The Country Falls To Its Knees - Celebrate!
I have been amazed by the amount of snow I've been privileged to enjoy down here in London lately. Last night was the best snow I've seen for some time, possibly since the one that inspired one of my first posts to this blog. Snow is just fantastic - puts everything in a really amazing light.
The only problem is that it's happening here in London when I'm here. I am currently living on my own (not that my missing housemate would want to build a snowman) and worse, living in an area which appears to have no children. The consequence = no life. Adults generally love a good snowman building and snowball warfare as much as a child... but they can only express that via the medium of a child. It would feel a bit foolish throwing snowballs at the man a few doors down - he would probably think you'd gone mental. But if there is a child in the equation, it is then plainly obvious that the activity is harmless (mostly) fun.
So when I hear people moaning about the simple fact that it snowed - I stick my tongue out at them. I can understand when people complain about the trains and stuff not running on time because of it - simply because these things are avoidable. But then again, the fact that everything goes tits up at the slightest hint of snow is also a very British tradition, one which is celebrated with a good old-fashioned skive from work/school. Why should this be denied by the advance of modern technology?
I've been watching the pictures on the news all day (I use the term "news" loosely, since the non-stop coverage of people sledging down Malvern Hills on Sky News all day is not quite news) and it just fills me with happiness. It's fantastic to watch how lots of people skive, schools shut, and the result is that families get a nice day off from the normal drudgery and get to spend some time together. Of course, there are the usual misery guts who don't deserve children, those who complain that they're being forced to take the day off work to look after the fruits of their loins! Imagine that - fancy having to talk and engage with one's offspring! How dare the schools close when I had no trouble getting there this morning - who cares about whether other people are having problems! These kind of people are in evidence throughout the whingefest that is BBC News's discussion boards on this issue.
But thankfully, most people are fairly happy when the snow falls - probably because it's still quite a rare thing to happen across the entire UK. It's mostly confined to the hills and mountains in Wales and Scotland. I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy it so much if I had to see it every day; it would definitely lose its magic. But I still wish I had been able to enjoy it properly. If it had fallen when I was in Hull, I would no doubt have spent most of today reverting to a childlike state of trying to kill my friends by putting snow down their back - and I've no doubt they would fight back. But it's good fun. In my humble opinion, of course.
So I sat there watching Sky News and News 24 with a not inconsiderable envy. If I was back home I would have been able to join in - thanks to having younger brothers and a younger sister. But elsewhere, society is not prepared to accept adults with no excuse of having children to impress playing silly buggers in public.
Yet, you can be sure that so many of us wanted to...
The only problem is that it's happening here in London when I'm here. I am currently living on my own (not that my missing housemate would want to build a snowman) and worse, living in an area which appears to have no children. The consequence = no life. Adults generally love a good snowman building and snowball warfare as much as a child... but they can only express that via the medium of a child. It would feel a bit foolish throwing snowballs at the man a few doors down - he would probably think you'd gone mental. But if there is a child in the equation, it is then plainly obvious that the activity is harmless (mostly) fun.
So when I hear people moaning about the simple fact that it snowed - I stick my tongue out at them. I can understand when people complain about the trains and stuff not running on time because of it - simply because these things are avoidable. But then again, the fact that everything goes tits up at the slightest hint of snow is also a very British tradition, one which is celebrated with a good old-fashioned skive from work/school. Why should this be denied by the advance of modern technology?
I've been watching the pictures on the news all day (I use the term "news" loosely, since the non-stop coverage of people sledging down Malvern Hills on Sky News all day is not quite news) and it just fills me with happiness. It's fantastic to watch how lots of people skive, schools shut, and the result is that families get a nice day off from the normal drudgery and get to spend some time together. Of course, there are the usual misery guts who don't deserve children, those who complain that they're being forced to take the day off work to look after the fruits of their loins! Imagine that - fancy having to talk and engage with one's offspring! How dare the schools close when I had no trouble getting there this morning - who cares about whether other people are having problems! These kind of people are in evidence throughout the whingefest that is BBC News's discussion boards on this issue.
But thankfully, most people are fairly happy when the snow falls - probably because it's still quite a rare thing to happen across the entire UK. It's mostly confined to the hills and mountains in Wales and Scotland. I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy it so much if I had to see it every day; it would definitely lose its magic. But I still wish I had been able to enjoy it properly. If it had fallen when I was in Hull, I would no doubt have spent most of today reverting to a childlike state of trying to kill my friends by putting snow down their back - and I've no doubt they would fight back. But it's good fun. In my humble opinion, of course.
So I sat there watching Sky News and News 24 with a not inconsiderable envy. If I was back home I would have been able to join in - thanks to having younger brothers and a younger sister. But elsewhere, society is not prepared to accept adults with no excuse of having children to impress playing silly buggers in public.
Yet, you can be sure that so many of us wanted to...
posted by Matt at
6:05 pm
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