Snow!

This past weekend England got snow! It was probably the best kind of snow - it was beautiful and covered everything but by Monday morning it was fairly well melted. However over the weekend it did of course cause chaos in this country with cancelled flights, closed shops, delays, and lots of traffic problems. We did not venture out anywhere too far but we did take Crosby outside to see what she thought of her first proper snow fall.

Scott tried to put her feet down on the ground so she could (attempt to) walk on the snow (note the Tesco bags covering her Ugg boots!) but as soon as her feet touched the ground, cries began.The view was much better from up on Daddy's shoulders!Scott tried to rekindle his midwestern winter roots by building a full snowman. Crosby & her baby doll were much happier watching this activity from the comfort of our living room on the inside!Our first English snowman - the perfect place to play peek-a-boo!

Grocery Store Insanity

Sarah & I decided to brave the grocery store today to go shopping for our Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day food needs. Saying that our local Sainsbury's store was a ZOO is an understatement!

I am sure part of the madness was due to people not having shopped due to the snowstorm, and then there was probably a large part of the craziness due to the Christmas holiday. However, in preparation for the Christmas rush, I would have thought the grocery might have been more prepared. Instead here was the scene in one of the many aisles - the milk aisle.

Luckily the one kind of milk left was the one we tend to drink, however, many of the other items on my list were just completely out of stock and there was no information on when they might be back in stock! It was a rather frustrating day at the grocery but after three other visits to three other local stores, we were able to finish off the items on the list. Glad we didn't wait until Christmas Eve to do all the shopping...

Snowed In!

Over the weekend we awoke to snow in England....it was a bit messy but manageable. We opted to travel around via (very delayed) trains instead of driving but we were lucky in that we didn't have too far to go. Traffic in our little town was a disaster over the weekend, so we were thankful we didn't have to go far to get to the train station. And although our train on either side of our destination was delayed by 2 plus hours, we managed to enjoy a day out in the snow. The town looks very pretty covered in all of the white stuff.

And then we woke up to more snow as the week began! My dear friend Sarah has been in town visiting and she was due to fly out of London back home to the US on Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately the snow and ice have caused complete chaos for this country and her flight (along with 98% of all others going out of London early this week) was cancelled! Thankfully we found out in advance of her going down to the airport but the bad news was she is literally snowed in with us and cannot leave England until after Christmas! While we are more than happy to have her stay extended, we know we are on borrowed time with her husband and family since they will not get to be with her for Christmas this year.

More snow out the morning window!

More snow as of Tuesday - compare with the photo above from the weekend....quite a bit more! It almost feels like we are back home in Chicago (minus the part where the city actually knows how to cope with removing the snow, and people know how to manage in it!)

So, Sarah & I have been taking advantage of being snowed inside. It has really been great fun! We have baked, cooked, and baked some more.....we have stayed in our pj's until well after noon and watched nonsense on TV.....have been enjoying hot cups of afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream and jam.....and have been organizing my closets and extra guest room in preparation for the baby's soon-to-be nursery.....and have even done a bit of sewing and monogramming too.

Sarah turning the made peanut butter chocolate chip biscotti that we baked one afternoon.

We baked even MORE cinnamon rolls today....this time we also made the orange marmalade version instead of just the traditional cinnamon version.

Two more pans of cinnamon rolls ready and waiting for our consumption on Christmas morning!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

This past week we had some cold weather...freezing fog and ice. While there wasn't any snow on the ground, every tree, lawn and fence was white from the ice. It looked like a winter wonderland and was really quite beautiful! I wish I had taken my camera out into the countryside but I did not, so these photos from around our town will have to suffice....

Frozen hedges, trees and yards along a street.

A view of the (somewhat warmer) day when the trees were not as frozen as the next but still white and dense with fog.

And of course my favorite part of the great freeze (haha!) the frozen cobwebs all over our garbage cans!!! The frozen webs were also all along our fences and outside all of our windows. Gross!

Chock-a-block

I had never heard this phrase, "chock-a-block" until we moved over to the UK and every once in a while it creeps up on me.....as it did today.

The first time I heard it, I received an email from a Brit with whom Scott & I were trying to schedule a couple's dinner. The email read:

Hi guys,
OK we are back in one piece and Chocka Block we are at Ascot this weekend so cant make it Friday. Can we set a date for when you return from France?

I remember reading the email and I thought there were words missing or words mis-spelled in here.....I showed it to Scott and he thought it looked like foreign writing as well. So, we googled "Chocka Block" and found the meaning:  (according to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Chockablock)

chock-a-block or chock·a·block  (chk-blk)

adj.

1. Squeezed together; jammed: The cheering fans were chock-a-block in the stands.

2. Completely filled; stuffed: "I recommend the north shore chowder, chockablock with pieces of seasonal fish" (Charles Monaghan).

3. Nautical Drawn so close as to have the blocks touching. Used of a ship's hoisting tackle.

adv.

Chock: a hall that was chock-a-block full.

Chock-A-Block is a phrase used in English language to emphasise an excessive amount of something in one place.

