A Farewell to London

Last day in London. Sad. Even though I'm not a big-city person, the place has really grown on me. It was a beautiful frozen morning, too - very cold but magical in its frigid stillness. My last memories of the city (for now) will be of wandering Hyde Park watching people walking hand-in-hand as their dogs gamboled on the pale grass, a horse or two passing by, the birds pecking disconsolately on the frozen ponds. And so another season has passed.

Snow!

My wish has come true. This morning I woke up to a beautiful, pristine layer of snow over the ground outside. About time! It's been absolutely freezing in Oxford this past week, and what better way to embrace the arrival of winter than snow? Only a half-inch, granted, but that's more than we often get in New Mexico! (Not to mention California...)

This week being the last week of classes, I've got several final papers hanging over my head, but I couldn't resist: I bundled up and set out for a lively walk around Christ Church meadow, camera in hand. This was my first encounter with snow since I got my cochlear implant this past summer, and the sounds of it were amazing: crisp crunching, squishing where it'd turned slushy on the road, the wind whipping past. Lively, chill, and refreshing. The banks by the river had taken a good dusting, tendrils of ice had begun to form, the snow clung to the trunks and branches of trees, and behind it all the spires of Oxford loomed, keeping watch. I felt inexpressibly happy. Add on the cup of hot chocolate I bought from a chocolate shop on the way back (best I've had in a long time), and it was a magical morning.

Hey There, Winter

Fall is over. The leaves are almost gone from the trees, plastered to the sidewalk in slick black layers. Wearing layers and scarves is a must; I've been going around with leggings on underneath my jeans. A cold fog has descended over Oxford these past two days, and many parts of the Stanford house are absolutely freezing. The sun is infrequent and weak, and since England is so far north it keeps setting earlier and earlier in the day. Afternoon starts to wane at around 2:30pm. More local people here say this isn't bona fide winter yet, that it'll get even colder and drearier, but I can see the change of season starting to show its face. And I know this much: I will never, never complain about California weather again! (Well, maybe when the February rain makes me feel like a drowned rat. I reserve that right.) Brrrrr. I miss that spectacular, blue and clear and seemingly infinite New Mexico sky, too. At least this is good sit-inside-and-read-a-book weather. When I'm not piling on the layers, that is.

Random photo of the day: fun lights at a frozen yogurt place in London this weekend, just to break up the gray clouds with a bit of color. Yay froyo exists in England! (Maybe not as good as in Cali, but still not bad.) And yes, I see the irony in writing about froyo right after complaining about the cold.