When it Snows it Pours

OK, I know I continually say I love it when it snows in New York, but maybe not when it involves air travel.

I was supposed to leave for Barcelona last Wednesday night. But after Delta and Continental cancelled their flights due to a pending snowstorm, we wondered what American was going to do. Pigheadedly, they continued to say everything was ok. So off we traipsed to JFK for an 8:50pm flight.

After sitting in the plane on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting for the ice and sleet to turn to snow (who knew), then waiting another 30 minutes while the plane was de-iced (another learning for me), we slowly taxied to the runway. By this time it was snowing so heavily I could not see out the window and wondered who on earth the pilot thought he was. A Kamikaze fighter pilot? But then his voice came over the PA in that calm, assured, American pilot I-Am-Concerned-About-Your-Safety voice saying, "Well ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid there is already snow piling on the wings (really?) So we will have to go back to our gate and try again tomorrow."

That left a plane full of very sleepy and unhappy passengers tumbling back out into the departure lounge in all sorts of unattractive plane sleepwear, only to have to wait another 40 minutes before they told us our luggage could not be taken off the plane as the door to the hold had iced over!

Try getting back to Manhattan in the middle of the night, when the roads are so icy and laden with snow that only the bravest cabbie would be seen dead at the airport. 150 passengers and 5 yellow cabs? Recipe for disaster.  Airport hotels full? There is only one solution. Hail an illegal minivan cab, pay an extortionate price per head and place your own life along with 5 others into the hands of two black dudes from the Bronx.

Therein followed a hilarious if not terrifying 3 hour snail's pace trip back to the city. Have you seen the movie The Road? That's what the Long Island Expressway looked like. A scene from a post apocalyptic nightmare. 

Cars were abandoned along the sides of the highway, already invisible to the naked eye except for snowy mounds dotted along the way. Lone figures dressed in black suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, heading for God knows where. Trucks were reversing and turning in the middle of the highway only to drive back down the road the wrong way to find a better route. All street signs were so covered in snow that drivers did not know which turn to make. Our windscreen wipers kept icing over and the heating/air con didn't work, so our windows were open to clear the windscreen and freeze our bodies. The snow was coming down so heavily, it was impossible to differentiate the road from the dividing walls or the trees or sidestreet stores. All this just for a work trip!

Miraculously, we slithered our way into Manhattan after 3am only to find just as much snow and an eerie yellow light over everything.

Thursday dawned grey and uninviting. Central Park had seen 18 inches of snow. That night we turned around and made our way out to JFK again. This time our plane took off and we finally made it to sunny Barcelona.

images: telegraph, james carbone, new york daily news, dan nguyen

Faking It

Hilarious. It's minus 7 degrees celsius here today and I'm shielding myself against the brutal wind in Nolita, careful not to slip on the sidewalk ice. Amongst all the black asphalt and grey snow, my eye is suddenly drawn to a store window that is green and leafy! But wait, that's not a store, it's a park! Well, sort of. It's a "Pop Up Park".

The current resident of the store, Openhouse Gallery is an exhibition and pop up retail location. "Park Here" has been installed for the pleasure of New Yorkers during the chilly month of January. The once basic white space has been converted into a warm and green fake park, resplendent with faux grass, evergreens, a pond, benches, a see-saw and trilling bird sounds. There is even "sunlight" and heat to overcome your seasonal affective disorder! And a little wooden stand where you can buy steaming hot coffee and cookies. And like every type of park in Manhattan, it was full of people and dogs lying about. Whoever said New Yorkers were a superficial lot! So long as it is warm and green, they will come.....

Images:  (1, 3, 5-7) openhouse gallery, (2) green design hq,  (4) ny curbed

Snow by the Sea

We went for a walk on the weekend to Greenwich Point Park. It was a perfect winter's day; very cold, deep blue sky, no wind and a perfectly still Long Island Sound. The best part? I saw snow right next to the sea for the first time ever! Pure, white, crunchy, deep snow. So much more beautiful than the snow that falls in Manhattan. And all touching the water's edge! The only colors in the whole landscape were blue, white and brown. It was amazing. And silent.

A Hearth in Winter

When the thermometer refuses to budge above zero, the city is covered in snow and you are trudging through this every day,

All you really want to do is sit in front of this:

My favorite of favorite places here in winter is the lobby of the Bowery Hotel. It has the feeling of an old hunting lodge and is perfect for a weekend afternoon tea or drinks. It is full of persian rugs, oak chairs with tapestry seats, sofas that you sit back in and never want to extricate yourself from and huge roaring fires framed by marble mantlepieces.

The wood paneled ceilings and wrought iron lighting help lend a middle aged feeling. I keep expecting Aragorn to walk through the door.

Although I think this interior is too heavy for spring/ summer, they do have a lovely outdoor area with wicker furniture under a glass roof, overlooking fruit trees and grass on a vacant block behind.

And if you get sleepy and decide to stay, check out one of these rooms that have featured in numerous movies. Sleep soundly under Frette sheets and dream of your favorite Lord of the Rings character.

images: (1-2) mine, (3) elle decor, (4) hotels.com, (5) agent smith, (6) hotel chatter  (7) cool gadget concepts, (8) flixster, (9) bowery hotel

New Year begins in snow

Brrrrr. I arrived back from sunny Melbourne on Friday night, landing at JFK airport to find a world of white. I thought I had missed the snow storms, but it seems the flakes keep falling. Not that I am complaining, because my philosopy is if it's going to be cold, it may as well snow! But it was a shock to my suntanned system to see the rubbish piled up and the Christmas trees discarded on the side of the icy streets. 

In light of this I am already dreaming of blue sky, beach and a piece of Slim Aarons lifestyle. I must book a long weekend to Palm Beach in Feb.

images: (1-4) mine, (5) heartthrobs and villains, (6) fad website (7) photographer's gallery

Snow Day

It just doesn't stop. Another "Snow Day" yesterday. All schools were closed and so was our office. Staggeringly beautiful and peaceful. It felt like a Sunday. Here is what NoLita and Washington Square Park looked like.

Where do all the Ducks go....

....when the lagoon in Central Park gets frozen over? Such was the preoccupation of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye. Answer today: Nowhere. They sit miserably on floating pieces of ice.

Today was almost blizzard conditions in New York. Schools were closed and our office called it a day at 1pm.  I decided to frolic in Central Park. Here are some images. Excuse the snow splashes on my lens. I damaged it over Christmas so can now only point and shoot without seeing a thing until I send it back to Panasonic! Today I only saw multi colored stripes, not snowflake splats.

And this was Fifth Ave.