Monday, November 29, 2010

A few thoughts on a cold day

Minus seventeen degrees is cold. Very cold. It was the coldest night for a hundred years I’m told. It wasn’t quite that cold here. That was a couple of hundred miles away in Wales. But it wasn’t far off. What makes it different, is that it’s hardly winter yet. It’s only November.


Something else happened here that doesn’t normally happen in November. Snow. It snowed heavily here on the south coast two days ago; in fact I had trouble identifying my car when I walked out my front door that morning. Three days later the pavement outside my house is still buried under the white stuff. The thing is, it’s been below freezing day and night for ages so it just sits there, frozen and very slippery. Funny that, because it wouldn’t take much for the local authority to clear it away. After all, it’s a hazard. I live in a hilly bit of town. It’s not too bad shuffling along on the flat, but trying to keep upright going up or down would challenge an Olympic skater!

Local authorities are, after all, responsible for health and safety. The Health and Safety Department are normally vigilant to the extreme. The other day I heard about a school which is planning to put on a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk this Christmas. The Health and Safety Department have told them that the little boy playing Jack has to use a small stepladder to climb the beanstalk rather than clamber six feet up the wooden leaves. Not only that, but he has to be tethered with a safety strap and don a crash helmet! There is a lovely pebble beach here in Sussex, where visitors are warned with a hideous bright yellow sign and a pictogram of a man falling over that there is an "uneven surface". Another pictogram, complete with another tumbling idiot, warns that the beach may have a "slippery surface". Yet there are old folk on the streets of the same town slithering and sliding on packed snow and ending up in the already overstretched A&E Department!

Instead of clearing the snow, the town council workers have been busy during the last few days attaching plastic Christmas trees to the lamp posts in my part of town. They look very festive. Just a shame about the hideous solar panel which sits atop each tree! I suppose I shouldn’t complain. They are after all doing their bit to conserve energy and help combat global warming.

Which brings me full circle to where I started. A couple of days ago we endured the coldest night for a hundred years, and it’s snowing two months earlier than usual. Clearly our efforts to combat global warming are having a profound effect!



5 comments:

  1. Yes we also had some colder than normal weather and snow in November! I knew it would be like this because the leaves were late falling, and stick around as ground protection! It was -9 for quite a few days. It's hovering at +2 and +3 right now! More snow to be expected Saturday. However since we have had this female Mayor, a woman nominated for a world mayor award the streets are kept salted and sanded as a priority at the hint of bad weather. They plow all night and I really commend her because since she's been in power many safety concerns all over the city been addressed! She's amazing.

    In Vancouver only 35 minutes away they've implemented a new law where you must have your walk and driveway shoveled before 10 am during a snow fall! Harsh eh? I have a bad knee and it makes me nervous to fall on the ice so I am extra careful. You be careful too...a fall can be fatal for some seniors!!Or anyone for that matter!
    Hope they get on that snow removal pretty quick! Good luck and stay warm!

    Hugs Sherrie

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  2. Stay warm my friend. NZ is expecting to have it's highest temperatures since temps began being recorded. If you don't hear from me for a while, I'll have passed out from the heat.

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  3. Hey Buddy just checkin to see if you are snowed under?...Have you checked out the new jingle blog for poetry? I see the snow reports on the new and wonder if you even have power! Let me know if you're alive and kicking!!! lol

    Hugs Giggles

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  4. Well, we have to do the important things first, you know!! Oh, dear, I feel for you. I grew up with Chicago snow, but don't miss it a bit here in New Zealand!

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  5. Hmmmmmm, we seem to be getting your weather and you ours.... I think it is snowing now..., the black Border Collie came in through the door that I forgot to close, hideously white..., ugh! She ran outside again and I decided it was time to close the door and light the fireplace, lol. Love a wood heat. Funny though, I never felt the cold. No wind I guess. Thank the good Lord for the forest.

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