Beast from the East 2019

Another polar vortex is creating atypically cold weather here in the UK.  Of course, it's much colder in the States right now, so I won't complain much. I will share some of my frosty morning pictures though (apologies if you've seen some of these on Instagram already).

Thankfully, we haven't yet had lots of snow like we did last year (knock on wood). I did have one school pick up in snow/freezing rain, but it didn't last very long.

Matt's car broke down, so the kids and I had to walk to school for a couple of days. The temps were slightly higher on those days. I was grateful, because the kids are no longer used to walking every day, so they were already a bit whiney about it.

The forecast calls for more cold weather, so I may have more pictures to share. For now, we will be huddling inside under blankets!

Beast from the East

At the end of February, we were hit with the Beast from the East, a weather system that brought subfreezing temperatures from Siberia. At the weekend, Storm Emma came up from the south, hitting the UK and Ireland. I believe that the worst of both was expected in Scotland and southwestern England and Wales.

Our snow first came overnight on Monday. It wasn't bad though, and the roads were clear. It snowed on and off throughout the day, but really only accumulated on the grass.

Tuesday evening, and throughout the night, snow was falling heavily.

By Wednesday morning, we had maybe six inches, and it was still snowing. Our school wasn't officially closed, but they did send an email that basically said don't feel obligated to bring the kids in. So my kids happily put pajamas back on and we settled in.

By Thursday morning, we had gotten another couple of inches, and school was officially closed. The kids were initially disappointed to miss World Book Day, but that disappointment didn't last long. We did (briefly) play outside on this day.

Thankfully, school was open again on Friday. The main roads were clear, and it had stopped snowing.  The sidewalks were still full of packed snow, though, so we didn't get out much.

There was some snow on and off through Saturday, and then on Sunday we started getting messy half snow/half rain.

It was gloomy all day, but it didn't make the roads slick. Over the next few days, the snow melted, and we hoped that the Beast had passed. There was one last gasp the following Thursday. It snowed heavily and fast in the morning. I did drive the kids to school, but it was slippery, and the drive home took 20 minutes instead of the typical 5. But by the time school was out, everything had melted.

Morning

A few hours later

Overall, being snowed in for a couple of days was inconvenient but not too bad. Some other parts of the UK had it a lot worse- trains and flights were delayed or cancelled, and there were major traffic jams. Parts of continental Europe were also hit harder, even in places where residents are more accustomed to wintery weather. I'm glad that it's over, and I'm hoping that spring conditions are right around the corner.

Thoughts on Snowy Weather

We've had a lot of snow lately. Well, compared to the typical amount of snow this area sees.

Last week we had three straight days of crap weather. On the first two days, Matt had a hard time just getting out of his parking space to drive to work. (He had parked facing uphill, and each time he tried to get into the street, he would start sliding backwards. He ended up just turning around to go downhill, and taking an alternate route to work.) I don't like driving in bad weather anyway, and after adding in my UK driving anxiety, I decided to walk the kids to school.

On Wednesday, the walk was no problem. The kids were excited because of snow, and it wasn't extremely cold. After that, everything went downhill.

Yes, we did move from a state in the US that gets much more snow than our current location. Here are some differences:

• Colorado is prepared for snow. So when bad weather hits, you know that most of the streets (and even bike trails) will be cleared. Here, they'll put down grit, but there aren't plows going around making the streets safe to drive on. 
• Sidewalks are even worse. No one shovels their sidewalks here, so you just have to walk through it until everything melts. On Thursday, there was a decent amount of snow and slush on the ground during our walks, and I got quite a workout pushing the stroller through it. 
• Since neither the streets nor the sidewalks are very safe for travel, and this is unusual weather for the area, you might think that school would be cancelled for safety reasons. Wrong. I'm actually curious to know what it would take to cancel school here (but I don't want to find out).

Here are a few pictures of our walk from that second day.

 The temperature got high enough that day to start melting even what was on the sidewalk, and of course once the sun went down, it all froze. On Friday, the roads had maintained enough heat to be decently clear, but the sidewalks were solid ice. Matt drove the kids to school that morning, and I made the mistake of walking to pick Clara up at midday. We made it safely, but it was cold and took forever. Did I mention that I sold my snow boots before we left the States? I didn't think I'd need them!

I realize that this entire post sounds negative. But I'm keeping it real, and it was a very grumpy three days.

By the end of the weekend, the snow and ice was gone and things were back to normal. Now I'm back to my positive self and crossing my fingers that we can get back to the rain!

Little Things

Wow, I have been very bad at blogging this month. I think it's because we're just living our day to day life, and that seems so boring to share. So here are some of my random thoughts.

One of the things I thought I'd miss terribly about the US was Target. I went often, and it got to the point that if I asked Lily what she wanted to do, she'd say, "Go to Target!" But honestly, I'm not missing it at the moment. I can't think of anything I would need from that particular store. Not to say that my feelings won't change...

Another place I frequented in the US was Starbucks. Of course, there are Starbucks here (although not on every corner like in the Denver area). And I have been to the one in our town... once. I'm just not compelled to keep going. There are other coffee shops that are closer to home and have good lattes, so I just go there.

One thing I am missing at the moment is ice. We don't have an ice tray for the freezer, but I'm thinking I may want to get one. Since the weather has been a bit warmer I've been wanting cold water to drink, and I'll definitely need ice for mixed drinks in the summer. (Side note: I tried Pimm's and lemonade this weekend for the first time. It's a common drink in the UK, and I thought it was refreshing. Definitely something to have on hand in the warm weather.)

Speaking of the weather... We moved from a place that boasted 300+ days of sunshine per year, but the weather here isn't as bad as I'd thought. Sure, we get a lot of great days, and a lot more rain, but it doesn't rain all the time (or even every day).  The weather is very changeable, just like the places I've lived in the States. It just doesn't have extreme hot and cold like I was used to.

Okay, with those thoughts out of the way, it's time for pictures. Here are some recent trips to the park when the weather's been nice.

And of course when the wading pool opened, they had to get in fully clothed.

Lastly, here are a few from US Memorial Day/UK bank holiday. We didn't do much, just a little rainy day thrift store shopping. We did walk through the park on the way home though.

That's about it for now. We haven't done much traveling yet, even around England, but we're trying to make an effort to plan things so we actually go places.  So the are fun things on the horizon. I'd also love to answer any questions anyone has - about the move, living abroad, or whatever.  Cheers!