An Ode to Snow....

There is this great episode of Gilmore Girls where Lorelai Gilmore “breaks up” with snow and after a couple of days of freezing weather, cancelled planes and expensive trains I can understand where she is coming from. Like Lorelai, I have a fascination with snow. I think it is beautiful and that it transforms the world but unlike her I do not live remotely near snow so I don’t have to experience its evil side effects (at least until two days ago).

When I last left you, mighty denizens of blog land, it was 5.35 in the morning in Taipei airport and I was experiencing slight time zone confusion and the after effects of vegan plane food and the perplexity of di Caprio love. Needless to say, China Airlines did not improve on the food front for the rest of the flight (I was deemed a “Western” vegetarian (whatever that means) and though I confirmed that I ate diary, still none arrived- egg did though which made some food marginally better but it was coupled with the appearance of gelatin which was worse as a) it isn’t vegetarian and b) I usually try not to eat it) and I caved to the pressure and watched a Leo movie (Inception- I convinced myself it was for Joseph Gordon Levitt not Leo by following it with 500 Days of Summer). In the end I arrived at Heathrow largely unharmed and was greeted with the comforting chill of 1 degree weather and the fastest Heathrow customs officer in history (about 2 minutes- she deserves a medal). 

It was all going well until I looked at the departures board, so many flights to Scotland had been cancelled that I was paranoid mine would go the same way. Thankfully while people travelling to Glasgow and Aberdeen had no luck, Edinburgh opened for a few hours and I got through.  Landing in a landscape heavily coated in snow, I did think for a second I’m not going to get back but quickly forgot this as I arrived at the flat of friends in Roslin- a village about 10-15 minutes by car out of Edinburgh. The snow was falling when I arrived and I was so happy as I love the snow and I never get to see it. The next day my option of snow started to change a little....

It snowed all night and we woke to 40 or so centimetres of the white stuff on the ground, cars that were fairly well snowed in and buses that were cancelled. The locals of the house had their work commitments cancelled for the day and we were left with only the village to explore. A quick stroll of the village in the snow, some tasty hot chocolate and massive cake and an evening indoors were a great cure for jet lag but more than one day and the cabin fever begins...

The next day, more snow and we were only more stuck.  Thankfully Roslin is the home to the Rosslyn Chapel (featured in the Da Vinci Code- though still worth the visit). If you ever are in Edinburgh and need a day trip you should check it out. It has some of the most intricate stone work I’ve ever seen and some perplexing and intriguing stories- not least that the stone work include cravings of maize that is only found naturally in the US which was not discovered by Europeans until long after the chapel was built. The afternoon bought a slight rise in temperature and some sun and so snow started to fall off houses and trees. The noise made when a roof full of snow falls off the house you are standing inside has to be heard to be understood- it is somewhat crazy. The slight rise in temperature also meant that we could venture further afield and get into Edinburgh proper for dinner- if you like seafood, I can more than recommend the Mussel Inn though I was subjecting some embracing birthday related singing there.

So some pluses of several days of snow:

1.  Watching the neighbourliness of people in bad weather, snow was around 50-60cm thick on the ground (i.e. just above knee height) and it was hovering around 0 degrees but people still stopped to push bogged cars and lend a shovel filled hand to help un-snow the cars of others. I watched as an army of people from the street on which the co-op supermarket in Roslin is found, emerge with shovels and brooms to clear the snow off the street.
2.  Watching the resilience of nature, birds were constantly overhead and every time the temperature went up they emerged en masse to forage for food. Also shocking was the berries and green leaves which remained alive on the trees. Nature in bad weather is just plain miraculous. I have now seen a red breasted robin emerge to hop through snow and holly berries appear underneath the melting snow, and it all feels perfectly Christmas-y in my mind. I also saw the adorableness of a Scots Terrier playing in snow which was up to its neck.
3.  Watching children in full-on ski suits with sleds playing in the snow. I felt a bit little cold (OK somewhat of an understatement) in my jeans, but these kids who were enjoying their “snow days” off school were super warm in snow suits. They were all having tonnes of fun in sledding down the hill in the snow.

Minuses of snow:

1. Harder to sightsee
2. Cancelled planes. My plane to Heathrow was cancelled and I had to pay 111.08 pounds for a last minute train ticket to London.

However as I looked out at the sea in the snow at Berwick upon Tweed and continue to speed through the snow covered countryside, though I have missed an afternoon in London, I think maybe the train trip isn’t too bad. 

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Now a couple of hours after I writing the above I've had a change of heart once more and snow I'm sorry but it's over for us unless you put in some mighty big effort and maybe give me a few days space while I'm in London and in Ireland. The two hour delay on the train, arrival in London at just before 9pm and the 4.95 pound I was charged for internet that completely did not work on said train, and I've concluded that I may not love you anymore and that you probably shouldn't visit me in Sydney anytime soon.