Let it Snow
Posted on December 12, 2008
Yesterday morning it snowed in North Waltham for the third time since I moved in on October 1st. Whilst none have been blizzards, it is the first time I can remember three snowfalls before Christmas. Does that mean when I am seventy (if I get that far) I will be saying to my Grandchildren:
“In my day it used to snow three or four times before Christmas”.
It appears that this will be the case, as statistics show that Winters of our parents and grandparents were not much different to ours, if at all. the coldest winters in British history were 1740, 1795, 1814, 1855,1895,1947,1963, and1979. An unusual blizzard in Feb 85 even makes us slightly younger folk think that our winters were colder than now, they weren’t.
Because 1963 and 1947 were relatively close, and our parents memory selects severe cold or heat, they will, when they say winters are not what they used to be, almost always refer to 1963 or 1947 as they were dramatic events.
You don’t hear them saying Oooh I remember when our winters were wet and mild, because that is what is the norm in this country, and the norm is boring. How long ago was the song “I’m Dreaming Of a white Christmas Just Like The Ones we Used To Know?”
To be precise, it is 58 years since good old Bing Crosby stated that we didn’t get snow like we used to, so it proves a point about selective memory. We remember the unique weather, not the damp miserable crap that is outside my window now. Why would you want to remember that!?
I hope we do see plenty of the white stuff this year, it will make a change, I like snow, and for some reason it doesn’t seem to snow like it did when I was a boy, it was great then, we had proper summers as well, and the seasons were so much more like they should be, now they just roll in to one…………………….for christ sake I am at it now.
Pics below are of North Waltham yesterday morning, and one of me struggling to get my car to work.
color of sunshine
December 19, 2008 (10:46 pm)
that is unfair! how come you got more snow than I did???!!?! lol. The snow here in southern Cali was (in my neighborhood) knee deep. Ususally we only get frost…