London Snow

We got some proper snow in London last night for the first time this season. Enough to settle on the grass overnight, and enough to make the pavements icy enough to slide to the train station instead of walking.

I always find snow in London has two effects:

1) It makes everyone just a little bit cheerier, at least at first. Let's face it, snow is fun, pretty, it makes the cold bearable and it's a hell of a lot better than rain. The usual grumpy population of London seem to be just a little bit more willing to let the corners of their mouths turn up into what might be contrued as a smile. The snow though could last here for a couple of weeks and I'm sure by that time peoples attitudes will have changed.

2) Everything stops working. This also happens in the summer if it gets too hot. Britain is not a country built for exteme temperatures (although what is classed as extreme here is not necessarily the case in other places.) Britain works best in mediocre weather, not too hot and not too cold, which is great. Although for a week or two each year, it gets too hot or too cold and then everything stops working.

This same sense of mediocrity can also be applied to Britain's sporting teams, consistently average with everyone feeling relatively comfortable about that. Occasionally though, as with England's 2003 Rugby team, things do move beyond mediocrity, and they perform very very well. Once this has happened, in keeping with the consequences of extremes in the weather; everything stops working.