Let it Snow

I still remember the first winter I experienced. It was December 1990. I arrived in London in August that year. It was a roller-coaster of emotion. After learning about my SPM results in April, the decision to take up Medicine and being offered a scholarship to study in the UK. Attending a three-month English course in Subang Jaya, and skiving off many a night to head home to watch Italia’90, and discussing with the lecturers the morning after about the game after turning up late for class. It was great fun.

I then attended Loughborough Grammar School, just a touch north from Leicester for my A levels. Being a boarder - the school was not full board - we were put up in an old, 18^th century building, which of course has been renovated. It was really cold in there in the best of times, but when it snowed, the draft that slipped in can be unbearable. Fast forward to December, the weather suddenly turned on a Saturday morning. I woke up in the morning and suddenly it was all white everywhere. And to my surprise, it was not that cold compared to the days before. I put my boots on, got myself my thickest coats and gloves, and a ski hat of course. Snowball fights ensued. I remember walking halfway into town with a few other friends who never seen the snow before as well. Ian from Kenya was one of them. We had a blast running around. We went to get some coffee and enjoyed it by a freezing lake.

But, by the time we head home - it was still snowing heavily - the power was out. Not just the school or the town, but the whole North of England. And the power stayed off for the next three nights. We had no power or heating. We had food being brought into our boarding house. We had bonfire int he evenings. The power was only restored on the next Tuesday morning. School were close until the Wednesday. It was cold, but it was really great fun. Unfortunately the chaos came when it stopped snowing and the white fluffy thing turned into grey sludge, almost muddy. It was slippery and all your clothes would be dirty as it turned almost into clay. Then you will realise that snow was not that fun after all!