2009

A Few Inches of Snow

It’s amazing how everything falls to pieces when something unusual happens. The whole of London tends to collapse with just a little bit of snow, as I discovered to my joy yesterday. I was able to have the day off work, because if the HR department can’t make it in, they can’t tell if anyone else has turned up either, and I was able to spend the day doing frivolous things and relaxing with Fien. Of course, I should have been catching up on things on my “to do list”, or writing essays and blog posts, but I didn’t.

Our country seems to do this a lot. A little bit of extreme weather and nobody really knows what to do. Some minor flooding and people panic, some strong crosswinds and the trains start worrying about leaves on the line, a slightly heavier-than-usual rain and people can’t go outside for fear of hurting their heads. You try and get excited about the snow that we had yesterday to anyone from a country that gets snow on a more regular basis and they laugh at your pathetic enthusiasm and relate stories of how their bus network still ran in eighteen inches of snow.

I have found as of yesterday, that I am a bit of a herd animal, in that if everyone else has made an excuse that they can’t do anything because it’s snowing, I do the same. Unlike some people, I could have easily made it in to work yesterday, seeing as I live within walking distance, and failing that I could have certainly done a little private project work at home, but I didn’t because I was content with the national excuse of “it’s snowing, I can’t work today”.

However, all my careful efforts to get things done and to develop a good system of living that I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks have been undone as of yesterday. This morning I was unable to get up when my alarm went off, I didn’t organize myself with lunch, I’m no longer really motivated to do things, and in short, my whole schedule has been completely thrown off by one day of playing in the snow.

I suppose it’s very easy to get caught up on a national excuse. If everyone else says “I can’t do this” then why bother being the only one that tries? I suppose I’m starting to develop a fear of standing out on some level, but maybe I’m just content to reveal my lazy nature.

In spite of everything, it was a great day yesterday. I still love the snow.

Additional Notes:

Saying how much I love the snow is almost definitely insensitive to some people who have had genuine issues as a result of the snow. Hearing the adventures that my boss had trying to get back into London sounds nightmarish and people having to spend the night in their cars on the M25 can not be too impressed by the whole thing. I know I’m not alone in my enjoyment of the snow though; Regent’s Park was full of people that couldn’t get into work as well.

I have also discovered that Fien has a vicious streak when it comes to snow balls. She'll scoop up a nice ball of fluffy snow, compact it down into a rock-like chunk of ice and then aim it with surprising precision at my neck. In retaliation, I persisted in trying to surprise her with random snow balls, but every single one sailed about two inches over her head without her ever realising.

2 comments:

Zoe said...

I blame the economic downturn...

Ding said...

*shudder*