...you always take the weather with you" - so did Crowded House sing back in the early 1990s. Apparently, this does not work with me! I pointed out in a previous post that in the last days of 2009 and first couple of weeks of 2010, it was quite cold here in the UK but not in Malta; while freezing temperatures and several centimetres of snow were covering most parts of the UK (and indeed the whole of Europe), I was enjoying 24 degrees on Christmas Day back home! A 'white Christmas' is definitely something which the Maltese will never enjoy in their homeland, unless the Earth is struck by some giant meteorite which will push the planet a few thousand kilometres further away from the sun! Alas, when I came back, I found London to be slightly colder than how I left it - I failed to bring the weather with me. You got it: this is all about the current weather situation here...
My first few days at Imperial involved a lot of catching up: notably, resuming my work on my Ph.D. (which is now in its fourth month) but also recapitulating with my colleagues after the Christmas break. I have been the envy of virtually all of my friends at Imperial whenever I mentioned that Malta was quite warm with the lowest temperature was about 15 degrees at night: everyone else was struggling with the cold in the UK, Italy, France or whatever other country...all except one, who was in India over Christmas and spent the first days of "winter" in 34 degrees or more. I have rarely complained of being cold since I have been in London, but this winter was very much an exceptionally cold one. Almost all parts of Europe were battered by icy winds and snowstorms from the Arctic and Siberia and these brought transportation to a standstill: rail, air and road traffic was (literally) frozen for a few days and London was not spared from all this.
While I was at home, I received an email from my hall's warden asking me the date of my return so that my room's heating can be switched on in advance in order for me to find it nice and warm upon my return. My reply: please do not turn it on! I have never switched on my bedroom's heater (honestly!) but I must say that when I returned to London, it was quite cold, even for my taste. For a few days, the maximum temperature was 1 or 2 degrees and went sub-zero at night, the former forcing me to wear 1 extra layer of clothing and the latter implied that I had to keep my bedroom's window closed at night. Buildings here are designed to keep the cold outside and thus are usually warm enough. But in my daily walks to and from Imperial and other places, I had to resort to my thicker jacket, scarf and, most importantly, gloves. I simply could not afford to take my gloves off to handle my iPod or mobile: my fingers would otherwise simply fall off! Luckily, I still have all 10 to date...
For a Maltese citizen like me, the sight of snow is always thrilling, worthy of photographs and SMSes/emails/Facebook status updates to notify the rest of the Maltese population of the event. One particular day this week, I woke up and found that all the snow was gone, which I thought occurred surprisingly fast. None fell during that day but, upon waking up the next day, everywhere was one big patch of white. I was amazed at how much snow could fall overnight - I headed to Hyde Park without any trace of guilt of leaving my Ph.D. work awaiting me (it could wait till snowless days!) and let myself enjoy the unusual sights of greenery replaced by a uniform shade of white. Including the Serpentine, which was all frozen and turned to ice; unbelievable.
The big chill did last till midweek or so and I thought that snow was now becoming more of a nuisance rather than a source of excitement. Once it gets walked upon, it consolidates and becomes ice: terribly dangerous sources of slips (from which I was luckily spared, although forced me to walk at 5cm/s). Not to mention the effect of car traffic, turning to wonderful white snow into dirty, grey mushy stuff. Eugh. The 1 or 2 degree temperatures were becoming too persistent that I thought Sainsbury's might consider changing their food labels from "Keep refrigerated" to "Keep refrigerated or place on window sill" but I was wrong. Temperatures are now up to 7 or 8 degrees and I am back to normal: no excessive clothing, normal thin jacket and window open 24/7. Which brings me to the last unfortunate incident for the week...
Friday night and all its glory arrived: pub, movie, late night. Plan: do not wake up the next day unless motivated by biological needs (feeding and/or excretion). Picture this: 8.30am, keen workmen operate a jackhammer on some concrete roof a few metres from my (open) bedroom window. Result: I inevitably have to get up to close my window and try to get back to sleep. The double glazing helped cut off the sound but only for a few minutes. The wonderful London weather decides to start off the day with a shower, forcing the workmen to call it a day. The jackhammer noise stops but I am already up...so I have to say, "Screw it, I might as well get up!" and that was the ruin of my planned Saturday morning lie in. Thank you, weather.
So back to where I started: when I returned from Malta, I terribly failed in brining the weather back with me. But there is some hope: this week promises will be "warmer" than the last couple of days and, as I expect a spontaneous visit from Malta in a few days' time by my other half followed by another visit by a friend of mine, I pray that, this time round, the message from the Crowded House song does materialise and they bring along some good dose of Mediterranean sun!
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