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London snow facts

Mike Pollitt | Tuesday 30 November, 2010 11:14

Oh the weather outside is frightful. Except it’s not frightful, it’s great. Snipe refuses to become one of those grown ups who turns against snow just because it messes up their commute a bit. It’s snowing!! Yay! So, in a spirit of childish delight befitting the day, here are five snowy facts about London town.

Charles Dickens had a very snowy childhood
It says here (a wonderful repository of snowy facts) that six of Dickens’ first nine London Chritsmases were white. Amazing. Incidentally, doesn’t Christmas just look bizarre in the plural?

Sometimes, the Thames dost freezeth over
In 1864 the river froze for two solid months and the average temperature in January was -3. That’s the average. So what are you moaning about today you wusses? There were fairs on the frozen Thames and carriages were trotting along it like nobody’s business. It was a bit like a seasonal Crossrail, except a lot cheaper.

Snow is bad for trains
In 1891, it says here, a train left Paddington for Plymouth only to become stuck in snow before getting out of the capital. It didn’t reach its destination for four days. Snipe hopes the passengers didn’t lose their sense of wonder and stayed pro-snow, otherwise we’re very disappointed in them.

Snow killed a famous man acting foolishly
Francis Bacon (not the painter, the Elizabethan thinker), died in the following manner (quoting from a very well written piece here). ‘In the early spring of 1626, the Viscount made a journey through London snow. Wherupon an idea struck him – might it not be possible to preserve meat in the snowy cold? Plucking up handfuls of snow, Bacon marched into the house of a poor woman, from whom he received an item of poultry with which to conduct his researches. While we latter-day folk know this invention as the refrigerator, Bacon’s endeavours failed miserably. Firstly, he contracted pneumonia from all that trudging about in the name of science; then, in an attempt to cure his illness, he consumed the item of snow-stuffed poultry and collapsed (after three days in damp linen) of suffocation.’

Londoners like taking photos of snow
Check out about 2000 photos of the Feb 2009 Snow Day here. Then go forth, and make some cocks in the snow. Who knows, this may be your only chance this year, so don’t waste it grumbling.

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