Our Never Ending (Treacherous) Winter

It's the end of March and most of the UK is deep in snow. winter in Britain is (or always feels) very long and the cold dreary grey months never seem to end. A week ago it was looking promising with Spring flowers starting to bloom and there was even a couple of days where I left the house without a coat. But now winter is well and truly back.

The snow hasn't hit Brighton of course because we're in the south east which gets the mildest weather  but I have to admit I feel somewhat disappointed as I really, really love snow. It's not so fun trudging around in it (although I have some of those rubber grippy things that sip over your shoes with studs on the bottom - this freelancer 'aint breaking anything) but I work from home so to be toasty in my flat working on my laptop with the snow falling softly outside is just dreamy. 

Whilst I was in France (shit, I need to write that trip up!) it snowed like a bastard here.  Apparently it came down hard and fast and caused travel chaos like never before - and then it was gone. Yup, it came and went within 24 hours just in time for my return. On one hand this was great as it meant my trip went smoothly with no cancelled flights or trains, but on the other hand I was gutted. I've only seen a little bit of snow here this year and I feel a bit short-changed to be honest.

I went to the shop to get the paper earlier and the Jordanian lad behind the counter said he'd been in the UK 4 years and had never seen summer. He jokingly said that even on one of our 'summer' days it was cold. I've been to Jordan so I can accept his opinion on that - it's as hot as the fricking sun there so I feel his pain. I felt it my duty to apologise on behalf of the entire nation so we're covered there, but I really felt for the poor guy. We're used to months of endless disappointment (in every sense; politically and weather-wise) but he expected more.

On the news last night they showed cars buried in snowdrifts 16ft high. Now we usually call a national emergency when there's 4 inches of snow so that really gave the news 'reporters' something to orgasm over. Nobody seems to know how to drive in ice and snow here, so obviously idiots slip and slide everywhere and crash into other cars and ditches, but these poor people had lost their cars to the snow completely. 

I also have a real bugbear with the word 'treacherous' being used on the news at every opportunity. "Treacherous conditions", "it's treacherous out there", grrrrrrrr....it really gets on my nerves. They use it in every single weather story at least 2 or 3 times and It's usually said without a hint of irony within 20 seconds.

It's 0 degrees here today with a wind chill factor of -5, but to be honest we Brits love it and as soon as it gets hot (over 20 degrees) we'll complain about that as well!

Stop The Country - It's Snowing!

My overseas readers may be aware that the UK has had a bit of snow recently; we get lots of types of weather over here  - discussing it is a National pastime - but it's not often that any of our weather is particularly extreme. So when we do get anything above the norm, our entire country falls apart.

A couple of places have reached -20 degrees but mostly it's just snowed a bit. Nonetheless, many airports have closed, as well as nearly all the schools (because they're built out of cardboard and marshmallow) trains have stopped running, lorries have been abandoned on the motorway, shops are running out of food, and none of us have the correct footwear. It's a shambles.

I personally love snow; they kept talking about 'Freezing Britain' on the TV (for it is rolling news) and were overusing the word treacherous; but I looked on enviously as we hadn't had any in Brighton... until yesterday. I woke up in the morning and there was over half a foot of snow outside our house - which was VERY exciting for what turned out to be a surprisingly short amount of time.

Snow always looks better on the eye than the actual experience of interacting with it; by lunchtime it's either grey and slushy, or compacted so hard that you're lucky if you don't go for a Burton and end up in casualty. I did manage to get some good photos however, and now shall mostly look at it from the window. It's a bit yesterday now.

Ready, Aim, Fire The Freelancer

Been up to loads this last week, but busier than a one legged man in an arse-kicking competition so please excuse my absence.

My move in to BBF's went very smoothly - thank God it wasn't happening this weekend cos we're up to our ears in snow! (well just over our ankles but you get the idea) I LOVE being here with him; we haven't been together very long at all but I think the world of him and couldn't imagine being without him now. I finally feel that my pickyness paid off because I wasn't going to settle for anything less!

Last weekend we went with a couple of friends of his to a kind of 'activity thing' that they booked on Groupon. We went out to this farm in the next county and they went quad biking (not my bag - I'm not keen on getting dirty and the helmet smelled) then we had a go at archery and axe throwing -like you do.

Turns out that I am pretty good at firing arrows and hurling hatchets. I took to the archery straight away but chucked my first round of axes straight into the mud. Not sure how I managed to get better but I put it down to pure talent (read as luck) I'm not sure when I'll need this skill but then you never know what the future holds!

