1. it only snowed ten inches total over a period of like sixteen hours.
2. The entire bus system shut down, I actually had my internship meeting cancelled Sunday night for Monday night before five inches had even falle
n.
3. I have no classes on Monday, so I wasn't nearly as excited as everyone else for our snow day, though London in the snow was absolutely gorgeous!
4. On SUnday evening John Darnell, Sean MCCrosky, Dan Dixon, Pat Kirkland, Mike Grathwol and I set off for this Church, Farm STreet Jesuit Chur
ch of the Immaculate Conception, about a 40 minute bus ride away to hit up a youth mass at 7:30. There was some sort of bus accident en route so we had to get off our bus and walk for a good half hour to get there. This was fine, except I had been planning on riding the bus and therefore
had the worst possible shoes for a chilly Sunday Evening. By this point a few flurries had begun to fall. By the time we got to the Church, which is in a beautiful area of town, there was a dusting of snow on the ground and my feet were sufficiently chilly. But it was lovely outside, so I didn't mind.
5. Mass was very nice and the Church was gorgeous. Also, it was nowhere near as big as the gigantic Cathedral of Westminster (which was nice
because that means its also warmer) but it was still absolutely gorgeous. We'd stumbled upon a real beauty!
6. Post mass a nice man, Matthew, who is from S. Africa and studying to be a priest invited us to join him at a pub near the Church with some of the other young people. Mike, Pat, Dan and I agreed sadly the other two had hwrk to finish. Matthew
bought us a round of drinks and we chatted for a while about life in S. Africa and the Jesuits and life in London. We then met the "parish priest" or rector of the Church who was slightly Zany in a most delightful way, and suggested Londoners needed "walking permits." After spending a week or two in london being jostled about
and poked by umbrellas and so on and so forth, I think most people would agree :) Matthew invited us up to his parish sometime, and with ma
ny smiles and much cheerful chatter we wandered out into a British Winter Wonderland. Wandering past shuttered shops and through silent streets, we waved jovially at two gentleman wearing top hats outside a quiet victorian hotel. Sigh.
7. We retraced our steps hoping just to catch the bus we came on back to the flats. Unfortunately, after walking for about 40 minutes we realized that our bus didn't run back in the other direction and it was another 40 minute walk at least. By this time, the gentle snow had turned to outright blizzard and I could no longer f
eel my feet. I was delighted when Mike and Dan decided we should take the subway from Oxford street up to King's Cross then down to Farringdon, our tube stop.
8. While waiting for our tube we had an interesting encounter with a middle aged man claiming to be Jewish who stepped on my feet b
ecause he wasn't allowed to touch people's arms? As we scurried off onto our train he (of course) touched my shoulder and said good bye I'm a good Jewish Boy! So much for no touching above the foot!
9. I didn't really mind though, we were almost home and watching the expression on Dan's face throughout the episode was priceless :)
10. We got to King's Cross and went to switch over tubes but the snow had shut down the tubeline we needed to take to Farringdon, no big deal, it said there was a bus we could catch from the station upstairs. We walk outside, no bus, no bus stop with any of our potential bus numbers. Hmmm. Problem. Finally the boys decide we'll walk the rest of the way back to the flats.
11. twenty minutes and three frozen sets of fe
et later (I think my feet have never been so numb before) we looked like cute little snow persons. My black hat and coat were no longer black, and my jeans were well on their way to joining my newly white coat and hat. But we made it home. Safe, sound and snowy enough for a South Bend winter.
Return to Monday, the actual snow day, most of the day is spent just hanging out with Molly, Renee, Connor and for a bit Pat. We then decided to make a delectable snow day dinner . . .Patrick hamburger chef extraordinaire (over 2,000 burgers grilled in his 20 years) made us some burgers on his Foreman. Delicious! After dinner and some more hang out time we went out to explore our little neighborhood in the snow. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across not only several inches of snow, but also two little palm trees?
In the middle of a london borough. Strange to say the least. Anyhoo, the snow day was an overall success. I finally felt vindicated after attending school in the tundraland of South Bend for 2.5 years. trudging to class in blizzards and subzero temps alike. If I wanted a snow day, all I needed to do was take a trip to London. Peace Love and Lots of Snow!
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