What can you do?

So what do you do when God dumps 20cm of pow-pow on your town in 24 hours?
a) Rug up, make a cup of tea, and watch Sleepless in Seattle?
b) Go to work because you're a temp and they wont let you work from home?
c) Go to your nearest hill and smash out some fresh tracks?
I can assure you it wont be a) for me.

I went to Villard de Lans in France for a ski on the weekend. It's a small resort with fairly crusty snow, but it was big enough and empty enough to enjoy it for a few days. I'm still blown away by the fact that I can ski in France just for the weekend... or so I thought.

We were supposed to be back in London at about 10.20pm on Sunday night. But as of 11pm, our plane from Grenoble still hadn't left London due to heavy snowfall in the UK. The tube is often closed in autumn due to "leaves on the track", and in winter due to "snow on the track" and at other times due to bodies on the track so adverse weather conditions can really shut this place down. My most frustrating time this year was when we had tix for a football match but it was postponed for a week because there was ice on the pitch. What a bunch of girls. It's a winter sport. Anyway, I expected a sprinkling of snow in London after Ezy Jet had cancelled a few flights.

So after sorting things out in the airport until 1am, Ezy Jet did it pretty well and put us up in a Novotel with shuttle buses back to the airport the next morning. (Poor Novotel, their free breakfast got absolutely raped. Our flight must have gone through over 450 croissants as people stocked up in expectation for a long wait.) The original call of 10.25am flight came and went, so did the 11.30am and 12.15pm and I think we ended up getting away at about 1.15pm, which wasn't too bad. In that sort of situation it's easy to become friendly with other people on your flight.

So upon arrival at Gatwick, I accepted the delay and noticed the 20cm or so of snow that had fallen, and was quite impressed at the speed in which crowds were controlled and ushered on to the train into the city.


This is what kept me in Grenoble?

I managed to get home at 6pm, 25 hours after leaving my hotel, and 30 mins before my doctors appointment (which I rode my bike to. I tell you, riding a bike in snow is like being stuck in tram tracks with ADHD...)


A taxi a little under the weather...

So I've ruled out a) Sleepless in Seattle. Tomorrow I will ride through the sludge to get to work, and maybe as a reward to myself on Wednesday when it snows again I'll be down at Richmond Park laying fresh tracks in the snow.