Having spent many years in my lovely warm and windy Cape Town, my memories of snow were a little hazy but we have had some great snow over the past couple of days.
Looking outside, it appears that we are now on day 3 of snow. It’s lost it’s charm now and is looking slushy and brown on the ground, while being white and icy in the trees. Oh but when it started it was such great fun…Waking up to ‘the heaviest snow in eighteen years’ is very exciting. Jimmy and I peered out of the window with big grins on our faces watching the snow fall at 5am in the morning. Gorgeous! No people, no footprints and no traffic. At that stage I didn’t really take note that there were also no buses running, which should have given me a clue as to the impending chaos about to hit jolly ol’ London.
After watching the news, chatting to my mum and getting phone calls from half my team at work, it was clear that the day wasn’t going to run smoothly. I gave the school a call and wouldn’t you know it… SNOW DAY! So no school, no buses, no tubes. We were officially stuck in Wimbledon. Once the whirlwind that is my son slowed and calmed down, he was dressed faster than you can say ‘snowball’ and out the door. Needless to say a snow man suspiciously the same size as my son came back in my house a bit later. A very pleasant day followed with snowball fights in the park followed by hot chocolate and movies in the afternoon. A perfect snow day. We did some filming for Patrick so he could share it when he comes back, and Jimmy couldn’t bear the thought of his dad missing the snow so he has now stuffed 2 snowballs in the freezer for when he gets home.
The novelty had worn off a bit come yesterday morning, as I was starting to feel all the backlog I would have to deal with from the day before. I probably should explain that my job involves the B2B marketing of 15 job sites so a lot can happen in day.
I got into work mode with a vengeance and logged into the work email and online systems from home trying desperately to keep everything under control. It’s a bit more difficult when you have your little boy coming in literally every 5 minutes to tell you what he is doing, but what can you do? I had to keep reminding myself that this was my work in front of me and this was my son next to me and to focus on what was really more important. I realize that many will read that thinking that I should instinctively put my child first, and I agree with you, but such is my habit of being fully committed to my job (and I don’t mean just this job – each job I’ve ever had always has my full attention, sometimes out of office hours which is a bit sick) that I confess I am in the process of reconditioning my mind. Although I must admit, that it becomes easier when you are choosing between a spreadsheet and one of the best hugs in the world.
“oh the weather outside is frightful… and the fire is so delightful… and since we’ve no place to go… Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!”