Through more online reading (wikipedia this time), I also discovered this past bit about the phrase in the UK life:

Chock-A-Block was a BBC children's television programme, first shown in 1981 and repeated through to 1989 and shown as part of the children's programme cycle See-Saw (the "new" name for the cycle originally known as Watch with Mother). "Chock-A-Block" was an extremely large yellow computer, modelled to resemble a mainframe of the time; it filled the entire studio and provided the entire backdrop for the show. The presenter of the show supposedly played the part of a technician maintaining the computer; there were two presenters, Fred Harris ("Chock-A-Bloke") and Carol Leader ("Chock-A-Girl"), but only one appeared in each episode. At the start of the show, they would drive around the studio towards the machine in a small yellow electric car(with the catchphrase "Chock-A-Bloke (or Girl), checking in!").

Today the phrase crept up on me again during multiple traffic reports. After hearing the word mentioned during the 20 traffic updates during my TWO AND A HALF HOUR drive to work this morning, in the blizzard conditions, I can attest that the reports were correct. My traffic was too, chockablock the entire route to work! Or, as it is said in the US, it was gridlock the entire way....

Just another word for you to add to your vocabulary if it's not there already....

Winter Wonderland

We are living in a snowy winter wonderland in our part of the UK right now....a few scenes from this morning: 

It is very picturesque here right with the snow so new and white but BRRR....it's COLD outside! The news reports say this cold bout has been the worst the country has seen in decades.....so glad to be a participant in such history (not quite!). And this country does not handle their snow very well. Our rubbish bins (aka trash cans) are still on our street waiting to be removed. Many other services, schools, trains/planes, businesses and more were just cancelled today. If such behavior would occur in Chicago, we would never have to work or be able to get anything done in the winter months! 

Snow Envy

While many of our friends up and down the east coast in the US are being blanketed with snow, we experienced a VERY small snowfall yesterday. The past few days have seen a few minutes here and there of snow in our part of the UK. The area south of London got 5 inches of snow on Friday and caused chaos in their area. The snow, coupled with the Eurostar's shut down over the weekend with 5 trains and hundreds of passengers getting stuck in the chunnel for over 12 hours, has caused complete mayhem for many holiday travelers in the UK.

In comparison, we feel fortunate to only have seen a dusting of snow in our area....

While I do NOT miss any part of the traffic or travel mayhem that comes with a big snow storm (especially about this time of the year), I do have to say I have had a bit of snow envy as I have watched photos pop up of friends and their children frolicking in the snow back in the US. Sometimes there is nothing better than being forced to spend a day at home, with a cup of hot chocolate in hand, and watch the snow pile up around you....

Now, ask me about this feeling once we are back in Chicago and are knee-deep again in snow, trying to dig our cars out from underneath the white stuff ---- and I will probably retract any sentiment about wishing I were in a more snowy place right now....

Snow!

The view out of our glass front door....snow on the street and on our car!

We woke up this morning to see snow outside. After turning on the news, we have found out that we are lucky to be in the West Midlands versus in London right now. We have maybe an inch of snow on the ground right now but this London already had between 6 inches to a foot of snow. It has caused a big mess in the south part of England today....airports are closed, all bus service in London has been suspended and 10 out of the 11 tube lines are experiencing severe delays or issues! The Times is reporting that this snowfall is the heaviest snowfall England has experienced in nearly 20 years and it appears the snow will continue to fall as the week goes on. Further north, by us, we are expected to get more snow this evening with it turning heavy into the morning hours. For a country that does not get much snow, and really does not know how to handle it, it is causing a big mess all around!  

Our back courtyard this morning with the snow dusting. 

We did have to spend a mere five minutes to clean off our car this morning but hopefully that was the worst part of our first major snow experience here in England. 

Scott dutifully dusting off our car with a broom. 

Our street covered in snow....

Cold Weather Woes already?

We had hoped for a mild winter when we agreed to move to England. We knew we would live in a perpetual state of fall (with a fair bit of constant spring rain) but coming from the Windy City, we were just thrilled at the idea of escaping the winter we experienced last year with the dumping of snow on the city for months on end. 

So, imagine the surprise yesterday when I looked out the window to see HUGE flakes of snow falling outside! 

Here is what I saw outside of our kitchen:

As the afternoon went on, the snow actually got heavier....the view out of our front window: 

About an hour later, the view out of our kitchen in the back "yard" was a bit whiter.... 

The snow caused some chaos on the roads here since the English are not used to ice and snow. In fact it was the first time it has snowed in this area since the 1930's so it is not a regular occurrence. The weather was also cold yesterday. Temperatures were below 0 degrees (Celsius) and with our luck, our heat and hot water went out in our house last night! 

We bundled up with socks, sweatshirts and extra blankets to go to bed last night and hoped that we would wake up this morning to find hot water working again. Scott & I laughed about it because just about a year ago we faced the same situation in Chicago. We had just returned from our honeymoon and that very night, we lost all heat in our house.....after an expensive visit from the local heating & cooling company the next day, our situation was fixed. Luckily, this time around, we do not own the house so it is not our cost incurred. :)