White, white Christmas

It was a good snowing in London on Saturday. Quite cold. Up here in Muswell Hill, about a quarter of an hour after I was looking through my window the frozen trees it started to snow and settled almost immediately. Vehicles were unable to make it to the top of the many steep streets and buses and all were stranded along the road before the upper point in Highgate Station.

During an hour, the predominant color was white, clean and pure white. Along with it, SILENCE came. No cars, no buses meant silence, and the sound of flakes falling on the umbrella or somewhere else is as attenuated as a pin dropping on a carpeted floor. And no birds, no natural life, apparently. A white death.

Significantly, to the general degree of quietness by-standers in general contributed. Apart from children shouting, folks remained in silence. Better to say, all looked as dumbfounded by the vision. It is a stupid interpretation, I know that, but it seemed to me as we folks distrusted such quietness with great respect, fearing perhaps that some undefined creatures were lurking to get to us and bring that cold and silence to our within as well.

Oh! How sharp and burning the combination of cold and white silence can be... .

A nice discovery has been The Screen on the Green movie theater in Angel Islington. It showed today the 1946 Capra's "It is a Wonderful Life", a true Christmas story for adults. It has been a surprise as well, for the 200 seats (I calculated) were sold-out (in fact, mine was the last ticket!). And mostly young people. It is a tale from a time where movies told stories, a long 2 hours to laugh and enjoy while you drink a cup of coffee or hot chocolate or beer, and let some tears be upon your face (I have come to the point where I need to cry once in a while and I need to watch movies to be able_ Is that good or bad?)

I had to go to the restrooms in the middle (must have been the cold + the beer) and my feet were not warm enough, but still, a nice, nice time... Even being on my own.

If I have to pick 2 favorite moments I would choose: Second, at the end, George Bailey running to meet his family, stumbling, tripping over the snow once and again and yelling like crazy: "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!" And first, at the beginning, the Mary girl bending over the counter when George boy is serving her an ice-cream and whispered in his deafened ear: "George Bailey, I love you since the first day I set my eyes on you...".

The movie has 200 hundred moments like these... .