Strange Weather

20 January 2013

What a peculiar day—or better yet, past few days. It turned surprisingly cold on Thursday and, fulfilling our anticipation, the snow God made sure we woke to the fluffy white stuff on Friday. Unfortunately, early on in the day the precipitation turned to a dull and predictable rain. Saturday was not much better—rain, gray, and cold but not cold enough to turn the rain into falling flakes. Claire checked on the weather and proclaimed that the rain would continue with no hope for snow because it was warming up! Ugh. I needed to do laundry, and getting it to dry in the humidity would be problematic since I have to string up clothes all over the apartment (five people make a ton of dirty socks) since we are sans dryer. Dan was getting up early to catch a train to Nantes so I decided I would get up with him. My plan was to get to the Laundromat early and snag a dryer that would have the laundry done in 30 minutes or less. I had heard rain all through the night and, based on Claire’s weather report, I pulled on a fleece to fight the morning chill and headed out with my sack of laundry. Stepping off the elevator, I headed to the front door and saw enormous, frosty flakes tumbling and accumulating! I looked at myself and knew I was not dressed for that. I ran back up to the apartment, grabbed a hat, jacket, and gloves and made my way back out. The first problem was that all the rainfall that had collected on the sidewalks and streets was now a couple of inches of slush. Although snow piled up on the grass, trees, and roofs, on the ground it seemed like a horrible accident that dumped gray 7-11 slushies all over had occurred. It was eerily quiet. No cars, no buses, no people hurrying off to the market. Since the snow was coming down at a steady clip, I became hopeful that eventually the slush would be frozen in place and the flurries would continue to accrue. I slogged back home once my clothes were dry. Charlotte and I had a plan to get some exercise at the pool. I told her to pull on her rain boots to schlep through the streets, and off we went. Of course, now it was half raining-half snowing! I got ahead of her, which was my first mistake. She managed to scoop off of a car enough snow to make a snowball and pelted me in the back with it. I just have so much fun with her! She got me again before we got to the pool and managed to knock some hard fought for snow out of my hands before I could form a ball and launch it. We were greeted at the pool with a note informing us the pool was closed for competition! So, through the slurry coating the roads and sidewalks, we made our way to the metro to go to another pool. No surprise here, there were delays due to “climat exceptionelle,” but we waited. We finally got to the pool. The temperature inside was perfect. There are three pools in an enormous space that has two walls made of windows. How surreal it was to be standing in a bathing suit looking out at the snow. I've been in Florida for too long, now! We made our way back home in the drizzle, which didn't much matter since our heads were wet already. We walked in and I told Claire and Corinne to get on their rain boots cause it was a mess out there. They were marveling at the magical snowfall from up high and had no idea of the state of the ground level. Pictures follow of us in our rain boots. We headed out to get brunch but stepped out onto somewhat clear sidewalks. I don’t know where all the slop went, but they were beginning to believe what a mess it must have been when we came across occasional piles of muck that had yet to be washed away. I say washed away because the enchanting snowfall had morphed back into a dreary rainfall. Sigh. By the time we got to the salon de thé, the sun was shining and the gutters were gushing with melting snow. When we headed home, now looking foolish in our rain boots, the sky was completely blue and the sun felt warm through our jackets. The buses had been suspended at the start of the day but were now lurching back into service. People were starting to move about, and it was beginning to feel like an ordinary day again. Charlotte and I changed into normal shoes before I walked her to catch a bus to a friend’s house. Now I’m sitting inside watching the sky become heavy with gray clouds again. There is no more snow on the roofs across from us. The forecast for tonight is 2˚ with spotty showers. I am sure the girls were hoping to wake up tomorrow to what greeted me today. That might mean a snow day, and they’ve never experienced that! Truthfully, I wouldn’t mind a day like that either—drifting back to sleep while the flurries fall, the buses stand still, and life pauses for Mother Nature sounds like an exceptional Monday.