Snowbound part II... the escape

Against the odds, we made it out to DC on Day 2, on one of just a handful of planes to be allowed to fly out of the UK. It's a blessing we were able to do so, as the entire flight schedule is in chaos -- and we'd probably be stuck there on Eton Avenue through Christmas. The scene at the airport was pretty chaotic, here's a few videos we took that day (over a 6 hour period), strung together.

Now of course it's great to be home. As expected we are exhausted and will probably remain so until Parker gets adjusted and stops waking up at 3am. But such a thrill to see Meme, Pepe, Jessica, Peter, Jasper, Josie and so many others. Also Nadya came down for a two-day visit. Sadie's having a blast. As is Parker, despite his lack of sleep.  Karen & I are pretty beat up... but give us a few days.

Snowbound

As I write this, we all should be high in the air, cruising steadily over northeast Canada, gin & tonic in my hand, champagne in Karen's, flight attendants at our beck and call, Sadie & Parker gently sleeping and anticipating the coming reunion with dear ones...

...instead we're back on Eton Avenue, £100 of cab fare poorer and surrounded by snowdrifts. Ok, it doesn't take much to make a "snowdrift" in the UK, and for a Buffalo girl like Karen it is laughable that they cancelled our flight when there was hardly any snow on the ground and not much coming down either. By the time we returned home following a 4 hour odyssey it had picked up a bit, and our street as seen in the photo certainly did have a charming winter wonderland look to it. But the 3cm snow limit for any flight does seem rather absurd.

We were even interviewed and photographed for the Telegraph... now photo made it in although a brief quote made it onto the website...

As did some other remarkable information about just how little it takes to cause transport chaos!

Not quite sure when we'll actually get out of here. Perhaps tomorrow if the Blizzard of 2010 relents a little.

Limping towards year-end

As far as ups and downs go, the last couple of weeks have definitely fallen in the "down" category. For this we have a few culprits to blame.

Culprit #1 has been a nasty little virus (or group of them) which have wreaked havoc on the Howell household for a couple of weeks. Karen has continued to have a nighttime cough which has kept her from sleeping well. This has now lasted nearly a month -- and frustratingly our local NHS clinic has so far refused to refer Karen to a specialist. Sadie had a high fever and upset stomach. In worst shape (as usual!) was poor Parker, who picked up a worse version of Sadie's stomach virus, which gave him diarrhea and daily vomiting for a full week, sending us back to the doctor. I've been in slightly better shape (having recovered not long ago from my own laryngitis) -- but also gradually got worn down with the nighttime sleep disturbances (e.g.  listening out for Parker). It does not end there: our nanny Andrea was also sick for a few days, as were several of the teachers at Sadie's nursery, so we were without childcare help in the midst of it all. System failure! Culprit #2 was my year-end publishing crunch, which had me busy/stressed up until my year-ahead tome was published on Monday. Culprit #3 was -- as mentioned before -- the lack of family/close friends around to help us get through it all. Culprit #4: cold and grey weather. Culprit #5: did I mention the lack of sleep? In all, a serious rough patch.

We are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. As I write (10:04pm) Parker is asleep and has not puked today (first time in 7 days!); b) Karen is feeling a little better thanks in part to some good acupuncture treatments; and c) in three days we fly back to DC, where help is waiting in the form of parents, grandparents, siblings cousins, etc. Just what the doctor ordered. Nevertheless it has been a difficult time... fortunately, despite their ailments the little ones have kept a good attitude throughout and have helped Karen & I do our best to do the same.

Ho ho ho

One benefit of living over here is that the Christmas marketing machine grinds into gear somewhat later, and less aggressively, compared with the American post-Halloween holiday barrage of recent years. So when we went to the Winter Wonderland carnival in Hyde Park this morning, all the holiday stuff really felt fresh and new (at least to me), like the first day of the season.


It was, for example, the first time I heard Bing Crosby's White Christmas this year-- a song whose imagery is not entirely far fetched in London right now, with a few inches of snow having fallen over the city last week. Of course, this being England the snow shut down most of country for a few days -- airports, trains, schools -- which is not accustomed to snowfall especially this early in the year. As a Washington DC native I felt right at home. Our lives were not particularly affected by the chaos, aside from a minor delay to my return flight from Moscow (which made London look balmy by reaching 15 degrees below zero fahrenheit when I was there), some inconvenience dragging the stroller through the slush by Karen, and fun for Sadie learning to make snowballs.


Today's carnival was great fun though. A mild, sunny day following a prolonged cold and gloomy spell. A chance for Sadie & Parker to meet an English-accented Santa Claus (and who seemed to leave both of them with a more positive impression than his American cousin from the Livingston, NJ shopping mall a year ago) -- a blue yo-yo was requested by Sadie, who also mentioned to Santa that her little brother wants a car. A ride up on the Ferris wheel with great views of Hyde Park and central London. And lunch at a Jamie Oliver place that was about the best street food I've ever had.

In other news... yesterday brought Parker's first haircut, which was unfortunately not caught on film due to the extreme difficulty of the task, engaging any potential photographer including Karen, two Turkish barbers and a violently protesting Parker. The first image came a bit later in the day, when I snapped his 15 month picture. Haircuts make me look younger but in Parker's case he looks suddenly older, like he's jumped from being a baby to a little boy in a day. He is also changing super-fast these days, walking more confidently, developing more of a personality as he learns new words and displaying his first "tantrum", from what I can tell, which involved laying on his stomach, pushing himself backwards with his arms and hollering for now apparent reason. Charming as far as  tantrums go... but I'm sure that's just the tip of that iceberg.


Otherwise all (mostly) well. Karen's been battling with a prolonged sore throat and cough -- a lot like what I had for most of November -- that has also made it hard for her to sleep. Despite the sleep deprivation, we called in the sitter last night and had a good time out in Camden listening to live folk music at a cool place called the Forge, a 20 minute walk from our house. Starting to get geared up for heading home in a couple of weeks.