sympathy for the Haitians

[Choop]

at least your state doesn't see snow and think god is punishing them for allowing booze at restaurants on sunday and for gays existing. (mine)

[littlefallsmets]

Where I grew up, we saw snow and we thought:

"Oh yeah. THAT'S why the property values are so low."

[Drygioni]

I went into the train station with a girl this morning, and it was just your normal bleak Northern sky. When I left said station (without her) 5 minutes it was snowing. Extremely heavily. This was extremely strange but I guess it must be very important, some how. Nothing like movie-weather to possibly make certain things seem more than they really are.

Anyway. Snow.

Snow is a near-mythical substance back home, where we would only receive a couple of inches worth every few years. For that one day it settled I would literally go mental, flinging myself down slopes, engage in running snowball battles for hours and go all Calvin-and-Hobbes regarding snowmen.

Sheffield's a fair amount more snowy though, and the feeling I described above still remains, at times. When I'm out in the Peak District the sheer abundance of steep slopes, gullies etc. make the snow impossibly fun. The surface of Kinder Scout is best described as being like black Creme Brulee, so jumping around on it in the snow not only felt good but looked tasty.

Back in the city however the fun soon wears off. Sheffield's extremely hilly for a medium-sized English city and soon enough any minor incline becomes a death trap for your average student in their stupid Ugg boots or Converse trainers. Hence me breaking out the 6-point crampons and hiking boots to make it into an exam this year. Isn't crampon a funny word?

The sheer weirdness of Britain sometimes really comes through in the snow. Equal amounts of horror, joy, grumpiness, sheer bloody uselessness, sheer bloody-minded stubbornness.

Idiotic driving was everywhere, people just don't understand the seriousness of the conditions whilst at the same time a ridiculously exaggerated sense of disaster was propagated by the news channels desperate to create a climate of fear as usual. The nation that weathered the Blitz was at times was scarily weak-kneed in the face of half-frozen water, it's depressing that there is absolutely no space in the mind of the average British person that knows how to deal with weather like this even as it increasingly becomes a fact of life with the disappearance of the Gulf Stream.

[theinevitable]

it snowed here a few days ago, and I was not at all anticipating what a colossal pain in the ass cleaning ice off my car would be.

finally buying a real winter coat has helped a lot. it is nice to just have to put on a sweater and a coat, instead of many layers of sweaters and a scarf, hat, gloves, etc. when I was trying to pretend like I was fine in a peacoat.
I am a skinny dude. I do not have natural insulation like some people. It is a fact, and so I bought a real coat. Luckily I managed to find one that is really boring looking, all one color, no big logos, and was on a half-off sale. i love this thing.

I am one of those idiots slipping around and falling on my ass because I do not have real boots. My old ones wore out and I never got new ones... oh well.
my big nike hightops are doing OK, though... better than the converses I used to wear, those things had zero traction.

[greenkoolayd]

there was a foot and a half of snow by noon and it hasnt stopped snowing since then.  i am fucked in a way that i do not like.

[schnitzelbank]

I am one of those idiots slipping around and falling on my ass because I do not have real boots. My old ones wore out and I never got new ones... oh well.
my big nike hightops are doing OK, though... better than the converses I used to wear, those things had zero traction.

I have YakTrax. They make the trek uphill in the snow to buy ingredients to appease angry weather gods possible. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to crack eggs over my head, wrap myself in toilet paper, pour milk over the balcony, and jump over a sterno can with bread mashed into my toes three times to ensure the return of the sun. 

[wombat]

Where I grew up, we saw snow and we thought:

"Oh yeah. THAT'S why the property values are so low."

On NPR today, they read all kinds of letters from people in cold places who were complaining about how much coverage the storm in DC was getting, all going on and on about how much snow they have where they live.

Well, yeah. That's why WE have the sense to live HERE and not where you dopes live!

[CortJstr]

I have YakTrax. They make the trek uphill in the snow to buy ingredients to appease angry weather gods possible. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to crack eggs over my head, wrap myself in toilet paper, pour milk over the balcony, and jump over a sterno can with bread mashed into my toes three times to ensure the return of the sun. 

I got a pair of those, too. I put them on on Sunday then discovered that all the sidewalks around here were already shoveled down to bare brick so they were unnecessary.

[littlefallsmets]

Please say they play Yakitysax from little speakers on them.

[Drygioni]

YakTrax? Pfft.

Try these bad boys on for size

[JorgeFabregas]

I think those would put a cramp on my walking style.

Or tear up the sidewalk.

[Drygioni]

I think those would put a cramp on my walking style.

Or tear up the sidewalk.

Yes

On the other hand you can walk up the side of buildings and stomp people like a mofo

[Asherdan]

I'm really not seeing any downside here.

[side_show]

On NPR today, they read all kinds of letters from people in cold places who were complaining about how much coverage the storm in DC was getting, all going on and on about how much snow they have where they live.

Well, yeah. That's why WE have the sense to live HERE and not where you dopes live!

Or:  That's why weaklings live where they live.  

I was in Banff this winter, with mountains everywhere, watching a herd of about 100 wild elk.  I was looking at all the impassible, massive mountains of the Rockies, and it made me realize the serious strength and endurance it takes to be Canadian, and it brought me to a new place, where I want to relish the challenge of life in the elements.  There's an entire community of snowmen on my street this year.  I wore ice cleats almost every day last winter to walk to and from work.  We get every kind of weather where I live (apart from hurricanes, though there are tornadoes).  It's really not an issue to adapt to varied conditions, although as a species humans are lazy, so it's more of a mental obstacle to deal with things like winter, heat, etc.  It's embarrassing to see people complaining about minor inconveniences, because 1) we're tougher than that, and those of us who live with it all the time know this is so, and 2) it's really not that hard to come up with solutions to overcoming the challenges, so grow up and deal with it.  We're probably the most resilient species on the planet, yet we act like we're made of glass or something.  So sucky.

Regardless, I wonder how many people actually choose to live where they live, regardless of location.    It seems to me many people have little choice as to where they live.  I live where I live because I was born here and all the people I love live here.  Other people live where they do because it's where the work they can find is.   If I were to choose, actually choose to live where I wanted to based only on my own desires, I'd probably live on a private island with a handful of my favorite people.  An island of the sort where I could be totally self sufficient based on growing seasons and the availability of giraffe and maybe some chickens I'd raise.  There's a lot of things preventing me from doing such a thing on financial and personal levels, to the point where such a desire is basically a dream.  So I take what I get, and find joy in the resiliency of myself and those around me.

[wombat]

Well good for all of you who live in places that own enough snowplows etc. Some of my neighbors didn't even own shovels and they were selling out as soon as they trucked them in so you couldn't get one for love or money. Someone I know even ordered one on Amazon hoping for a miracle that the delivery would get through (it didn't). If you resilient Northerners can explain how they can clear five foot drifts with their kitchen implements, I'm sure they'd be glad to know.