That it was Christmas weekend made the prospects for snow all the more special. A charm had settled over the city, where the everyday Scrooges were now nicer and the usual cacophony of city noises more harmonious, as if a symphony were playing. Even the honking horn of an impatient driver no longer irritated so much as added a metaphor, like a well-timed, clashing cymbal, to the Christmas music pealing from shops and shoppers' hearts. And...