Cas is currently…
Just 24 hours after telling the CC not to get excited, we never get snow in this country in November, we… go and get snow in this country. And it’s November. Yay! Pretty snow!
At the same time, keeping an eye on the coverage in the papers of all the disruption caused by a few inches of snow, I can’t help but think that we British really do get uncharacteristically excited about a lot of frozen water. Not even that much frozen water if I am to be honest (one thing with living with a Canadian – you’re no longer permitted to say “that’s a lot of snow” to anything less than about three feet).
A fall of mere millimeters (like they had back in my native Somerset) is enough to close dozens of schools. 5 cm will block roads. I just looked at a ruler – 5 cm isn’t much. About the length of my thumb in fact.
What happens to the great British spirit of keeping going regardless of the odds when we’re faced with a quantity of snow that would just about frost a cake, but not much more? We see snow and (excuse the expression) freeze, like so many rabbits in the headlights. Entire villages can get swept away, and we rally round wonderfully. How we dealt with the Blitz in WWII even spawned a phrase to describe it: “the Blitz spirit”. We’re renowned for being able to cope. Along with drinking lots of tea, queueing with equanimity, talking a bit posh, and having a mad royal family, it is arguably one of the more famous British stereotypes.
Yet give us some sugar-frosting on the fields, and we go into a tailspin. More snow falls in an average five minute flurry in Guelph, than fell in the storms that caused so much kerfuffle last night. Though in our defense, British snow is a “different sort of snow”. Wetter, apparently. Maybe that makes it so much harder to deal with?
My point? Oh, I don’t really have one. *1* I was just commenting on how wonderfully silly the average British person can be on occasion. And if you have plans to take over the world and, admit it, who hasn’t planned a little light world domination in their spare time? Just bring a snow-machine with you when you try to take over the British Isles.
*1*I’ve had a migraine most of the day. You can’t expect reasoned argument after that, can you?Back
*2*I am not holding my breath for snow in So’ton though: apparently, due to being on (more or less) the coast; the way the wind normally blows; and lots of other meteorological/geographical reasons I won’t even pretend to understand, we very rarely get snow. Winchester just 20 minutes away on the train, yes, Southampton, no. It was the same in Liverpool – why can’t I ever live in a place where it snows? *TANTRUM*