Monday, December 6, 2010

Winter Wonderland in the UK!

Surprisingly enough the UK has been under a severe weather alert for the past couple of weeks!! Temperatures in parts of the UK have plummeted to the coldest on record for November! Not to mention, heavy snowfall has put them into a deep freeze! What the heck? I thought that was OUR deal?! 

The worst part of it is that British winters are typically mild, and cities and towns are generally ill-equipped to deal with heavy snowfall. With the worst-hit areas buried under up to a foot and a half of snow, officials and road crews were struggling to keep up. Several local governments were running out of sand and salt — with certain towns racing to their beachfronts to collect extra sand! Unlike in Canada where we spend billions of dollars on our snow removal plans! By the time we wake up in the morning, our streets and sidewalks are ploughed and ready for business! In the UK, EVERYTHING COMES TO A STANDSTILL! literally......! Travellers can say goodbye to open airports and functional highways and roads and HELLLOOOO to major traffic jams and chaos! The funniest thing was when I learned from Nick's dad during our trip to Canadian Tire that he'd like to purchase a snow scraper for his car, so he no longer had to use his credit card to scrape the ice off the windows in the morning!! :O? what? Seriously, this is how unprepared people are for the snow, because they aren't used to good old Canadian winters like we have here! And WE complain? Trust me, we don't have it bad AT ALL when it comes to the big chill.

Britain's weather office has warned that if the cold keeps up through the end of February, this will be the country's coldest winter in three decades. Who woulda thunk it? Maybe now they will re-consider their snow removal budget and tactics! They are definitely in need of some good crisis management!! I sure don't want to see them struggling any longer in snowy and icy  conditions that’s for sure!I have family over there!!!
snowy uk
Even weirder still though is the fact that we, in the Hamilton area, are strangely living in some sort of nook! EVERYWHERE around us is dusted or buried in the white stuff, and yet we always seem to escape the storm!! I don't get it. But I guess I'm not complaining either? Even though Nick is DESPERATE to experience a great Canadian winter (he thinks we're lying when we tell stories of the past!) Remember those days? I wonder if we will actually re-live that again this year!! I guess I WOULD like to see Nick's eyes light up like a child again! haha especially considering the UK stole his glory for the first time that he isn't there to experience it!
I wonder when our turn will be? Tweet This

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