Hey-oh!

I saw SNOW! Well, it's not like I haven't seen it before, but usually whenever I got there, it was already lying about on the ground, like when I visited the French alps when I was 13. Much fun was had with snow angels, sledding, falling through snow into hidden streams et al, but I never actually saw it fall out of the sky, which is what I experienced a couple of days ago.

It was utterly random...I had been expecting snowfall in Dec-Jan, for Christmas perhaps...not on Diwali! Oddly enough, my classmates and I were sitting around discussing snow, and suddenly one of them mentioned that it had been forecasted for the next day, making me jump out of my skin...and then we peeped out of the window and saw sleet, which became proper snowfall on the way home. By the time we got out of the bus, the tops of the trees, hedges and walls, not to mention the roofs of the houses, all looked like they'd been coated with sugar icing, and big flakes of snow were drifting prettily through the air like salt from the world's biggest shaker. Ooooh. I have to confess, I went totally nuts, and skipped down the middle of the street in my very inappropriate high heeled shoes and 'this-girl-was-totally-not-expecting-snow-today' outfit. I was a little busy jumping up and down trying to catch snow on my tongue, and so ignored my friend's stern injunctions to put up my hood. This, I found, was unwise. (Though fun.) I spent half the night with a fever of about 102, shivering and shaking no matter how warm it got, and effectively cancelling out our Diwali plans, which I still feel guilty about.

Before I was put out of action, though, we dressed up nice and warm, took a bus to the city centre, and wandered around aimlessly, all nice and full of post-snow excitement. I think we were hoping it would snow again, and enough to make snowballs this time, but no such luck...and we had to take refuge in the mall before we froze to death. This resulted in some very vague window shopping and a couple of pranks that really annoyed me (spoilsport that I am) and getting sicker with each passing second really did not help. By the time we finally left, my skin was still nice and warm but my bones felt like ice, and I have to confess I was really, really glad to get back home and hide under a duvet shivering...but seeing snowfall for the first time was totally worth it all. (Though I still wish I hadn't spoilt Diwali for anyone else. Have I mentioned what awesome friends I have here?)

I have no idea what sort of stupid fever that was, because it tortured me for 24 hours with dizziness and body ache and then abruptly disappeared into the dim and distant past. Let me illustrate how abruptly...in the morning, I was falling over when I tried to get out of bed, and in the evening I was trotting off to see Quantum of Solace with my friends like nothing ever happened. Yay. The cold is really killing, though...the weather was absolutely fine before it suddenly plunged to a couple of degrees below zero and stuck there. Memo: Must buy a cap before my ears fall off. Not to mention gloves. I DID get the coat I mentioned I was going a-hunting for, AND I got it for half price :) I love it...it's light grey with big black buttons. Even better, it reaches just to the top of my thighs, therefore my daddy declares it cannot be warm enough and has instructed me to buy another one. I have been TOLD to buy a second coat, even though I already have one. This makes me very happy *grin* Usually, I am being TOLD not to do things like that.

Anyway, enough about the weather. The weather is known to be a very popular topic among those who have searched and searched but yet found no other topic suitable for discussion, and here I am chatting away merrily about it like it's the only thing on Earth that fascinates me (it's not.)

I was lying about at home today, attempting to watch Corpse Bride online - it took quite a few attempts, but I managed it in the end - when I recieved a mail update from our university's Christian Union. So far, I've been too chicken to go to any of the events, even though I'm pretty starved for Christian company right now...because I am a total coward when it comes to walking in randomly someplace where I don't know a soul. Of course I do have friends who'd come with me if I asked them, but so help me, I'm a little chicken about that as well. Anyway, today's update advertised a fireworks display/bonfire/barbeque happening tonight, which sounded really fun and cost only £5 a head, and I suddenly really wanted to go but was chickening out as usual. And then one of my friends online noticed something was off and asked me what was wrong and I said nah, there's just this thing and I was wondering whether to go and he said oh great, if you go let me know as well. And then I texted my other friend mentioning it and, well, I don't really have any secrets from him and he figured I'd want to go, so he was like, okay, let's leave as soon as I get home. So it looks like I might actually go after all, to this scary scary place where I do not know a soul :) although of course I will be taking known souls along with me, or rather they will be taking me. Yay. Hope it works out.