White Butterflies

I know I’ve been complaining about snow and winter and all that comes with it in recent entries. But let me be honest – it’s not all bad.

It’s snowing today. It was fine on my drive into the train station this morning. I dozed off on the train as usual, and woke up just before Newark, only to see a fresh dusting of white on the tracks and nearby grounds. When I looked out over the horizon, I didn’t see the actual snow falling – just a sort of distant white haze. Really quite peaceful actually. It was only when we pulled to a stop that I could see the delicate white flakes drifting downwards. Really peaceful to watch, actually. I got to Penn Station, caught my subway ride, and stepped out into Times Square. It was still coming down pretty steadily. And it was just so nice to be in the midst of a light snowfall like that – almost as if you’re in the middle of some dreamworld fairyland or something. I think that’s what it is. What I especially love is having snowflakes fall on my hair. The contrast of the white snowflakes on my dark hair is so dramatic. The whole effect of it sort of makes me feel almost as if I’m a princess in a fairyland.

Okay, now I’m just getting weird.

But explain this to me. New Yorkers carry umbrellas when it snows. Why? Umbrellas are for rain – not snow. This morning I saw this one woman with an umbrella, and because of the wind and the weightlessness of the snow, she was STILL getting snowflakes in her face and hair. So what’s the point? I’m convinced it’s a NY/East Coast thing, because nobody in the Midwest that I know of carries an umbrella when it snows.
NY-ers must be daft!