Snow vs London

Today started as any other Saturday would… sleeping IN! I love the moment of panic when you roll over and see that it is 10am and then remembering that it is Saturday so you can just roll back over and get out of bed slowly! Best. Feeling.

I was all ready to do work! I started my Consignment Report project and did the first section (out of the three I need to do!). I even found a comparative object (for section 2) so I am on a roll with that! Then I read my reading for my scary presentation. I got a book out of the library with Water Benjamin’s essays because its just so much easier to read it out of a book instead of a packet. Well…. When I had finished I realized that the handout is version 3 and the book had version 2. Yes… they are actually really different. So Ill have to read it again! At 2:30 I suddenly felt extremely tired. It was odd… it came out of nowhere! I decided to rest my eyes for a minute (they really hurt!) and I woke up 3 hours later. Awesome.

It was time to get ready for my big night out! Isabel invited me to a wine and cheese party at her flat! I throw on my dress and headed out to Sainsburys. It was SNOWING! I was excited! It looked so beautiful. Just like a snow globe with big, white flakes floating down from the sky. People were out taking pictures of themselves in it and running around. I made my way to Sainsburys and picked up a wedge of Brie, and a Merlot (it was half off!) and headed back out in the snow! I got on the tube and noticed that when the train started up the wheels were sliding but I didn’t think anything of it because on Friday there was a LONG article in the Standard saying how prepared the tube was with tons (literally) of salt to keep everything running smoothly. (keep that in mind. It will be significant later)

I got to her tube stop without a problem and found her street easily. It was BEAUTIFUL! Few streetlights, soft white snow… it was cute. The party was a lot of fun! It was Isabel, her roommate, Freya, her boyfriend Alastair, his friend Ed and myself. We hung out and talked until about 11 when we decided that we should go before the tube shut down. We walk outside and there was more snow… probably 3 inches. We saw buses go by and the tube was running so we were optimistic. There were delays on the tube because at the ends the trains go aboveground. We had to wait 10 minutes or so but our trains came. Freya and Alastair went their way, and Ed and I caught the district train. At this point he tells me that I may be in trouble getting home. (he realized that Willesden Green was in the North) and that my station is above the ground. He was telling me how bad it was going to be so when it wasn’t bad at all I would be happy. I just laughed and said ok. He got off at monument and I stayed on until Westminster so I could catch the Jubilee line home.

This is where the story gets better. I get off the train and head towards the Jubilee line. I know the station so I wasn’t reading signs, just walking. Then, right in front of me in big letters “JUBILEE LINE SUSPENDED” This is where I swear. I forgot to mention that I needed to go potty. I thought I should go at Isabels but we decided to head out and I forgot to go. Another aspect of distress… my phones (yeah I have two. LONG story) are BOTH on the last half of bar on my battery. Keep that in mind also. Anyways after some angry words at the sign, I head upstairs to look at the boards and at my options. I am in SOUTH London and need to get all the way across the city and then north of it. After a long debate I decide to get to Baker Street. I will get a bus from there. This is easier said then done because there are no bus maps in this city, so I have an app for that. My phone however is barely alive and I need it to make it. I shut everything down and head back down to the platform.

The train I need says its coming in 12 minutes. You have to be kidding me! Its midnight at this point and there are drunk people everywhere trying to figure out how to get home. Trains come every 2 minutes so 12 was rough. FINALLY I get the train that is going to go in a big look around the city and end at Baker Street. I hop on and look at the route. Then it hits me!! I forgot about the Bakerloo line! (I always do and its such a great line!) And it hits the district line at the next stop. Instead of going around the city I can cut the circle in half and go through the center. We get the Embankment… I have NEVER seen so many people in a place so small before. I get off and FIGHT my way to the stairs. The Bakerloo line is empty. I grab a seat and start trying to figure out my next step. Keep in mind I need to go to the bathroom. (we did have wine after all!)

I get to Baker Street and come up to the street level. The snowflakes are HUGE. Another thing to remember… London isn’t used to snow. There are no shovels, or plows. Just snow. I see two N18 buses and break my rule about running to catch modes of transportation. I sprint! I check the map… score! My normal bus the 266 cross the 18’s route at Harlesden. This bus is only doing half the route, but is ending at Harlesden. Ok things are looking better. I get on and check out the upstairs level and manage to grab a seat. The bus starts moving… barely. He drove 5 mph the entire way. And to make it worse the traffic was horrible and moving at that rate. No one was used to driving in the weather and it’s a Sat night in downtown London. Its busy. I am not joking when I say this… an hour later we have hit probably ten stops. He is skipping stops because the bus was too full, so people are yelling at the bus and throwing snowballs at us. Then at Parade Park he stops the bus and we all get kicked off into the snow. Nowhere near Harlesden. Are you freaking kidding me. There are probably about 50 people standing at the bus stop. I look at my phone which is frantically blinking at me that it is going to die. I pull up my map and hope it has enough energy to let me see where I am. I realize that I am not that far from home.. just alittle south. I look at the bus board (it says time table is no longer available) and I say screw it. Im not standing out in the snow without a hat, in leaky boots, and waiting for a bus that is never going to come. I decide to hike it. I see that I can cut through a park and save be from walking in a huge lop, but then I thought about dying in Central Park at night from creepers (thanks SVU) so I start the trek around. The roads are all main ones and there are tons of people walking trying to get home. (Im so glad I wasn’t one of the many girls I saw wearing heels. I had tights on, but boots!) At this point I REALLY need a potty and I am chewing out the London Transport system in my head. I am trudging through three-four inches of snow and then I spotted a bus stop. Of course! Im on a high road… there will be a bus! So I head over and it’s a 266 bus stop! YES! And to make it better the boards said that the bus was due. I look down the road and saw it coming. I could have hugged the old man who was driving it! I hop on, dripping wet and cold but happy. He actually drove in a normal snow speed and 10 minutes later I was on my road getting off at my bus stop.

I walk in the door and strip my wet clothes off (and I made it to the potty!) and looked at the time. 2:40. I left Isabels at like 11:05. I just plopped on the couch and ate Pringles happy to be home.

If I didn’t have to go potty so badly, and my phone had a lot of battery left I would have been calmer. I was worried about having something go wrong (getting shoved off a bus in a random spot) and not having a map to get me home. Thankfully my phone held in there and my bladder did also! That was my Saturday night.

The picture is of the intersection right before Isabel's Street. It looked even better in real life!