Seasons with Jade ❤️: It's a bird, it's a plane..No..It's snowing in London!

My life has mostly been spent in a country where four seasons aren’t something people need to prepare for. Spring, summer, autumn or winter are simply associated with the latest fashion, some designs adopting the patterns of the changing seasons without the climate calling for it. It’s no doubt a trend devotee rather that a necessity.

With the stable unchanging temperature 365 days throughout the year, perhaps the only rare excitement for the lucky is to catch the sight of rainbow after a shower or the dreading moment of hearing heavy lightening striking during heavy downpours. It is no wonder that the recent weather phenomena of London, something that didn’t occur since 18 years of history invited much inquisitive and stirred wide interest from my Singaporean friends. The one and only rare sight of heavy snowfall that happened on 1 and 2 Feb 2009 in London.

I was out in the open when the first drop of snowfall hit the grounds of London. No more fake stylofoams or stimulated icy snow drops or white fluffy foams. Finally, my fantasy of being in winter wonderland dancing in the midst of falling snow is turning into a reality! The falling snow drops felt very mild and light on my head and coat, almost like a shower of icing sugary dust being sprinkled on top of a cake. Cameras were clicking while the Londoners tried their best to capture the little white falling dots. It’s a very endearing slight and obviously people around me are also sharing my sentiments of thrill! Some were trying to catch the falling snow while others are just shouting with joy or simply admiring the scene in awe.

The first round of snowing was quite an experience. It doesn’t feel wet or heavy though the chilly wind does get in the way causing my nose to feel rather frosty. My hubby and I were hit with the second round on our way home and this one isn’t as fun as the earlier round. The drops seem larger and heavier accompanied by much stronger wind and greyer sky. Unlike rain, it doesn’t feel wet though. We didn’t need to use our brollies and manage to make our way home a couple of minutes before the wind got really fierce!

Sitting warm and snug in the comfort of our home watching the snowy white and thick fluffy layers of white ice outlining every possible surface area it can lay its hands upon - from the tiny branches of the bare trees to the slanting rooftops of London residences. We watched with amazement as the white fluffy snow engulfs the stationary cars parked along the streets. All I see are mounds of white colored triangular elongated objects along a strip of white! As the snowing continues throughout the night, we saw less and less of the parked cars’ tires as the level of snow gets progressively higher and higher.

By the next morning, even my window ledge was covered with a thick layer of fluffy snow. The snowing persisted and I unexpectedly got to spend an extended weekend (well, almost!) with my hubby who had to work from home due to the extreme adverse weather condition. Most commuters aren’t able to make it to work due to the disrupted public transportation system. We learnt the following day that the city has made huge losses due to disrupted business. Productivity obviously drop extensively as most employees aren’t able to make it for work on time or weren’t able to make it at all while those who made it spent a good deal of their time cracking snowing related jokes with the other half the workforce trying their best to tap into their remote access from home! Question: Why did the snow woman ignore the snowman? Answer: She’s giving him the cold shoulder! A very cold joke indeed! I suspect companies and big bosses aren’t very pleased and didn’t exactly welcome such a weather phenomena while in contrast, children were simply elated with their new play mate - Mr Snowman.

A close shot of the icy wall.

Geared in their thick winter wear, children grab whatever snow opportunities they had (whether it’s along the road, on open attic of their house, parks, ledge, cars etc) and starting making snowballs (from the size of fishballs to the size of generic go wrong mutated watermelons!) , getting into snow fights and building snowmen of various sizes. Laughter, shouting and screaming can be heard so very often throughout the entire day as we see more and more snowmen being born every single second. The birthrate includes the following pair of my mini snow couples sitting on my window ledge.

My very own mini snow couple and I am not afraid of heights...or am I?

Snowman..snowman and more snowman...

Bare trees on snowy grounds..

Icy snow covered pathways and roads

The snowfall was definitely quite an experience and I rather describe this weather phenomena as fun and delicious because the latter reminds me a little of melted marshmallows. Not that most will agree with me as it did cause much inconvenience to commuters and pose much hazard to the drivers. Like I say, it’s a pleasure to admire the snowy scene but note that it does get pretty costly and hazardous if you aren’t careful. The last thing you need is a painful bum kissing the slippery icy ground!