Snow Balls to Ice Cubes..

Well what an interesting couple of weeks that was!
One moment we were snowed in (amazing how a couple of inches.. well 14 to be more precise) can bring the whole transport system to a standstill and the next I was body surfing in Cuba!
It all started on the Monday, waking up to knee high snow.. it just missed going over the top of my snow boots.. and walking to the train station (in the hope that trains would be running), finding out that the schedule board was showing trains due from 5.30am and it was 7.40am! Apparently only one train had managed to make it's way through and that was nearly an hour previous! I have to say though that it was lovely to walk through lovely fresh snow, scrunch scrunch, and the sound of silence - minimal traffic and people wandering along scrunching, scrunching.
This of course meant that a snugly day was spent at home catching up on DVD's and indulging in junk food as there was no way to get into work!
Mind you there was a bit of a panic as on Wednesday I was flying out to Cuba! Near disaster. Luckily it cleared up and the trip to Heathrow was made with no mishaps.. except for a 15 minute journey to the motorway from Woking taking 40 minutes!!
I have to say that Cuba was one of the more interesting and least understandable places that I have been. Everyone I met was friendly, though the offers of cigars did get a bit tedious, the food was a delightful eclectic mix, and what I saw of the scenery was definitely varied. From the atypical Cuban car, to modern glass buildings and historical sites (yes, I did have a daiquiri in Floridta and mojito in La Bodeguita del Medio (``Mi mojito en La Bodeguita, mi daiquiri en El
Floridita.'')). Probably the most surreal thing though was that I was there with work! Yes, work! So of course it was Havana Club all round.. visiting the museum, having it with every meal, except breakfast (well for most people, though there were some..), seeing the distillery, and of course seeing it in some form where ever we went! Fabulous! And it certainly gave everyone a taste for it! Some of us even managed to make it to the beach.. where most of us dived in to make somewhat unsuccessful attempts at body surfing in what could best be described as 'spring' weather.. that is overcast and blowing a gale!
A most awesome trip, though too short, and most definitely has to be repeated to discover more of the place!