I've been pretty busy with work this week as well, although the nightmare client decided that he couldn't really afford me (no shit Sherlock) and I was saved from firing him, his festive timing is a bit worrying.  I'm sure I'll manage without his money and the grief that came with it - I've got a couple of new clients, and things usually sort themselves out.

Not much else to report apart from being busy (when am I not?) unpacking, working, and directing weaponry. I am though, very,very happy.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Those other pictures I took of the snow in Brighton were pretty pussyish compared to the full-on snow that fell a few days later. I went to visit a friend that lives a bit further out, and the snow had settled far more heavily there than in town; we wandered to the top of the hill and this was the scene that greeted us... and yes, those are canoes!

STG's Post - Brass Monkey Brighton

Hi Star Trek Girl! As we spoke earlier on Skype, instead of your weekly round-up here are some pictures of snowy little Brighton as promised... I forgive you for finding it hilarious from your toasty Jordanian apartment!

STG's Post - And Here is The Weather

Hi Star Trek Girl, well as you know it's been snowing here in Blighty; the council have been utterly useless at gritting even though you could have timed it's arrival by the weather forecast, and most of the streets here are treacherous. (I just wanted to get that word in as it's dramatic and being used on the news every few minutes!)

Apparently A&E is rammed with shattered limbs and bashed noggins; I was actually a little disappointed as I have nearly fallen in a comedy manner a few times but have yet to see anyone go arse-over-tit in front of me. Other people say they've seen loads of tumbles but I have yet to see even one! I'm being very careful because if I break my wrist then I'd be freelance road-kill.

It's raining now so everything is really slushy; the buses are throwing the brown slush back up onto Christmas shoppers, the rain and melting snow are causing rivers to run through town and the drains are overflowing... like they do in that trusty endearing Brighton way. Basically, if it freezes over tonight then we're fucked!

I saw on the news that the Channel Tunnel is closed for the 3rd day running; my landlady's daughter is stuck in Disneyland Paris but I imagine there's worse places for her to be stranded! It doesn't look fun at the airports, and I'm thanking God that it's not me - I don't think I'd have coped very well and would be rushing the news reporters wild-eyed, foaming at the mouth and screaming obscenities - whilst simultaneously weeping.

That is a quick round-up of what's been going on around here... so I don't want to hear any more of your dolphins and snorkeling in the Red Sea stories you show-off!

STG's Post - Squirrels, Sparkles, Sugar And Spice

Hey Star Trek Girl here's your weekly Blighty round-up!

It's starting to get a bit colder here and next week we've been told its going to be freeeeezing! When I saw the weather forecast earlier, the whole of Europe was entirely blue and we're next apparently! It often snows in the winter at my folks so I'm hoping it snows over Christmas cos that'll be nice. It's lovely when you can hear it crunching underfoot and the night air is filled with that sort of muffled silence.

So, I've been reading your posts about Jordanian food with interest; I'm not entirely convinced, so here is a photo of something that I know you like A LOT. I try to walk past this place as often as I can and attempt to refrain from pressing my face against the window longingly.

I'm really getting into this freelance lark and appreciating my freedom; on Tuesday as I was walking to a clients, I was able to loiter for a while while everyone else was rushing to work and I managed to get a photo of this little fella. I always knew there were a few squirrels in the Pavilion Gardens but I counted about 15! They were as bold as brass and frolicking in a somewhat surly manner.

More and more Christmas lights are going up around town and now nearly every window in the Laines is filled with fairy lights. Here's a picture of the Gresham Blake ones that I took this evening.

Although I still miss Dexter dearly and often torture myself by looking at his photos; Spice (Sugar's sister) has taken to coming into my room and hanging out with me. Here she is making herself at home on my pillow - she's a dear little thing and likes to cool her boots by my radiator of an afternoon. We get on quite well even though she is regarding me with disdain in this photo.

So things are pretty much ticking over here; I spent most of today in the pub on my laptop drinking coffee and eating cupcakes, it wasn't too much of a chore as you can imagine! Eva says hi; I went round earlier when she was making biscuits for Xmas gifts - luckily for her she was still at the mixture stage or else she would have found herself inexplicably short upon my departure.

So that's it for another week - I'll speak to you again soon on Skype I'm sure and will let you know if Blighty turns into Siberia in the meantime. Miss you loads. xxx