30 hours of travel later...

I have landed... and it is cold.

I love the snow. It is majestic and beautiful and white (except for those yellow patches). However, as I sit here writing on day one I am questioning my love of the cold. I was just getting used to the warm humidity that is Auckland and now it feels like I have been plunged into the deep freeze. It is different. Perhaps it wouldn’t be quite so cold if grandad’s house was just a little bit warmer. I just went to the loo before. First horror: sitting on the FREEZING toilet seat. Second horror:  having to wash your hands. Grandad is of the old ‘turn off the hot water cylinder’ era so I have to wash my hands in water that is about 1 degree above freezing. I was even contemplating using my purell instead.

However, what I do love about the snow here is the smell. Not of the snow but of everyone who has coal fires burning. There is a unique smell that always without fail reminds me of being five and being here. I also love how white and magical it all looks (again, ignoring the yellow patches). Grandad’s back garden is absolutely packed with snow and the ground outside is almost knee-deep. I am not even exaggerating. He had a path that has been dug out for him but that is it. Everywhere else there are sort of walking tracks that have been made from packed snow but there is so much fresh stuff that you just want to jump in.

I arrived into Newscastle a little before 3pm, 4 hours later than expected thanks to fog in Dubai. The flight itself was okay except for this disheartening moment when the pilot came over the speaker and said in Sydney ‘The flying time is 14 hours to Dubai’. The idea of being stuck in the confines of the plane for 14 hours was not what I wanted. I wanted to sleep. I think from the ancy looks of others that a few wanted a smoke. It took me a few hours to finally nod off and even then, I only slept for around 2 hours then was wide awake again. It wasn’t until the last 6 hours that I finally was too exhausted to even care about turbulence. We spent half an hour circling the airport in Dubai, unable to land due to fog. When we finally did land I wasn’t too worried. I still had an hour before my next flight. Of course, I didn’t realise that the gate I was to get to was literally a train ride and a small hike away. I hoofed it over to gate C – far, far, far away – and they were boarding. I thought ‘Great. I made it. I am on the home stretch. I just need to get on this plane, we will take off and then we will arrive.’ How easy. How foolish. In what is surely becoming a tradition, we were all loaded onto the plane, the doors were secured and then the pilot told us that we were 30^th in the cue and it would be around 2 and a half to 3 hours before we could leave. Did I care? Nope. Why? Because, as the plane had been loaded with passengers I had been scoping out the free seats. I secured myself I row of 4 all to myself, lay out and watched movies and slept. Best – flight – ever! When we did eventually take off, 4 hours later, I lay back and enjoyed. However, there was one minor setback. You know when you are flying and you get wind because of the air pressure. Well, it is really hard to be anonymous when there is only so many people on the plane and most have a row to themselves. A few times I looked about to check that everyone had their headphones in and an airhostess wasn’t nearby. I couldn’t help it! Don’t judge me! You weren’t there!

So, after all of that I arrived to the welcoming committee of Grandad, Uncle Jim and James. It was lovely. I got all bundled up to head outside and went to greet the cold.

We got all the way back to Consett and I had my face glued to the window for most of it. I couldn’t believe how much snow there was and the first thing I did when I got out of the car was make a snow angel. Uncle Jim had reminded me that the last time there hadn’t been enough to make one, so with no further egging needed, I dumped my backpack in the snow, stripped off my jacket and gloves and literally flopped back there and then. I couldn’t stop laughing. I struggled back up and with a back covered with snow, I headed inside, shaking it off as I went.

Today I went for a walk around the main street. I bought a pair of calf-high slippers, a warm nightgown and, of course, a corn beef pastie. I also got some Aero hot choc. and some fruit. I also got a couple of top-up vouchers so now I am sorted.

It is supposed to have another massive dump of snow tonight and tomorrow. I might actually get to see snow as it lands. Of course, I will also have to see how the weather fares regards heading up to Scotland. Hopefully the trains and buses will be running... watch this space.