Snow Day!

From the BBC website:

The worst snowfalls to affect Britain in 18 years has led to school and road closures, disrupted rail services and hundreds of flight cancellations.

I've been here for almost 4 years and I've never seen snow like this in London. Ironically, this wouldn't be that bad in Chicago. The big difference between Chicago and London? No infrastructure!

Typically when I experienced this much snow in Chicago, my ears are usually graced with the sound of shovels grinding against the pavement, snow blowers running up and down residential driveways, and snow plow trucks trudging through the streets. The roads and sidewalks are eventually cleaned and salted, and things get back to normal.

But here, complete silence. Not much shoveling. No snow plow trucks. The street and sidewalks are an utter mess.

The closest thing to a shovel I saw this morning was a man using a sweeper upside down to scrape off snow on the sidewalk. Speaking of sidewalks, nothing is shoveled. Pedestrian feet create a beaten path to take the place of a snow blower.

The city completely shuts down. No buses, the trains are suspended, and no one can fly in and out. London is completely paralyzed.

But this didn't stop the cyclists! I was walking to work this morning and I spied multiple people crazy enough to ride their bikes in the snow, including a fellow colleague. Now that's something you wouldn't see in Chicago!

The best part of all this? I got to go home early!