Let op! Sneeuw!

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." - Carl Reiner

Early morning snowfall in The Hague

This was the view that greeted me last Tuesday. This was the day that I was to discover that it's not just the UK that seemingly gives up as soon as a flake of snow falls. Most of it fell overnight and, as an indicator, these are my feet in the snow.

I should have invested in boots...

After a 30 minute wait at the tram stop, two of my colleagues and I concluded that it wasn't going to come. This was despite seeing several trams go past in the opposite direction! After trying an alternative tram station, there was only one course of action. We had to walk to work. Because of the absurdity of it all, the 7 kilometre walk wasn't as arduous as I had expected and, dare I say it, quite fun.

It would seem I was not the only one that was caught out by the snow, with some 1000 kilometres of traffic jams throughout the Netherlands (a new record!) and many tram lines in The Hague not running. It was also evident at work that a lot of people decided to work from home!

Not a bad view from my office window!

By the afternoon the Dutch authorities had overcome the initial shock of so much snow and the journey back home was luckily problem free!

There is, however, one upside for the Nederlanders to all this cold weather. This year may be the first time in 16 years that the Elefstedentocht can take place. This is a massive ice skating race that takes place in the north of the country whenever the canals are sufficiently frozen over to take the weight of thousands of skaters!

Finally, as I write this the snow has started falling again, the trams and trains are operating a 'snow service' and my balcony is receiving a fresh blanket of snow. I've learned my lesson now. If it looks bad, I'm working from home!