As quickly as the Beast from the East and storm Emma came, they went and we enjoyed a couple of weeks of very spring like weather. This weekend we were reminded just how cold this weather pattern can be, when London was/is once again being visited by a mini me version of the Beast from the East.
That week a couple of weeks ago, saw the weather dominate not only conversation but every part of life as London, and indeed the entire UK, was hit by two weather systems. The first was dubbed ‘The Beast From The East’ by the media and this term was quickly picked up by everyone. This saw freezing cold wind and snow come directly from Siberia resulting in sub-zero temperatures. The second weather pattern was named Emma by Portuguese metrologists and headed to the UK via Portugal. You would have thought this would have brought warmer temperatures, but this was not the case as it came together with the Beast, and brought freezing cold, biting winds and much more snow particularly to areas south-west of London.
There were many warnings about the ferocity of this storm, but waking up on Monday morning and seeing the prediction for the day, I still didn’t understand the enormity of what was to come. By the time I reached work it was snowing – movie snow, softly falling and making the area around work look pretty special
It snowed on and off through the day, and the temperature dropped. I caught up with a friend visiting from New Zealand for a drink that night, and as we sat and enjoyed our drink and tapas at Pix in Gaston Street we watched the snow gently fall.
On Wednesday morning when I looked out my window I was delighted to see how beautiful and magical the place looked as a lot of snow had fallen overnight. Even though it was freezing the sun was out and I was entranced on my way to work, as everything looked so special.
If this was Wellington, New Zealand where I hail from that would have been it – by the next day the snow would have gone and the temperatures would have returned to normal. This was not the case here, as the next day we still had below zero temperatures, the sun had gone and there was a cold arctic like wind. Getting to work became difficult for many Londoners as the snow and freezing cold began to affect the electric points on the trains, and many trains were either delayed or cancelled. Each day during the week fewer and fewer people turned up at work, and by Friday I was the only one of around 40 people who sit around me that actually made it to the office – it was a very long and lonely day. This was because I catch the tube to work, and its underground all the way and not weather affected. There were warnings about ice, but although the snow was pretty solid – it was soft, dry snow and even with thousands of people tramping it down – in some cases to mush, it never iced over.
On Saturday morning when I got up to go for a short run/walk around Brockwell Park, it was noticeably warmer, but the park was still covered in snow. By 5 pm when I walked back through it the snow was completely gone, and signs of spring began to appear. It was (and is) noticeably lighter, it was warmer too and everyone was feeling that the winter was finally over. In this in-between time I visited Kew Gradens which were looking very spring like.
However the weather gods had one last (fingers crossed) winter storm to throw at us and this weekend the ‘mini Beast from the East’ was sent our way. On Friday we reached a high of 14 degrees, and Londoners were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine, but yesterday we only just hit the one degree mark, and that’s not counting the biting wind with its significant wind chill factor. I went to visit Spitalfield Markets which I thought would be ok, because they are under cover, but it was really miserable so we didn’t hang around.
Today when I woke up there was a heavy layer of snow lying about again, as well as that biting wind. I haven’t ventured far – but did make it to the gym, which is in the park, and it really felt like I was in a black and white movie, with white snow everywhere and soft grey skies, the only colour being provided by some daffodils trying their best to appear above the snow surrounding them. British summertime starts next weekend but at the moment that feels a bit like a cruel joke!
LIVING LIFE ON MY OWN TERMS 