Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you

Since being back in the UK I have been inundated with requests (ok… two people asked me) to write another blog whilst I’m in England. I don’t want to let my two hardcore fans down so here are some more thoughts of Sarah, from England.

The first thing I need to comment on is… THE WEATHER. Seriously England what is going on?! For those of you reading in Moscow, when I arrived back in the UK on 23rd December it was snowing in the UK which was very exciting for everyone as we were actually going to have a white Christmas! However… it is now the 13th January and it is still snowing. People are on the verge of having meltdowns. Britain is just not equipped to deal with snow. Schools have been closed, there is a major salt shortage and (worst of all) I’m not allowed to drive my car so I’ve had to get THE BUS. It’s only -2 here and everyone’s gone mad, in Moscow I still had to go to school when it was -26! The snow really is making me angry! I haven’t seen a landscape without snow for months, I’ve had to cancel so many plans, I’ve got stranded at the opposite side of Huddersfield to my house AND I can’t blame anyone for it so I’m just sitting in my house being angry! Today I am literally under house arrest. My car will go nowhere, the buses aren’t running and it’s too icy to walk down my street! ANNOYED.

Phew… there were a lot of capital letters in that last paragraph. To emphasize the anger.

On the other hand it has to be said: I <3 ENGLAND.
I love how decisions are never made because people don’t want to offend each other.
I love how people smile at me in shops, on the street, on public transport.
I love how kids shout GAY at me if I refuse to buy them cigarettes.
I love how I can get from one side of the country to the other in a day.
I love it that in vegetarian cafes they actually serve vegetarian food.
I love how my friends are only a phone call away.
I love how I can eat hummus and quorn once again.
I love it that my parents still have to shout at me to do the dishwasher.
But most of all I love it that no matter how long I’ve been away, or how far away I’ve been my friends are still the same, and that with them it is acceptable to stuff your face at pizza hut, laugh so hard that you snort and to sing songs by the Spice Girls loudly in the street.

I’ve got one month left in England before I go back to Moscow. I’m half looking forward to going back and half completely dreading it! The first two weeks I’m going travelling with my friend which he is really excited about and that makes me really excited about it too! We’re going to go from Moscow to Petrozavodsk (a town in the north of Russia, where I studied last summer) then to St Pete then to Finland. I’m looking forward to being his Russian travel guide and introducing him to Lenin, Marx and the performing monkeys that can always be found around Red Square.

But then I have to return to Moscow and reality. Eurgh. I’m hoping that once I get back to Moscow I will remember just how much I love it there. Next term the weather is going to start off rubbish and then gradually get better so hopefully my mood will also change accordingly!

And to end this blog on a high, here is a picture of my attempt at sledging. Even though the snow is doing my head in it’s been fun to play in…



Literally ROFL.