We dont get snow here. But yeah its been pretty good.
I bet its going to get cold where you are soon.
Never ever? Awwww, man, you don't know what you're missing! It's great here when it snows - public transport grinds to a standstill (because, of course, no one expects it to snow here so totally inadequate gritting and other provision every year) so you get your car out and the paintwork gets eaten away by the salt in the grit and if you live outside a town you'll probably end up in a ditch anyway because they don't grit the minor roads and there's not any snowploughs.
Rural communities get 'cut off' even though they're only about a mile from a major motorway because we're shite at organising anything so would rather pay the Army to helicopter bread and milk in than invest in a local farmer ploughing out the lanes, but anyway they're all too busy digging out their livestock and moaning to the Press about expensive dead animals they didn't get under shelter prior to a snowstorm (because no one expects it to snow here).
Then there's nothing on the telly except drama stories about old people freezing to death (their families didn't expect it to snow here), helicopter shots of cut off communities (because that's cheaper than investing in a community snowplough and no one expects it to snow here anyway), schools are shut because the buses can't run due to no snow chains (because no one expects it to snow here), food shortages in the supermarkets because the lorries can't get through and the motorways are too icy (because .... yeah, you guessed it ....)
Then for about two weeks after it all starts to thaw out we're hearing endless tales of flooding. Winters are anything but dull in Dear Ole Blighty.
Oh Fifi, I've really missed your wonderful humorous posts. I'm so happy to see you post again.
You hit the nail on the head about snow here in the UK. Don't forget the havoc caused by the 'wrong type' of leaves on railway lines in the Autumn. Who knew lots of trees would lose their leaves every year when the weather gets colder?
Noooo ! Not the famous (infamous?) American Stare?
You're absolutely right, of course. Our roads in the main are not at all snow friendly probably because they were constructed to accommodate the genteel clip-clop of a horse and carriage (and the stately plodding of a Clydesdale and haywain) which later catered wonderfully well to the occasional cruising Austin Six. We never bothered modifying them because no one noticed there were suddenly 32 million cars scurrying hither and thither.
Our modern (b'wahahahaha) roads are about 6 inches wider and slightly straighter and some even have a rather revolutionary grit box every 43 miles which the local Councils always forget to fill up because no one expects it to snow here.
I'm wondering if you, as an American, have ever noticed our domestic garages? I guess we can be forgiven for the 1950s innovation built to house a humble Morris Minor but we're still building houses now with "garages" that size (because no one noticed cars got big, I expect) so wifey leaves hers on the 'driveway' (titter) and everyone else leaves theirs on the road outside, both sides of the street, so a gritter couldn't get down there even if there were any but there aren't because ......
Aye, world leaders we are. Technological innovators, world-beating inventions (Track & Trace *cough*) elitist Empire builders .... bamboozled by a bit of frozen water.
Now that you mention it, that does seem very inconvenient. Most people
do
park on the street,
and in the worst places imaginable on said street
so I can see how it would be hard to put any grit down.
Haven't been exposed to loads of garages, but generally they seem to be used for everything but cars? Far as I can tell anyway.
I can't help but want snow, but seeing the roads and how utterly
tiny
they are, it really is dangerous should icy conditions develop. You have absolutely no room to slide! AT ALL! Insane.
I feel like I'm forcing my brain to rewire itself because I've always loved the snow, but as an adult it just doesn't in the slightest in this country. Oof.
Arrr! Only th' Devil an' I know th' where'bouts o' me treasure, an' th' one o' us who lives th' longes' should take i' all.
Ah yes, you are not wrong. Garages old and modern are used, by the rank and file, for purposes other than garaging because they are actually too small to house an average motor vehicle of today's dimensions (assuming you actually wish to exit the car once you've driven it inside). But property developers continue to build these rinkydink little addendums as they can whack £10,000 onto the price of a house with a "garage".
Sometimes people convert them into utility rooms to house their American (!!) style fridges, or put the washing machine & tumble dryer in there because our kitchens tend to be too puny to accommodate today's must-have appliances. Sometimes they have an elderly relative squirrelled away in there, peering out forlornly at the ranks of parked cars.
Occasionally they store their 'gardening equipment' - there's not enough room for a shed in new-build back gardens usually and their postage stamp size demesne is given over to hard paving with a fire pit and gas BBQ for lifestyle entertaining, the ubiquitous trampoline to amuse the kiddies when the Wi-Fi goes down and a scrap of lawn for the designerdoodle dog to dump on.