…that is snow.
It started sometime Sunday night, and we woke up to a whitened world. It continued all day on Monday. Yes. Snow in “temperate” it-only-rains-here Glasgow.
T. amused herself with watching people hustle to work in the light drifts… and then the heavier drifts… and then the gusts of wind… and the occasional pelting with hail. Fortunately, Skypark’s driveway is heated, so it was only wet, not icy. The sky, always dramatic, cycled through whiteouts, fog, startling clearness, and a beautiful pewter. D., at work, looked out of the windows at Skypark all day, amused at his coworkers muttering about going home early because of the “blizzard.” (Blizzard?! Maybe in Aberdeen. Glasgow got maybe three inches.)
The snowflakes were huge, and it was odd to see the odd seagull glide through the blobs of white. Really odd. The birds seemed unconcerned, however, and seemed to enjoy the spirals of wind whipping between the tall buildings. The snow was heavy and light by turns throughout the day, and the people of Glasgow got on with their work.
Why, yes: work. Those are men, trussed up to a glass building washing windows in the snow. Could this wee job not have waited!? Maybe it’s easier washing windows in the snow than in the rain??? (It was snowing lightly at the moment, but snow is STILL snow.) Their hands are bare, and probably frozen. Their faces are bare, but at least their ears are covered. They crept, crabwise, across the cold, glass and steel surface of the building in below-freezing temperatures… all day.
Glasgow: kind of hardcore about that ‘business as usual,’ thing, no?
One last weather-story: D. and Van were in town on Friday, when the weather was foulest and everyone was hunching into their hoods and staying as close to the sides of buildings as they could before stepping out to be assaulted by the wind. The gale was whipping at fifty miles per hour with gusts up to fifty-five or sixty, and people were battling demon-possessed umbrellas, which were turning inside out and trying to stab them, being splashed by taxis and buses, and valiantly trying, like everyone else, to make it some kind of shelter, and then home.
As they passed a building, a girl stepped out, rummaged in her bag for her umbrella, and popped it open. Yes, popped, it was one of those kind which open automatically. Unfortunately, some clunky, industrial looking, cylindrical, paper-wrapped article of feminine necessity from her purse had gotten stuck in the folds, and it launched into the sky, arced through the air, nearly smacked Van in the face, and landed at his feet.
Did our gallant heroes hand the distressed maiden her item? Why, no. They stepped over it and walked on, pretending blindness. And, scarlet-faced, she did a quick curtsy and scooped it up, and walked on, also pretending nothing had happened. Studied non-observance for all.
– D & T
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Aww, I feel for the girl. I always seem to find myself in those scarlet faced situations.
Love the snow pics!
LMAO – and good to see gallantry is alive and kicking;0)
We’ve had snow here, too, funnily enough.
India
Shriek!! I could so see that happening to me!
A small taste of my white world!
Poor girl! Glad nobody was hurt by the, um, object of feminine need!
Ah yes, the old feminine- hygiene- product-in-the-pop-open umbrella routine; I’ve performed this myself about half a dozen times, always with a good audience. And once, in Tokyo, I sent a pacifier flying all the way across the street.
The wind here was so rough I thought we were going to lose roof tiles. At least the laundry dried!
Oh Lord I’ve had that happen in the grocery store! Except it was stuck somehow to my wallet and it rolled out right there on the counter with half the paper wrapper disintegrated! Very embarrassing, even though we all know what they are, it was still embarrassing!
What was I to do? Pick it up, hand it to her with a coy smile and say, “Hey, baby – lose this?” I thought walking quickly on was the kinder thing to do…