Barbara Murray Art

Funny thing the weather.
In this country we seem to have endless conversations about it – its’ too cold, then it’s too hot or too wet.
You’d think we would all know by now that the seasons are wildly different and the weather is never the same two days running!

On my trip to London this weekend (more about that another time :), I kept getting warnings about the snow that was on its way and I might have travel trouble, etc, etc.

Well I did have travel delays, but nothing to do with the weather. There had been a derailment on Thursday night at Milton Keynes, so all the Friday trains were either cancelled or late on the West Coast line. Instead of taking me the normal 3.5 hours to get to the city, my journey lasted SEVEN hours!
But at least I got there.

While in London I didn’t see a single snow flake, even though the forecasters were getting quite agitated about the impending blizzards. Having said that, it was bitterly cold – I think the first time I have been cold in London and I’ve been in that city hundreds of times in my life. It was a lot colder than home and I’ve never, ever known that before 🙂

So, weekend visit over I went to Euston for the homeward bound train, only to discover that the trains were still delayed. But this time I’d purchased a cheap upgrade to first class, so at least I had a long journey in relative comfort. We passed through some bits of the UK that were slightly white and I was beginning to suspect that the drive home from Penrith station would be a bit hazardous.
Eventually pulling into Penrith (3 hours late) sure enough there was a thin cover of the white stuff and a bit of fog.
The drive home was OK though – the gritters had been out and the road was fine – a nice covering on the hills – it’s quite eerie at night as you can see their huge white bulk against the dark sky.

the Tv news was showing all kinds of dramatic footage of the country that was shortly to grind to a halt, so I retired to bed.
Getting up earlier this morning for work, I expected the worst, so when I opened the door to let Archie out, what a surprise. A warmish, damp morning – not a smidgeon of snow anywhere.
Even better, after driving through a light fog to work, everything cleared beautifully at Cockermouth and the day became sunny, mild and beautiful!
Stayed that was all day too – superb day. The only snow was a very thin layer right at the top of the hills.

Apparently, there’s been quite a heavy snowfall in London….

Oh dear.