Monday, February 02, 2009

Britain + Snow = Closedown

There is a bit of a sense of togetherness amongst Britons battling against what they fondly imagine to be extreme weather. I came across some of this as I trudged through the suburbs' quietened roads into school this morning. For the hardy/foolish few who tried to drive, there was never a shortage of willing car pushers, while cheery "good mornings" and resigned comments about the weather were made by people who would normally pass in determined silence. Whether or not a well predicted snow shower is good cause for much of Britain to enter closure status is another matter of course, but at least Gordon Brown has got one reason to be positive - the snow may just deter today's Free Tibet protestors as the Chinese premier continues his programme of visits.

2 comments:

Hullabaloo said...

Midnight last night, I spent about an hour just pushing cars up Angel Hill. Learnt much about the snow. I've rarely seen English people so cheery.

Anonymous said...

Venturing into the court outside my flat at around 11 last night I found a lone boy of perhaps 16 or 17 (and yes, he was wearing a hoody) making snow balls and throwing them at a wall. As I passed he turned to me; I assumed he would throw a snow ball at me, representing a more attractive target than the wall, but instead he gave me a big grin and exclaimed "great isn't it!"

Whether this adds weight to your description of cheery togetherness brought about by snow, or was merely because in Bloomsbury we have a better class of chav, I will never know.

Also, I laughed at all the smartly dressed bankers I saw slipping over on the way to work this morning, which was possibly uncharitable of me, but then it's acceptable to laugh at bankers now, right?

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