I'm starting to think that the universe's new joke is that all of my travel destinations receive unprecedented amounts of snowfall. Last year with Snowmageddon 2010 in Baltimore, two weekends ago in Dublin where walking tours took twice as long because the tourists had to climb each of the frost-coated hills twice, and now in Newcastle. Today I was very reluctantly trudging in the general direction of the building in which my Theology class was in (Can't call it the Theology building, because not all buildings have assigned subjects at Newcastle University. Yes, it's quite convenient). I was tired and not in the best of spirits because it was about 30 degrees F. and snow covered every part of the ground that wasn't mud or ice. Mere moments after stepping out the door, my toes were frozen to the tips of my pink and black argyle patterned "wellies."
So there I was crossing in front of the Sports Centre when a car pulled in at the end of the parking lot and I heard a yell. I looked up in time to see this blonde girl throw herself out of her car door with a blustering bellow of a shout that worked as a summons for the flustered but amused smaller girl standing just to the side of her. The louder girl, who had landed on her knees in the snow in her earlier excitement, flung herself around the car and pounced on her friend, laughing outrageously so that every "ha" in the three succeeding "ha, ha, ha" s could be heard clearly. They both went on laughing while next to them stood the figure of a bewildered, but also amused, lad and I wondered if he had heard stories about how crazy the blonde was from her friend and if this was the first face-to-face impression that would set the premise for a visit full of excitement and scandal.
The rest of the walk felt a little bit warmer.
No comments:
Post a Comment