British people, never fail to amuse me, but it’s when it snows, that they annoy me the most.
A lof of us, wait all winter, longing for snow. We look out the window expectantly every morning and feel disappointed when it’s just dismal rain. Those of us with young children in particular, want to be getting out the sleds and pushing our children down hills (in the best possible way) and building snow men and snow angels. We want to see that look of pure delight on their faces when they draw back the curtains and see everything covered in fluffy white snow.
And then the snow actually comes…
The first few hours are a relentless Facebook timeline full of snowy statuses, and Instagram explodes with photos of snowcapped landscapes and peoples back gardens.
Then…
Britain goes into meltdown. People panic about school closures, how their car will cope with the drive to work. People panic buy groceries and petrol. People whinge about how they just want the snow to melt… all for a quarter of an inch of snow… if that! The whole country turn into moaning, groaning whingers because what they wanted for so long is finally here, and it might possibly cause them an inconvenience (if they cause enough fuss).
Now obviously, if you’ve got a foot of snow or there’s black ice underneath, that’s a different story. And when the weather is this cold, we all need to look out for the elderly and the vulnerable, but I’m talking about today. Today, where I live, there was 1mm of snow overnight. 1mm. No joke. Barely enough to make a snowball. Not enough to cause any slush or ice on the roads. The roads are still black, the grass is still green. But everyone is whinging and panicking already.
THIS… is what todays snow looked like (other photos are from last year, when we had a decent amount)…
HOW ON EARTH do they think people in snowy countries survive? I’m not going to embarrass myself with my poor knowledge of geography by naming any specific countries, but there are countries who have several inches of snow, every day. Do they skip work and shut all their schools? No. They whack chains on their tyres and get on with their lives. Why does Britain stop, every time we have snow?
And why do so many people, wish for snow, upload hundreds of pictures of the snow, and then moan about how fed up they are of it? Britain, where has your sense of fun gone? Put on some gloves, roll a snow ball and learn to smile!
PS. Weatherman… I’d like a few more inches please… maybe a foot???
This has made me laugh. I come from the part of the Czech Republic, where we have snow from early November till late March. I grew up loving snow, and the winter is very different thanks to snow. But we are ready ti live so many months in snow. I have to say, I hate when it starts snowing here in the Uk as Brits are not ready, and exactly for the reason you have mentioned. I have never heard of closing a school down int he CR due to snow, but here every winter Isabelle is off school due to a closure. Also driving in snow here is very dangerous. We have special winter tyres, which I think you can buy in the UK too, but nobody does for just s few days in a year. Lovely photos by the way. We spend every February half-term skiing in the CR, and my daughters love snow.
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It is crazy the way people moan about snow and the way the country grinds to a half. I would definitely like more snow too. I think maybe we got 3mm!
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Hi Emma,
We went to Gill school together and I’ve been following your blog for a while and just had to comment on this post. I Have lived in Finland for the last four years. We have snow here from November-April and here’s how we cope:
The snow ploughs are out from about 5am clearing the roads and then the foot/cycle paths. People clear their driveways and yards with lumikolas. There’s no word in English for these! They look like this: http://www.mikkotools.com/tuotteet/lumikolat/mikkolumikola60cm I have done the ‘snow work’ many times here!
The footpaths and roads are usually NOT gritted. This is because cars had winter tyres to cope with ice and snow and people know how to walk on ice and snow! Also, once the temperature gets down below about -5 celcius the ground isn’t actually that slippery!
Daily life continues as normal even at -20. Buses trains and planes run as normal, kids walk to school and play outside.
I enjoyed your post because it reminded me that Brits just do not have any ‘snowhow’ 🙂
PS I am still excited by the snow and love the look of it and going skiing…Finns are not at all excited by snow as it is so much a part of daily life!
The problem with the Uk is that we whilst we have a mystical love of snow, that in reality we just can’t handle. The UK (or at least England, I grew up in Scotland, in Perthshire, where we did get snow, and we just got on with it, because we were used to it) doesn’t really get enough snow for the councils and authorities to prep for massive snow falls and spend money on equipment to deal with it, when it happens so rarely. Also, even 1cm of snow can cause chaos here, if we are caught unaware. A driver was very badly injured on the road near us, in the snow last week, because the roads were covered in a fine layer of snow, that froze to black ice, and the road isn’t that well lit, and he skidded into a wall. Other countries who do get a lot of snow are bemused by the chaos a little here causes but they get enough snow to justify spending money dealing with it. Our council stockpiled masses of grit last year in case of snow, that cost £300,000 to organise, and was hardly used. Snow tires are pricey, and if they are going to be used for 2- 3 days at the bare minimum, people aren’t going to buy them, so when they do have to drive, they get caught out. They are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Yes, it is a bit silly when we all freak out, I had to try and get to work in the chaos last week, but I can see why it does cause chaos.
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