That was the year that was: February 2007

February brings the snow, makes the toes and fingers glow. First decent snowfall in bloody ages and it happens on the weekend we’ve arranged to go away. I rush home from work to collect Mr TLC, but by the time we’ve loaded the car, there is so much snow that we can’t make it to the end of the road, never mind to London. We dodge the snowballs and wait hopefully for the gritter’s arrival, but eventually we give up and ring the hotel to tell them we won’t be there that night. The receptionist tells us they’ve had lots of snow too. Snow in Southwark! I’d never even seen snow until my family moved to the Frozen North. Amazingly, we set a record time for our fastest ever Sheffield-London trip the following morning. Southwark is not even damp, let alone snowy.

We have a great weekend in Londinium, highlights include:

1. Jump at the Peacock Theatre

2. Seeing Babbage’s Difference Engine and the Klein bottles at the Science Museum

3. Being location junkies and visiting “Whitehaven Mansions” in Charterhouse Square. We photograph it carefully to avoid including the giveaway sight of the Barbican in the background.

4. My Dad turning up unfashionably late for lunch. Fortunately Nice Restaurant is not too busy and the staff there are very understanding. They suggest we have a drink in the bar while we wait. By the time my Dad arrivesh, Mishter TLC and I are vehhry shlightly pished. My Dad then produces my Granddad’s scary looking sharpening steel with a flourish in the middle of the Nice Restaurant along with the words “I found this and thought you’d like it”. I panic slightly and try to hide said offensive weapon from alarmed looking fellow diners. (When we return to Nice Restaurant later in the year, I book under Mr TLC’s name in case anyone remembers us)

5. Cirque de Soleil performing Alegria at the Royal Albert Hall. I drive Mr TLC slightly mad in the following weeks by watching the Alegria DVD repeatedly and singing the songs enthusiastically but rather off-key.