In the Bleak (not so quite) Midwinter, Frosty wind made moan; Buxton stood as hard as iron, Harpur like a stone. Snow had fallen snow on snow, snow not gone away, in the Bleak November, just Yesterday, and Today. Poetry and parody are not my strong points! The News and the newspapers had warned of storms from the North, in fact, a storm severe enough to be christened Arwen. Are! When will this go away?! For once, the impending gloom predicted in the media was perhaps underestimated the disruption more typical of mid January than of late November. Yesterday, a biting north wind blew incessantly along the Lane; I stayed in, fortunately with ample supplies to get me through the next few days at least. I enjoyed my day at home, either watching Netflix or YouTube videos, or catching up with other bits and pieces. I still went to bed late.
Today, I was determined to dig the car out in good time for Church. I had put on several layers to keep warm, and ventured outside. “I’m getting a taxi to Buxton” I decided with next to no hesitation, as I had a job to stand up on the uneven slippery surface outside. It was my turn to read in Church today and was there in plenty of time. My revised plan was, after the service, to have lunch in Buxton, and stay there until the Advent Service at 6 pm. I felt that going home after lunch, I wouldn’t want to come out again. Roger and Tom joined me, with Roger choosing to walk home after a leisurely hot meal and several coffees. Tom and I adjourned to St. John’s where I would wait patiently, but enjoying the rehearsal for tonight’s candle-lit service. I would also, while waiting, write this blog, and also trawl eBay for railway/ocean liner related items. I hadn’t even settled down in a pew when it was announced that owing to the weather, the Advent Service was now cancelled. So, here I am at home, once again, all nice and warm and comfortable while the smart meter takes off like an out-of-control UFO!
I don’t always dislike the cold. Back in January 2014, I flew to New York to collect a display model (approved by Cunard) of R.M.S. Queen Mary 2 housed on a brass wood-mounted plinth in a kind of perspex case.
I had admired this perfectly detailed replica when visiting one of my cruising colleagues at his residence in Lower Manhattan the previous June. “You can buy it off me if you like,” I was told. A deal was struck, and in January 2014, I would fly out to New York, and stay overnight at the Seafarers and International accommodation a couple of blocks away from his apartment. As the plane touched down at Kennedy Airport, I could see outside that a blizzard was blowing, and I would learn that the airport closed to further traffic immediately after we had landed. A nice warm taxi whisked me to East 15th Street and 3rd Avenue along empty highways, save for one or two gritters battling to keep the roads clear. It had been a long day, and at around 22.15 hrs Eastern Time, or 03.15 hrs GMT, despite two excellent and filling meals courtesy of Kuwait Airways, by now, I was feeling quite hungry, yet again. The taxi dropped me off at my accommodation, where I dumped my luggage. I doubt I have been in such cold weather, an Arctic vortex had descended from the North, but even so, I decided to walk (I think) two blocks to my favourite diner, Jo Junior’s on E16th and 3rd Ave. The wide streets were deserted, no sign of humanity anywhere, and, in the distance, a dim sign that just might indicate that Jo Junior’s was open for business. I persevered against the howling, freezing and suffocating wind, my ears feeling like porcelain. I staggered into an empty Jo Junior’s where the staff were gathered around a T.V. watching some sporting event or other. They looked at me as if I had dropped from another planet! I had….England! I was offered onion soup with door-step slices of wholemeal bread. The cold must have caused me to still want something more to eat. Massive ham and cheese sandwiches and a steaming decaf coffee did the trick. I told those there that I would be in for breakfast, paid my bill, and braved the cold deserted wide streets just once more. My description of this experience is inadequate, but I would have not “missed it for the world!” To see a normally vibrant part of a major city, empty of humanity at (by now) 11 o’clock on an early January Sunday night, just struck me as quite extraordinary. Back at the hotel, the howling wind and the distant wail of emergency vehicles lulled me into one of the best sleeps I had enjoyed for a very long time.
The morning was bitterly cold, but the wind had dropped and the sky, was now blue and almost cloudless. I went with my luggage to the apartment I had visited in June. The model was all nicely packed, but, of course, that hearty breakfast at Jo Junior’s was beckoning. My friend who had sold me the model, and his partner, had decided to come with me, on the “real QM2” to Southampton and then return the same day on the Queen Elizabeth.
Therefore, when it freezes in Buxton, I am reminded of that glorious time, in the “Bleak Mid Winter,” (of 2014) when I visited New York for the day, and “Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, Snow on snow!”
Many thanks for reading, David, 19.40hrs Advent Sunday.
David's Cruise 