Let It Snow

If you thought snow days in Canada were sometimes unnecessary then you've never experienced a winter in England.  I am currently sitting on my couch enjoying (surviving...) my THIRD snow day in a row and I have to tell you, this country, when it comes to snowy weather conditions, is slightly pathetic. 
It started to snow on Monday evening - just a light flutter of the fluffy stuff which melted as soon as it hit the ground.  There was probably less than a millimeter covering the sidewalks on Tuesday morning, but some schools, including Marks, decided it was too dangerous and closed. 

Since my school was open I made my usual journey down Tonbridge Road, slipping and sliding, nearly falling, cracking my head open and killing myself, since apparently no one here has considered following the intelligence of the Canadian system by salting their sidewalks.  The snow continued to fall all day, and even though you would laugh at how little snow there actually was, it was quite a lot in England standards.  Every teacher at my school left the building immediately after the students; I was lucky enough to find a ride home, since all the trains were cancelled.  I have to admit, I was panicking slightly during my last lesson about finding a way back to Maidstone.  Luckily I did.

The next morning I woke up and was broken-hearted to see I had not received a text informing me of my school's closure.  So up I got, into the shower, and had just started to get ready when Britny yelled at me from her bedroom, "Holmesdale is closed!  Holmesdale is closed!"  I raced into her room, still in my towel, and saw that Holmesdale was on the BBC radio website for school closures.  I was still not convinced, though, since I hadn't received the text (my school always sends text messages in situations like this).  We decided to check the Holmesdale blog too, and low and behold, there is was, the message we had all been waiting for: "1st December, 2010, Holmesdale Technology College will be CLOSED due to extreme weather conditions."  Well, I'm not sure about the extreme part, but I'll take it.  After calling every single one of my co-worker friends and doing a little happy dance, I went back to bed and didn't get out from my cocoon of comfort and warmth until lunch time.
That afternoon we met everyone at Society Rooms and got a little drunk.  My new drink of choice: "HC and a B" - commonly known as Hot Chocolate and Baileys.  A couple of those and a bottle of wine later and we were ready for bed, and it was only 7pm!  We left the bar though, since we didn't yet know if we would have to work the next day.  Almost as soon as we walked in the door, however, I got a text telling me the school would be closed again the next day.  Hallelujah! 

Thursday was quite a bit worse, weather-wise, so I have to give England a little bit of credit.  It's mostly just the side-streets; the main roads are fine since they are being driven on all day, but since they have no means to get rid of the snow, all the roads less travelled are absolutely covered - about a foot of the stuff to be exact!  That afternoon we made our way for the second time down the snow-covered sidewalk into town, and I spent the day helping Britny and Mark, seperately of course, buy Christmas presents for each other.  I really should take some kind of commission for this.  We also bought a bottle of Baileys and some hot chocolate in order to make our own HC and a B at home. 

They were a fantastic two days, especially since I am actually getting really sick and tired of my school at the moment.  But oh, I am not finished.  Thursday evening I received another text informing me that my school would be closed again on Friday.  Now, I am not usually one to complain about five day weekends, but I am home alone today and am quite bored.  Also, I just found out that I may not be getting paid for these days which is a huge kick in the rear.  Please keep your fingers crossed for me, and I will keep you updated.

England VS Samoa

On Saturday November 20th a bunch of us went to the England/Samoa rugby match in Twickenham, which is just outside London.  I was pretty excited for the game since I have never seen a professional rugby match before, and my ticket was only £20.00 thanks to Mark and the deal he got from his school. 

Sarah, Simon, Kari and I went to Twickenham at about noon even though the match didn't start until 2, and thank goodness we did.  The crowds were actually unbelievable and if we had gone later the transfer trains would have been ridiculous.  We met Britny, Mark, and a few of his friends at a pub called The Cabbage Patch, in which I experienced a mild case of claustrophobia, and had a few drinks before making our way to the stadium.  We had a few more drinks on the block-and-a-half journey to the stadium, and were very much on our way to being completely intoxicated by the time we found Gate F. 

Our tickets were great - we were sitting in the first bowl and were only about fifteen rows from the action.  Rugby, as you probably know, is an incredibly violent sport.  These guys are just SO strong; they have to be, as they literally get the crap pounded out of them.  It was a fantastic time; songs were sung, waves were (somewhat successfully) attempted, hats and scarves were thrown about, and beer was poured on the heads of unfortunate spectators, including Britny and myself.  Regardless of that, we had a really wonderful time.  England won 26-13, and even though I don't exactly know all the rules of rugby, I felt like I belonged there.

After the game Britny and I stood in the que for the shop just outside the stadium and bought ourselves some Christmas presents - a peeeeeeeeerfect opportunity.  We then walked for what seemed like forever to a pub just outside Twickenham, had a couple more drinks, and then drunkenly made our way back to Maidstone (stopping for my first McDonalds meal since the summer on the way - glorious).

I really enjoyed the rugby match, and I hope that I will be able to get equally cheap, equally good tickets for when my family comes to visit in the spring - I'm sure my dad and Mike would get a kick out of it (no pun intended).