Made it to the office!

Even made it just about on time! Had to watch a Victoria train go (bravely) and pray that the following Redhill service wouldn't also be cancelled (it wasn't), got on it and it was (as I had hoped) actually the late London Bridge service and was quite empty to boot (as everyone else had piled on the Victoria train)...result...!

You can see East London above, still carpeted in snow, as the train sped through Merstham, Purley, etc. I cursed myself for leaving my proper camera at home, it was an absolute winter wonderland, really beautiful...Canary Wharf obviously have invested in New York style snow clearing machines, as all the concourses were clear apart from enormous piles of snow dotted around the place...so they, at least, seem to have things completely under control (unlike the rest of the country)...why doesn't that surprise me? ;)

Oh and according to the Met Office, this isn't the end, just a short break before "phase 2"...more snow on the way! 

England Blizzard - Failed Commute

Well, we thought we would give it a *try*, despite getting up and seeing that there had been even more snow overnight -

- we swept Poppy the Beetle off with a broom, followed by the scrapers, as much of it had indeed turned to ice -

- and then made our way *extremely* carefully (no gritting *again*) to the main road, where we found evidence of what the kids had been up to yesterday-


- got caught in the enormous traffic jam up the hill, absolutely crept up, almost stationary the whole way -

- finally reaching the sign for the station -

- (it started to snow again on the way, well not so much snow as pelt down with ice pellets), spotting casualties, not sure if they were abandoned or just crashed, but this one was in the middle of what normally qualifies as pavement(and there must have been more ahead, judging by the speed of the traffic) -

- crept along the un-gritted roads and pulled into a parking space at the station (there are normally zero) -


- and slid our way down to the door, which looked like this -

- not a good sign -

- so we snuck in the back way, and the platform looked like it had been abandoned for some time - the sign sort of said it all -

- not a long wait, just nothing...THIS STATION IS CLOSED - the radio had hinted it was the case, and all the websites one normally uses to check these things were down (again), but this just confirmed it...it wasn't going to happen today either...guess we are just too rural to be a priority...

Still, the ice has largely melted in the garden now, so hopefully the railway get it together for tomorrow morning...fingers crossed!