My People, Please add yourself!

Tuesday 3 February 2009

What would you do with a Snow Day?


Yesterday, London was hit by the worst snowfall for 18 years and came to a complete standstill. £48 million ($69 million) was lost in revenues as offices shut. Many employees couldn’t get to work or had to stay home with their children because all the schools closed. The entire bus network was closed down as even though they did grit the main roads, they didn’t grit any side roads so the busses couldn’t get out of the depots and slipped down the side streets. The tube network was brought to a standstill with only two lines running, the rest were mostly suspended or severely delayed. So no bus, limited tube and if you thought about driving you must have been crazy, if your car wasn’t snowed in the un-gritted roads were treacherous, you couldn’t get anywhere, even the airports shut with one plane even sliding off the runway. Most people saw it as a disaster however I have to admit I really don’t think it was.

Being forced not to work meant people had to slow down and live a little. Anywhere there was a hill people who never usually interact were sledging or even skiing down it on whatever they could find. The parks were full of people!



I heard of Brizillian & African tourists seeing snow for the first time. If you were trying to travel and were sitting for ages because you were slowed down you had the time for pleasantries or even chit chat, suddenly London became a very friendly place. Many workaholics were defeated as even though most of them could work from home when they looked out the window and saw the world having fun they put away the laptop and went out to live their lives. It was so bad the Mayor came on TV asking us to not use the day for a mass skive that we should all try and go to work. Try telling that to the mother that doesn’t know her baby anymore as it is always with the nanny, or the father who is having a difficult time with his son and now has time to build a snowman with him in the backyard. What would you give for an extra day off? For those that didn’t venture out this was a day to catch up on some things you wanted to do at home, to read that book they had been planning to read for ages, to paint the hall that has had the paint sitting there for months now or just catch up on some much needed rest. If you were suddenly forced to stay at home for the day what would you do? Perhaps there will be a baby boom around November time. Hahaha!




Me – well I didn’t get a chance to skive off but I still enjoyed my day.
Id left my gloves around at Mr Special’s on Sunday and this wasn’t the day to not have gloves however when I got up I didn’t watch any news or TV, I just looked outside, wrapped up warm and got my wellies on and went out to work.


I decided to slow walk to the station and enjoy the snow it was beautiful, kept having to alternate the hand that was holding the umbrella so that my hands didn’t freeze but I just took my time enjoying the stillness and the softness of the morning. Just as well I walked, can you imagine if I had waited for the bus? When I got to the station my tube line was running but with delays.

At work my boss was impressed to see me (brownie points) he had managed to get in and he lives way outside London so he figured most people should be in. They weren’t!
Then something sweet happened at around 11.30 Mr Special arrived with the gloves, he didn’t want me to get cold so dropped them off at my work. I have to say that my workplace is really out of his way and must have taken him ages with the tubes the way they were but he thought of me that made my day! He had been sent home from work (lucky man) as the weather was getting worse and he seemed quite concerned about how I would get home.


When he left he said ‘leave early baby, and any problems come straight to mine ok?’ He is a darling isn’t he?

I left work slightly early had no problems getting home. The snow was worse on the way back and having to walk wasn’t great so when I got home in the warm I thought about all the people who are suffering because of the economy at the moment and are having to choose weather to heat or eat in their homes. I prayed that they and the homeless were safe and warm.

When I looked outside over my balcony and saw the row of snowmen on the grass. It made me smile.

So that question again, if you were forced to stay home for the day and not work, what would you do with it?
ps - there is more bad weather to come...watch this space..

17 comments:

Robyn.K.Y said...

"i'd make love,,,watch movies n then make love again watch movies,,,bluh bluh",Claire says,,.True story(fingures crossed)

Ondo Lady said...

I would go out and make a snow man and challenge the whole street to a snowball fight. Then retreat to my lounge with hot tea and cupcakes watching chick flicks.

ShonaVixen said...

Do what I did yesterday...stay home, have warm soup, watch rubbish day time tele, then rush out like lil kids wiv my uncle and sis and snow fight...look at the beauty of the snow from my balcony and sigh and say 'Damn there's a God!'...

Unknown said...

Wow, the snow looks so pretty! I would probably read some books, sleep, and maybe cook lasagne or one of my other favourite dishes.

Keith said...

I'd do all the little things that I can't do on a normal day. ie-Sleep in late, Listen to all of my new music, Read my two novels that were purchased two months ago and have yet to be read....and yes, like Robyn said..I'd make love..

Tha BossMack TopSoil said...

Those pics are beautiful.

ANGELINA said...

I live in Los Angeles so we don't have many snow days or rainy days, but I would probably cook a hearty soup and catch up on reading if I had a day off. I miss reading for pleasure...

Angel said...

@ Robyn, my fingers are crossed for you hun

@ Ondo Lady, stree snowball fight sounds fun

@ Shona, I'm gutted the snow has almost gone I wanted to have a snow fight like you! It was beautiful though..

@ Amanda, it was pretty, lasagne sounds yummy, you have just given me my dinner idea.

@ Tha BossMack TopSoil , can I call you Tha Boss for short? What do you prefer? I wish I could take credit for the photos but I didn’t take them all. The snow was beautiful though and it looked exactly like that/

@ Angelia, yeah I can imagine you don’t get much snow in LA, It was cold though so you are probably lucky.

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

heard yawl weren ready for that so what u cook all them days

12kyle said...

we haven't seen one piece of snow in atlanta! lol

funny...i heard that england had received snow, i thought of you.

if i was forced to be at home, i'm sure mrs12 would find SOMETHING for me to do! LOL

♥ CG ♥ said...

LOL...I thought of you too. They joked about this on local (D.C.) news because we've been called punks by Prez O for opening school late during a snowstorm. Wasn't it something like 4 inches?

Angel said...

@ Torrance - well I ate mostly stews with rice and lots of hot drinks, we werent ready at all.

@12kyle - lol, its still snowing, last night people had to be recused from their cars lucky you in Atlanta. Glad Mrs 12 lets you know who the boss is lol

@CurvyGurl - well…yeah…*hangs head in shame* it was about 4 inches so not only is the whole of Europe laughing at us now you guys are? Hahaha!

We just werent prepared it hasn’t happened in 18 years on this scale so it just shut us down. Its still snowing and really bad..and they are running out of salt for the roads

Michael Horvath said...

Many Fridays GF and I have those days. I make her breakfast, we surf the web and share stories we read. Lovemaking is usually in the cards as her daughter is away at school. Then we relax in each other's arms and maybe nap. Or watch a rented movie. It's a "whatever" day.

Shishi said...

maybe spend it with my hubz, watching movies, basically bumming.

Angel said...

@MilesPerHour - your whatever day sounds really nice I had one of those this weekend

@Shishi - pleased to see you dear, hope you are well

Kofi Bofah said...

You are in London?

Whoa.

It's always interesting where one ends up on the Information Super Highway.

Angel said...

Glad you found me Kofi :)