It is a bit late this year. Everyone is talking about it, but not by way of complaint. Sure as anything though the cold has finally arrived. Not more than a few weeks ago it was very mild. Cooler than summer, but so much warmer than it should have been. Even on Saturday I was outside for several hours with only a t-shirt on.
However, in the last couple of weeks the cold has really hit and particularly in the mornings you can feel it as soon as you swing out of bed. Then outside, just after 6am, I am seeing a solid layer of ice on parked cars, perhaps with the occasional early commuter busily scraping their windscreen clear of the overnight freeze. On my way to the gym I cycle past a billboard, one that has a digital clock and thermometer. This I would ignore all Summer, but now the game is to guess how cold it is. I’ve seen it showing just 2 degrees and I found myself thinking, yep it feels cold. Then a few days later the same sign showed 7 degrees and I agree, it is noticeably warmer. Today it showed 4 degrees and I was surprised – it felt more like 7. Which just shows that acclimatisation happens quickly.
Now Christmas is close and there is no sign of snow. Last year it dumped inches of snow naturally while we were out of the country. But we’re in London now, there are 10 days till Christmas, and of course it doesn’t look like snow at all.
I am probably the only one in the country with my fingers crossed – bring on the white Christmas.
Friday 16th December
This morning I woke to the familiar – yet rarely heard – sound of cars driving along a wet road. It being a Friday I would normally leave the bike at home. But today I felt like riding (having already had a day off this week too) and with the ever cooler conditions… well you never know.
Sure enough, the rain was falling slowly, yet heavily. On my thighs I could see ice crystals. The falling ice lit up brightly in my headlights, more than rain drops could, clearly there was sleet in the air. The further north I rode the sleet would fall ever slower. I began to see cars parked with mounds of white ice gathered around the base of the windscreen. Was it ice, or could it be…
When I arrived at the office to unlock the front gate. There I decided, this isn’t sleet anymore. It is very light snow/sleet. It certainly wasn’t cold enough for the snow to form on the ground. But I am sure it was falling, if only barely.
