Today I took off to London and joined Mr Nina in a slap up lunch at a wonderful Chinese restaurant in Holborn – the steamed sea bass was superb!

And of course I could not resist coffee at Patisserie Valerie:

Then off to Trafalgar Square to see the tree etc. Unfortunately in the tine we spent in the restaurant the weather had changed from VERY cold to sleet mixed with heavy snow flurries. So the view was not quite as merry as I would have liked.

 Hence very soggy hat etc. I had intended to go to Somerset House but not in this weather so off to catch the train home.

 

What we did know was that while London had mostly wet stuff, the rain had been falling as a tremendous snow storm in Hampshire, and we could see the snow cover becoming thicker and thicker on the station platforms as we came closer to home.

I would say about 6 to 8 inches had fallen on top of the very icy roads and pavements from this morning.

Result? The town is gridlocked. Since I live within walking distance of the station we did not have to worry about cars, but wow. I have not seen ANYTHING like the total chaos in the center of the town for years. The town is in a valley. And the cars and vans could not make it up the hills.

Cars had been abandonned, all the roundabouts were gridlocked and one man asked us where he could find a hotel because he had given up trying to get his car out. Mr Nina pushed several cars up the icy hill outside town but it was  a total mess.

There are supposed to be pavements and a road at the end of out front drive!

Time to hibernate with a good book?

Update? This was the garden this morning..