"Baby it's cold outside"

 This is what I saw from my window when I woke up this morning: SNOW! Yes, at long last, London has received some of the massive snowstorm that hit Edinburgh and the north-east earlier in the middle of last week. I will admit that even after the weeks of blizzard conditions last year, I am still fond of snow. Especially when I have nothing to do and can sit inside and admire the falling flakes from the warmth of my own home. This was the case today: the only time I needed to leave my flat was to get Diet Coke (clearly a life necessity) and to go to the gym. The whole reason that I went to the gym was so that I didn't risk spraining an ankle or breaking my neck by running outside. This would be a prime example of me being sensible, using my head, and taking the proper course of action. Unfortunately, such a scenario of sensibility didn't contend for my luck. Coming out of the gym, I managed to slip on perhaps the only patch of ice in all of London (since, for the most part, the snow has not been sticking on streets or pavements) thus causing me to engage in a fantastic bit of windmilling and land heavily on my back. Never fear! I am OK. Injury was prevented by the fact that I was wearing a backpack with my running shoes and gym clothes in it, which helped to cushion my fall. And so here is yet another example of how running has saved my life :).

My major gripe with the snowfall today was that: a) it distracted me from writing my OSINT essay since I kept admiring the falling snow's beauty, and b) it is going to create some serious hardships in tomorrow's final XC race at Hackney Marshes. I am really not looking forward tomorrow. Snow on the course means frozen feet. Either way, I am going to be ridiculously cold. There may be five minutes or so when I am running that I might actually feel a bit warm, but I imagine that for the most part it is going to be quite miserable. BBC Weather has this as the forecast: -2°C for the maximum temperature --'A cold and cloudy start with further snow flurries during the morning, although they will tend to ease away for a time. Feeling very cold with a biting northeasterly wind.' The emphasis, of course, is my own, since the tone of this statement is one that doesn't seem to grasp the sheer enormity of the implications of this forecast. Very cold with a biting wind? These are not ideal conditions for me. Not at all. (You try running in shorts and a tank top when it is 23°F outside and see how you feel!) 


Countdown until I come home: 17 days
Countdown until Christmas: 25 days
Progress on OSINT paper: 500/1500 words (but the hardest parts - those that were not clearly sketched out on my outline, are done!)
Number of layers currently wearing: 5 plus mukluks 
Number of times I've listened to Dean Martin's 'Baby it's cold outside' and wished that Drew was with me: roughly 15,000