Everybody's Doing It

I don't know if it's the time of year (the whole New Year, New Beginnings lark) or the credit crunch, but there is definitely something in the air, and that something is making everybody start blogging! In the last couple of months, two of my very good friends have started their own blogs. I've also stumbled across some new links on blogs that I usually read, and there's even a couple of Big Link blogs, you know, the kind that are devoted to publicising other blogs.

So why the sudden need to put yourselves out there peeps? My guess is that in these uncertain times, the one thing that helps you to sort through the complexities in life is keeping a diary. Some of us have done that all our lives in one form or another (cringing now as I think of the embarrasssing diaries I kept all the way through high school: "Dear Diary, today John looked at me. OMG, he actually LOOKED at me! I thought I would die."), others are new to it and just discovering how fulfilling the pen can be (ok keyboard). All I have to say is, good on you guys! Way to keep me distracted from my work for even longer. ;-)

Actually, speaking of work, I am up to my eyeballs and then some. I haven't been this busy or worked this hard - or been this happy doing it - since I arrived in London. I won't bore you with the details; suffice it to say that my job is perfect, and I'm doing the things I've always dreamed of doing. The next step is negotiating more money for doing them, but for now, everything is awesome.

The last two days have been, as I'm sure you all know, rather frosty. London has just experienced the biggest snowfall in 20 years, and for the first time ever I have witnessed blizzards, knee-deep drifts and, most incredibly, complete silence in the city that never sleeps. Standing outside Tottenham Court Road station on Monday morning and not seeing or hearing a single car or bus was one of the most disconcerting things ever. You get used to the noise and bustle of London, so it doesn't seem intrusive in a routine day, but boy do you notice the silence! Those few die-hards who made it in on Monday left at lunch time to avoid getting stuck at work, as more heavy snow was predicted to fall. I took a detour past Embankment Park on my way home and took photos of the white-out.

The best part of this freak weather is how happy everyone is. At the tube on Monday morning, everyone was standing around with huge grins on their faces, cameras flashing and sporting expressions of wonder. No-one was in a rush to get to work, and once in town, people were having snowball fights on the side of the roads rather than making their way into the office. It's Wednesday now and back to normal, even though the now icy snow is still covering much of the city. But for the two days when it was at its heaviest, it felt like living in another world. I could get used to that world, definitely.

I have some great pics, but blogger on my work pc is very hit and miss, much like Zapiro. I'll try to post some later from home.