Isn't it gorgeous? :-)

[abendgules]

London is getting up to six inches of snow - started last night, continuing into tomorrow. There's about three-four inches fallen already.

It's beautiful - mild and cool outside, perfect snowman weather. I took pictures of our little yard and our close covered in snow.

This would be no problem in Canada - ok, a bit of a dump, like the first big snowfall of winter, have to wait for the plows to get round the 401, but not a big deal.

Now picture the same conditions, in a densely packed city of 7million(?), where not a soul owns winter boots or a snowshovel.

Cars here are completely innocent of ice scrapers (I had to describe one to my office mate), snow tires ('oh, the things with chains, right?'), antifreeze for the windshield, or winter oil.

Actually I exaggerate - I own winter boots, and I've seen a couple of people arrive at work who look like they're wearing their hiking kit.

My commute was blissful, actually - no buses at all (all London buses are cancelled today) few cars, almost no fumes even at the busy intersections, and a clear run up my arm of the Northern line.

However, 10/11 Tube lines are down or partly down, so I was very lucky. I'd be SOL going into the centre of the city.

So far I'm one of four in the office, out of about 17.

Comments

[henrytroup.livejournal.com]

I was in Wichita, Kansas once. An inch of snow the previous winter had paralyzed them for a week, for the same reasons.

Ottawa's snow clearing budget is over $60 million a year, and was overspent for 2007 and 2008. That's about half of the total "surface operations" budget, twice the library budget, and about one-and-a-half times the garbage budget.

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In Ottawa, six more weeks of winter is an early spring!