Snow! In London!

“Everything’s magical when it snows. Everything looks pretty.” Or so says Lorelai Gilmore in the episode ‘Love and War and Snow‘. 

And personally, I’m inclined to agree with this statement. I am one of those people who cannot help but love the snow.

So, when flakes started falling, for the first time in London this winter, over the weekend I was extremely happy – I had been waiting three months for this to happen!

I had a goofy grin on my face and kept running out onto my friend’s balcony to take it all in.

Fun in the snow

About 11.30PM when the snow was really started to fall heavily, myself and three friends put on our gloves, hats, scarves, and jackets and went out into the snow.

And out amongst the wonderful falling flakes we acted like little kids. We made snow angels, had a (brief) snowball fight, and attempted to make a snowman.

All the while we were grinning from ear to ear.

My friend with a snowman - not ours.

Snow, it’s still foreign to me

I can’t really explain why I have this fascination for snow. I know that it isn’t always just white and pretty.

In the cities it turns to slush quickly and looses its charm. It causes accidents and huge travel delays – I’ve been caught up in them myself, and at those moments snow and I are not friends.

Nonetheless, in the past three winters I have experienced in London, when that first snow falls I have been giddily excited.

I think partly my feelings towards snow can be put down to the fact that where I grew up, Wellington, New Zealand, it never snows.

Well, practically never. Last winter back home it did snow. For the first time in 80 years!

I think that is why I have this fascination with the white stuff – on some level it’s still foreign too me.

My best snow experience 

Ice-skating in the snow, 2010

The best snow experience I have ever happened in 2010 – my second London winter.

A friend and I booked ourselves tickets at the ice-skating rink at the Natural History Museum. It’s a wonderful place to go ice-skating – with the beautiful building behind you.

That in itself, would have been an amazing experience. What took it over the top, was the fact that as we were skating it started to snow. Now that is a magical experience.

If you want to see some great shots of the snow this year, check out this link to the Guardian 🙂