I woke up late this morning and it was snowing. Not a lot, though it varied from light flurries to quite thick. It settled a little bit, and there were streaks of snow on the fairytale cap of the Galata tower. I don’t think I’ve seen large quantities of snow since my first winter in London and that was certainly an exceptional winter for London. When the GF woke up we went for a walk, first to the roof terrace of our new flat, which was covered with what will soon be a sheet of ice, then over the Galata bridge to Fatih. It was very quiet, not just in the way that snow muffles sound: there was almost no one around. We went into the Hagia Sofia and it too was nearly empty. It was the time for Asr so I was directed towards the women’s side (fortunately a less cursory affair than in most mosques here), but it was interesting that there was no real attempt to even cover the mosaics any more. Every time we’ve visited there has been less and less of the cover-up, which says something, I suppose.
I came across a glorious face mask; had I been in America I think I wouldn’t have been able to resist ordering it for myself. The first question on the manufacturer’s FAQ is: ‘What will other people think?’ I know what I would think: I would feel like a Super Mario Bros character. The manufacturer says they are developing an adaptor kit to turn it into a snorkelling mask for that distant post-pandemic future. I have long wanted my own snorkelling mask.
