Dom's journey: Snow and sun

Who knows what’s happening to the world climate at the moment. I’m not sure I subscribe to the Al Gore / Day After Tomorrow vision of us all spiralling into a climactic holocaust, but the weather is definitely odd. And being British it very much dominates daily life and conversation at the moment.

Here in the UK we’ve had a week of incredible amounts of snow. When I woke up on Monday morning and saw the 25cm of snow lying outside my house I had a real conflict of emotions – snowmen, snowball fights and fun / how the hell am I going to get to work. I knew that Meg was going to have a really fun day and I was kind of gutted that it was Monday and I wouldn’t be able to build my first snowman with my daughter. But I felt morally bound to have a go at getting to work, despite it going against a part of my better judgement. I think it was the wannabe adventurer in me that saw it as an interesting test of man versus snow. Riding my scooter was never going to be an option and public transport was suspended in the whole South East for a time. So like a scene out of aforementioned Day After Tomorrow film I tucked my trousers into my socks, put on my walking boots and joined the file of walkers heading for town. Three hours later and still in unexpectedly good shape I rocked up at the office to discover we were closing because hardly anyone else had managed to get in. So I went home at lunchtime feeling very much that I had the moral high ground over most of my colleagues, but also slightly irked that they were probably still tucked up in bed or out making the most of the conditions. We did all get out in the garden in the afternoon and had HUGE amounts of fun in the snow.

From that lofty start to the week the conditions have stayed icy, wet and cold and the novelty has most definitely worn off. A highlight for me has been going to Luton Airport yesterday for a meeting to discover that there were no shuttle busses or taxis from the station due to the road conditions. The only option was for everyone to walk the 2km uphill to the airport. My second Day After Tomorrow day of the week. I was sort of OK, but I did have some sympathy for the people going on holiday because they didn’t look like they were having fun dragging suitcases up the icy hill. And then to cap it the airport had to be closed due to the runways being unusable, so I guess they all had to slide back down the hill at some point later in the day.

And then today I received an e-mail from a friend in Sydney, Australia where they are having the hottest conditions for years. I guess to every equal there is an opposite and this is it. The forecast for Sydney this week-end is 47 Celsius, and it will be about the hottest populated area on Earth. She sent me a map that was posted on their news channel which makes quite stark viewing. And to make matters worse for poor Amy she is heavily pregnant. Below is the link about this story: