The Snow Festival warmup!!

[click on pics to see a bigger version]

Today I opened the balcony door to see if the weather was okay for hanging out my washing. I did a double-take!

This is what I saw:


!!!

I was so surprised... a heavy snowfall is Not Normal in Yokohama. And the last few days haven't been particularly cold (well... daily maxima of 7 or 8 degrees, anyway).

The view from my apartment building had suddenly become a whole lot cooler:


I walked around the streets near my home. The snow had been partly cleared from the footpaths, leaving a slippery slush. Snow was still falling.

I showed my inexperience with snow by forgetting that it's, like, wet! First I went out wearing sneakers (they were soaked through with icy, slushy water, within a minute). And, though it was snowing, I didn't think to put up my umbrella - ending up looking like a drowned rat. The weather was colder than usual - about 2 degrees - and I'd left my gloves at work (where I had been doing a lesson on 'whose gloves are these? Whose pen is this?'). So my first trip was to the local supermarket/department store to buy some heavy-duty gloves. (I promptly soaked them through by tightly gripping the stairs' railings. If I wasn't holding the railings, I would have fallen down the stairs at least three or four times...)

I stopped to admire the train station.



Very, very few people were outside, although several snowmen in the park showed that people had come through earlier in the day. Most of the shops were closed.



I have to say, I was really happy to see snow. It made my day! And snow really does beautify drab scenery. But as an ongoing thing, I'm glad it rarely snows here. It's pretty, but it's not comfortable. I was cold and wet; and I had to continually tiptoe through puddles and walk painstakingly slowly through the very slippery slush. (I mentioned that a girl from training broke her leg last week? Well, she broke it slipping on some ice - she lives in an area with lots of snow. the news today was full of stories of injuries, transportation delays and grounded planes.)



I went to the Cafe de Crie for a cappuccino and Dido's 'Thank You' came on. It's one of my favourite songs, so mellow and pretty. Somehow it seemed like a really suitable song to hear while sitting in that warm, slightly smoky cafe, watching the snow fall.

My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
And can't see at all
And even if I could, it'd all be grey
But your picture on my wall
It reminds me, that it's not so bad, it's not so bad...
And I want to thank you
For giving me the best days of my life...



[That store's name is 'Grace'. :)]