Snow keeps falling on my head….YAY!

The first snowfall of the season in London! Oh joy! Nazir has been eagerly anticipating the occasion – almost since winter started; bugging me with the weather reports, updates and chit chat. He is more English than the English…hee hee. Yesterday, on the bus together, me on the way to the National Gallery and Nazir to school, we saw the first snowfall of our lives. I thought, at first, Nazir was just being hopeful but it was the real deal. Yawnsville….some bits of white stuff, big deal.
I began to appreciate the whole snow deal while crossing Tralfagar Square when the snow began to fall in earnest. The air smelled crisp – the first for the congested area. It was really pretty! Later, emerging from Euston station to meet Nazir, the snow fell some more. And at night, even more, blanketing the pavements, roofs and our car. Of course, some idiot had to mar the perfection by swiping his (I firmly believe it’s a male – no woman would wreck destruction on such beauty! Grrrr…) hand across the cars. Unfortunately, our neighbours seem blase about the whole thing - we were the only dodos sticking their heads out of the window, taking pictures and playing with the snow.
Woke up this morning with the snow melting. Since then, it has been snowing intermittently. Curled up, reading Forrester, watching the snow fall is quite a pleasant way to spend time indoors.

The book I am currently reading is “The African Queen” – jolly good stuff! Apparently, it was made into a classic Bogart/Hepburn film; I wonder what that is like. I can’t imagine Hepburn being “the ugly sister of a hated missionary”. Or Bogart being the “rat-faced engineer”. Hollywood!

On other news, I was on a guided tour when I discovered Canaletto while at the National Gallery yesterday. While we were ushered to see selected paintings, my eye caught sight of one of Canaletto’s paintings. Fell in love with him so much so that after the tour I rushed to the room to see it. Oh dear, Turner (my first love) has serious competition. The painting we were led to, Gainsborough’s “Mr. and Mrs Andrew” did not do much for me. <>Well, if you are bored by all this talk of art, at least see this painting: The Virgin in Prayer by Sassoferrato. Am impressed by this painting – am not a Christian but I can appreciate the beauty of this painting. The gorgeous ultramarine of her cloak is even better in real life (or real paint, rather).