I awoke to the above scene outside our window. Two thoughts came to mind simultaneously: 1) ahh so pretty!, 2) this is going to be disastrous. I was right on both accounts. Walking to work down Bow Lane (one of the quintessential narrow streets in the City) with the Christmas lights twinkling above, perfect snowflakes flurrying about, and listening to Taylor Swift sing White Christmas on my iPod was pretty much a completely magical experience. The slippery mess of wet snow and slush under my feet… not so much. London has no idea how to handle snow, about 100x worse than the Southern states. We probably only got an inch (if that) and the sidewalks were horrendous, which is a big problem for a city that relies on people walking to and from work! One thing I did find quite amusing was a headline in the evening newspaper which read, “We Have Oodles of Grit.” Apparently, grit equals our version of salt or sand; but in fact, from what I saw of it, just looks like tiny pebbles thrown sporadically on the side walk. Doesn’t seem too effective though! Oh, and Gatwick was closed for the second day, with hundreds of delays and cancellations at Heathrow, not to mention trains shutting down. They desperately need some advice from New England!In more exciting news, today was my official last day at JPMorgan! Both my boss and colleague left early for their respective weekend holidays, but I stayed around until about five before heading out for the last time. I have to admit, it was kind of sad leaving my desk behind; I’m not going to miss the work, but I will miss the people I got to know there. Luckily, I didn’t have to say goodbye to anyone just yet because my team is taking me out for drinks next Tuesday night, and then Wednesday night is our Christmas Party! They can’t get rid of me just yet.
After work, I hopped on the tube to Waterloo where I walked along the Southbank through the German "Cologne" Christmas Market (it has nothing on Winter Wonderland) and over Westminster Bridge, which gave a perfect night-time view of the Eye, Big Ben (of course), and Westminster Palace. Once again the movie-like snow floated around me like a snow globe while I took in London’s sites; it’s something I definitely will never forget.
By the time I made it to the tube stop, my moccasins were completed soaked through (poor choice on my part), and I couldn’t feel my face. The wind makes the 30 degree weather feel so much worse, especially crossing the Thames. After I thawed on the tube and arrived back in South Ken, I made a quick stop at Waitrose before having dinner back at the flat. Carolyn had her Crabtree Christmas party dinner tonight, so it was just Ashley, Maggie, and myself around the kitchen table talking about our final internship days. Although each day on its own seemed long, overall the eight weeks FLEW by. I can’t believe our days numbered here are in single digits; we’re absolutely going to make the most of them!
Cheers,
LC
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