You may or may not know this but I'm a bit scared of the dentist.
I think mostly in Australia it was because Medicare doesnt cover Dentistry so you have to pay yourself and they charge an arm an a leg but also it was the yanking and the stabbing and the drilling that perturbed me as well.
While we were in Yorkshire I had a problem with one of my wisdom teeth and it was hurting like hell so when we got back I resolved to take my sorry self off to the dentist and finally confront my fear. Here's a tip for you kids, if you cry, dentists are really nice to you. My new dentist seems pretty nice anyway but there was still some wisdom teeth to come out and a couple of fillings to do so over the next couple of months he and I saw a lot of each other. Happily now he only has to see me every 6 months for a check up and then he pats me on the head for being such a good tooth brusher and sends me on my way.
In the mean time, the weather turned in London. We got snow at the end of November. Prior to this, snow at any time in London was rare. So for about a week at the end of November/ beginning of December 2010 snow lay thick on the ground, trapping those who lived outside of London in their nice warm homes and hushing the capital just a little bit. This was fine with me as long as the snow left by Friday, but it wasn't. We had booked a little weekend in Brighton again after enjoying ourselves so much at Motel Schmotel towards the end of August. We had dreams of heading off to Brighton to do our Christmas shopping and getting breakfast in bed in the cosy B and B again. The plan was that Russ would head down there first as I had to work, and then I would meet him later. But by the Friday, the snow still lay on the ground, having turned to slush and then refrozen over night into a thick layer of ice that everyone else seemed super confident in walking on except me. It took me three times longer to walk to the station in the mornings, I would be passed by old ladies with zimmer frames gliding effortlessly passed me as I tensed every muscle in anticipation of not falling over. Maybe this winter will be the one where I will learn to walk with confidence on the ice.
The ice I don't like, my love of snow is mostly in its falling, and that's always very pretty.
Anyhow, the snow had been expected for about a week and by the start of the week it fell. Work was near deserted as lots of the team either live in Brighton or Portsmouth and roads and rail were closed due to snow. By Wednesday things started to open up again, people were able to make it in and the forecast was that things would clear up but instead the snow hung around. On the Friday, Russ headed up with our little suitcase, hoping that the trains wouldn't get stopped in between his train and mine. Calling each other constantly so I could check on the trains and the weather for him. Watching the snow fall outside and thinking “You're pretty, but you're not supposed to be here!”
Russ made it to Brighton in the end though it took him almost twice as long as it would normally. When he got to the B and B, freezing and still worried if I'd make it, they gave him mulled wine and mince pies which makes everything better. The surprising thing was though that the streets in Brighton were lovely and clear from the snow. Well done Brighton Council, Kew's street certainly weren't. When I headed off on my section of the journey it was still snowing in London. The train to Clapham Junction was painfully slow and the train I did eventually catch to Brighton was standing room only. Three hours later, I was in Brighton, I got to see a little of the country side before dark fell and it was lovely in the snow. Even as we crept our way to brighton in the dark, the moon reflecting off the white did make everything look a little magic. Russ met me at the station like we had parted years ago rather than just that morning and we holed ourselves up in a pub for dinner before heading to the B and B. Motel Schmotel is in Russell Square in Brighton and has a little fenced off garden in the centre of it. The square itself was thick with snow and now that we were where we were supposed to be I could enjoy it. So I ran through the unblemished snow in the little garden like a mad thing before we went inside and had more mince pies and mulled wine and hung our snow soaked socks on the radiator to dry. While we stay warm snuggled up in bed, sleeping the sleep of the just, rain fell overnight and washed all the snow away so in the morning when we woke, it was like none of it had ever happened.
Russ as I had decided, after nearly a year of splitting our time between Kew and Teddington to bite the bullet and move in together. The backwards and forwards was starting to get tiring and me paying rent was starting not to make sense. So just before Christmas, in our infinite wisdom. I moved from Kew to Teddington. The weekend I was moving it just happened to be that snow was forecast. Though when we made all those arrangements we had no idea. Because I like to multi task and I had very little annual leave left before we went to Australia in April 2011, I booked in for my last appointment at the dentist for a filling on the same day. So when the Friday dawned, I had packed all my stuff and Russ' Dad brought the car to help move the bulk of it before the snow came. We packed the car, I went to the Dentist, and as promised down came the snow. But it was light, like a little dusting of icing sugar, even I could walk in this snow without fear of falling. That night we had a last fire in the open fire place and ordered in chinese with my housemate Emma. A little farewell ceremony to what was one of the best places I've ever lived. The next morning I got up to say goodbye to Emma and her daughter before they headed off and I moved the last of my stuff. Just as they got into the car, the first flakes snow began to fall again. I went back inside thinking we'll just wait until it stops before we catch the bus to teddington. It was after all just a 20 min bus ride away. I went back up stairs to where Russ was still asleep and curled back up in bed next to him. Next thing we knew it was mid day, we had fallen asleep and the snow was still falling heavy outside, we turned on the TV and heathrow had been closed though buses still seemed to be running. It was another 2 hours before the snow stopped and we headed out before it started again. We still had our little suitcase and a couple of bags of kitchen things so we trudged through the snow like refugee's disturbing the perfect peace with the clinking of cake tins and bottles of baileys.
Every year I live here I learn more and more about snow. This snow stayed on the ground too, almost right up until Christmas. By Christmas eve the last of it was washing in to the gutters. Still meant that the garage was colder than the fridge though which meant storing the turkey was super easy. Was my first Christmas in Teddington, and it was brilliant. Next up: Berlin! and what happened when we went back to Brighton
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