Snowhenge, snowpeople, snowed in

Notice the white roundish monoliths in the foreground of the Queen's House.



A mystery for the ages...


What is their purpose? Are they religious artifacts or perhaps landmarks for aliens?

What obscure people selected the site? What tools did they use to place them? Is there a significance to the array? Wait...what's this? ....Geographic dysphoria?
No, these aren't Easter Island statues, they are Snowpeople. Note the rare sighting of their Druid creators alongside!

Join Sir David Attenborough tonight on Channel 4 to explore the mysteries of Snowhenge and Snowpeeps and the seldom seen behaviours of the winter fauna of a Royal Park.



In a more serious vein, the snow is definitely lingering. Roadways seem clear, but pavements (aka sidewalks) and stations are still treacherous with ice. I expect the casualty wards are overflowing with broken bones and sprains. Still, London transport and South Eastern trains are slowly relapsing into their usual levels of reliability, which will make getting around easier.

As for me, my long-standing plan was to be home in Buffalo from tonight through Sunday, which seemed doable since London snow problems are mostly sorted. But that was not to be. There's still a sizeable backlog of stranded passengers being cleared through Heathrow and (worse) a storm brewing on the east cost of the US. On the phone last night, Continental Air Lines customer service said "take your chances if you really want to do that " today. As they explained my chances:
1. I could get to Heathrow and check in, though the trans-Atlantic flight might be cancelled.
2. I might get the trans-Atlantic leg of the flight, but there was a high risk of being stranded in my connecting city of Newark, or diverted to god knows where.
3. I could rebook...on the next available flight...a Friday night arrival in Buffalo, combined with my original Sunday morning departure for London.
Since the main purpose of attending campus meetings on Thursday and Friday in Buffalo would be thwarted, I've opted to stay put in Greenwich and skype into my meetings. Continental must view as dire the problems the weather situation will cause their airline today and tomorrow--they're refunding my ENTIRE air fare (coming out of my own pocket, so especially wonderful)! Airlines NEVER give back all of our money any more, there are ALWAYS fees! Woohoo for me!

So I was reconciled that this trip was just not meant to happen, though I'm disappointed in others ways--not so much about missing meetings (which I'll be able to electronically attend, anyway) but rather failing to see friends, family and colleagues who, despite London's many charms, I miss a lot. Sure, I see and talk to them electronically too...but it's not the same. I was a bit homesick late last week, so the timing for the trip was (I thought) ideal. But my friend Mary Nell remarked that coming home for only a couple of days and then heading right back to London might actually inspire another bout of homesickness, post travel...so maybe it's just as well I'm stuck.

And let's be honest, there are certainly worse places to be stuck than London.
Newark comes to mind.