Monday, February 2, 2009
London

When I fell asleep last night, snowflakes were falling steadily down on High Holborn. It probably continued all night long because when I awoke this morning there was about a six inch accumulation and the landscape outside my window was transformed. I was enchanted and, sticking my camera out of the window, took a few pictures of the beautiful medieval Staple Inn building covered with a frosting of snow and of the tree outside my neighbor Barbara’s flat.

And then, of course, because we are New Englanders, I did not think anything of it as I showered and got dressed for my day in class. While eating breakfast, I watched BBC’s Breakfast Show and discovered, to my huge astonishment, that the city had been brought to its knees. All buses were off the roads, only one Tube Line (the Victoria) was working, all commuter trains had come to a grinding halt. With six inches of snow??? How was that possible? The weather forecaster talked about the snowfall being the worst London has seen in 18 years. All schools were closed and, I guess, I should have taken my cue from that. But we aren’t a school. We are an international university and we just pull up our (snow) boots and get off to work, don’t we?

So off I went. I knew I had to walk, so I gave myself a half hour to reach campus (I usually take 15 minutes). At the door to my building, my concierge Arben asked if I really had to get to work. Can’t you just stay at home? he asked. I still couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about!

On the streets, Londoners walked as if shell shocked. It was clear they have never seen anything like this. They stepped gingerly over the sidewalks that were an icy mess–these folks do not even own shovels and not a single person had shoveled the sidewalk outside their stores! Kids were delighted and were throwing snowballs at the adult accompanying them. So many folks had cameras in their hands and were taking pictures of the buildings–and these were not tourists! It was all very amusing to me.

When I did arrive at Bedford Square, a small group of students were standing outside, as surprised as I was, to find that the main doors were firmly shut. It seems that the security staff who come in early to unlock the doors were unable to get to work. Within a few minutes, Ruth Smith, an administrative aide, arrived and she called a few people on her cell phone and announced to us that the campus would be closed for the day and all classes cancelled. Oh darn! It would probably mean that we will have to make up these classes on a Friday–an idea I am not too crazy about! Some of my students got into a snowfall fight, forming two teams, each of which stood on opposite sides of the main road (Bloomsbury Street). The snowball fight was picking up steam when a cop car arrived and they were told off as they were endangering traffic. The Bedford Square Gardens that had made a backdrop to the snowball fight were such a pretty sight and I did wish I had my camera with me.

Well, there was nothing else I could do–I couldn’t even get to the National Gallery as there was no transport available–so I just turned around and walked back home, stopping off briefly at Sainsburys to buy some groceries. I figured I would go home and make myself two steaming cauldrons of soup as I suddenly felt a great desire for a hearty bowl of soup!

At home, I got to work in the kitchen and before long, I had conjured up Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Carrot Ginger Soup. I spent the rest of the day catching up with pending chores including captioning my Scotland photograph album and sorting through the memorabilia I brought home from Berlin.

My cold is still bothering me and my legs are no better–though I have to say that I abuse them no end with all the walking I do even when I am not supposed to. My exploration of Berlin is a case in point. In fact, before I left the house this morning, the University of London Hospital had already called me to cancel my physiotherapy appointment for tomorrow! It seems that more snow is expected through the night and the situation does not look as if it will be any better tomorrow. I now need to call to reschedule this appointment and God knows when I shall be able to see someone again considering the manner in which the NHS functions.

Just before 8 pm, whilst I was in the midst of a long and lovely chinwag with Chriselle on the phone, my doorbell rang. I half expected it to be my next-door neighbor Tim, and how delighted I was when he offered an invitation to their place for supper. Tim had cooked kedgeree, a dish he had promised to serve me on two occasions earlier, but for some reason, I hadn’t been able to take him up on his offers then.

I was out of my flat like a shot taking with me a starter of Carrot Ginger Soup. Unfortunately, Tim had his dinner planned to the second as kedgeree must be served straight off the pan! He is off to Leiden in Holland tomorrow, so hopefully, Barbara will enjoy the soup on what promises to be another frigid day. When I walked into their living room, I discovered that Barbara’s niece Hannah was present (I have met her before). She was spending the night with Aunt Barbara as she was unable to find transport home. We settled down with drinks while Tim organized our dinner and before long I was tucking into his wonderfully warming kedgeree.

This Anglo-Indian dish that evolved during the British Raj had the humblest of beginnings as a melange of boiled rice and lentils. The British jazzed it up, adding fish (traditionally smoked haddock) to it and serving it Italian risotto style with the ‘sauce’ all around it, usually for breakfast. Tim’s version was studded with peas and it was simply British Comfort Food at its best. For dessert (or ‘pudding’ as they say here), there was a store-bought Strawberry Cheesecake (from Marks and Spencer–I preferred the Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake) and the mintiest after dinner mints I have ever tasted–Bendick’s Bittermints. Barbara and Tim are true gourmets and they offer their guests nothing but the finest goodies. So, it is always a pleasure to be invited to their home for a meal.

Delighted to find that a cold and snowy day had turned into such a treat for me, I went to bed, pleased to be a part of another unique London experience!