Almost snow go
(First snow: Glasgow, UK)
These are the freshest snow pictures you’ll get outside the news, I reckon. I took these this very morning at 5.30am on my way to assist Ying to the bus station. He is visiting Glasgow for work and for Christmas, but has (after arriving here on Thursday) already departed again to go skiing. As you can see, I was responsible for the skis. He realised quite late last night that he could not manage to carry his bag (with ski boots), his hand luggage and his enormous ski bag without assistance, nor could he squeeze them into a normal sized taxi. It fell to me to make an offer of help. However when he informed me of our departure time, I almost wished I hadn’t.
Snow had been forecast, but in Glasgow, it rarely does, and even if some snow creeps silently out of the sky, it is generally gone within hours. Not so this morning – as you can see, the snow is lying well; at least an inch deep all over and in some places, two. I was not prepared. I noticed the snow only as we stepped out of the front door. We creaked and slipped through the packed ice and the snow slush on the roads and reached the bus station in plenty of time. It was uneventful, despite the treacherous conditions and I left as soon as I could – it’s very cold after all! I waved Ying off and crept away into the dark – I took the second photograph of the running clock outside the station on my way home.
I had reached my front door when I received the surprise phone call. Can you guess who it was and what had happened? “Rosie! I’ve forgotten my passport!” What had started out as an already taxing early morning snow trek was fast becoming a freezing reconnaissance fiasco. With Ying’s frenzied instruction, I crept through the flat to retrieve it and abandoned my damp trainers for wellingtons. Rushing back out, Ying called me back to tell me his exact whereabouts. I then half ran and half staggered over the ice to reach him. Of course, since he is practically immobile with all his ski gear, he couldn’t meet me halfway, so I covered more ground than getting to the bus station in the first instance. By the time I had located him, the bus was at the crossing – I merely had time to hand over the offending passport and accept a speedy but genuine apology before he darted onto the bus and it sped off. By the time I reached home again, all uphill naturally, it was 6.23am.
I look forward to getting to sleep for a couple of hours now and later to wake up to the news which will no doubt be reporting the usual snow story; UK: Widespread Travel Chaos. Having had my own snow related chaos today, I think I’ll be spending the rest of the day indoors, sipping cups of tea and keeping warm. There is a delicate irony in Ying travelling to France when the Scottish ski season is kicking off so nicely.
– Today Rosie is lying in and drawing in Glasgow, UK –
yes, indeed, it is an irony.
I want to tell you, you look pretty with the fur cap.
Have you ever kept your hair long?