There's no business like snow business

Ah there is nothing like a little snow to get people excited. For a short while everyone forgot the credit crunch and some enjoyed the crunch of pure white snow under their feet. Hardly a car moved and the air was all the better for it. My neighbour gleefully announced "It's like the Alps" and off he went for a long walk over the hills. Other people discovered that walking is not such a bad way to get around and they said good morning and smiled. We were drawn together by the magical transformation of our town into Narnia.

By the evening the television was showing the inevitable pictures of disgruntled commuters and in particular one man who was waving his arms at the great white emptiness and saying that Britain is like a 'Third World Country' and it is disgusting. I must have seen him on a ten minute loop for an hour. I have no way of knowing for sure but I wouldn't mind betting he has never set foot in a 'Third World Country'. If he did, go to some parts of Africa for example, he might find that people don't tend to complain as much. They are generally more stoical and resourceful and they smile a lot more.

In this county people need someone to blame for everything that happens. They complain about a 'Nanny State' and the first time they are out of their comfort zone they go looking for nanny. The news media feeds and I believe orchestrates this for entertainment so the whole process becomes self fulfilling.

All those smiling faces I saw in the morning were not on the news and gradually the mood was eroded away by tea time when they discovered that what we naively thought was a bit of fun was really a National Disaster.
There was an estimate of how many billion pounds this snow has cost the economy and of course there were moans and groans about the lack of planning and investment.
Presumably those people want us to invest in hundreds of snow ploughs to clear the streets within minutes of it falling. They are convinced that Britain is rubbish at everything and that Russia, Canada and Norway all cope better. It's true, they do cope better but they spend a lot on preparing for it because it comes every year without fail. Motorists routinely change to snow tyres in November and keep them on until March or April. Motorists have to invest in looking after themselves rather than relying on the state. Paying road tax doesn't give them a right to snow free roads. Nobody hands out free snow tyres but if you haven't got them you aren't allowed on the road. There is also a downside to snow tyres because unless you have a good covering of snow the tyres tend to churn up areas of tarmac. so ideally you need complete snow cover or non at all.

There is also a fundamental difference in the layout of a Norwegian (for example) town. They don't have nearly so many streets with cars parked nose to tail down both sides. If you plough a street or a road like this you simply build two walls of tightly packed snow against the cars and this freezes quickly. You would then need a jack hammer to clear it and long after the snow on the road has gone these walls remain locking the cars in their parking places.

I lived in Northern Norway during the winter way up in the Arctic Circle and the snow builds up in front of the doors and windows and it is impossible to get the car out without a good few hours on the end of a shovel. There is no magic machine to do it for them.

In parts of America the public is expected to keep the streets clear. There are laws requiring residents to clear the full width of the pavement or a minimum of 42inches wide. Those Americans need a nice wide sidewalk. In Minneapolis we are told there is even a fine of something over a hundred pounds if the snow isn't cleared within 24 from outside your house.

In this country you rarely see anyone shovelling snow any more. In Norway we shovelled snow and chopped logs and we brought our shopping home on a sledge and even in temperatures of 25 below it felt great to be out.
More snow forecast, Bring it on.