My Grimly Glamorous Life – Oxford in Winter

This morning I awoke yet again to a Winter Wonderland!  It is getting quite preposterous really, we had snow only last week.  I have lived in these parts for over two decades, and usually the best we can hope for is a little coating of white frost.  But the last few years we have been simply inundated with the white stuff, up to a foot for three years running!  Insupportable.

On the way to work I saw many miraculous sights.  Men with big red shovels clearing the snow off the sidewalks.  Grit on roads, large tracts of sidewalk wet rather than icy – a sure sign of salt having been applied, given the still sub-zero temperatures.  What has gotten into these people?  In the past when we had a foot or more of snow most people took one look at the white desolation outside and went back to bed, or at least stayed firmly inside.  Snow on roads and sidewalks was left to compact for three weeks until it became impossible to shift and extremely treacherous.  No one gritted or put out salt.  The roads were empty of people.  And that is saying something in the usually tourist infested Oxford!  Here and there I came across a few hardy individuals who had ventured out to do some shopping, or clear away the snow from their cars by shovelling it onto some other vehicle, cheerfully recalling the good old days and trying to channel the Dunkirk spirit.  But they were in the minority.

And now today this totally over the top attack on the two inches of white stuff!  How am I supposed to interpret this?  Either the city has finally got its act together and planned for snow – a strange departure from their usual frugal approach of laissez faire non-interference, or everyone has decided that they can handle two inches and got stuck in.  I suppose if a crisis is really huge everyone just throws up their hands and goes to the pub instead.  But if a crisis is small and cute it can be fun to get involved and sort it out.  Kind of like weeding in my garden – half an hour of light effort and the job is done, so I do it without demur.

However that may be, my hiking boots were not really necessary and on the way back most of the snow had disappeared.  Oh well, if the weather wizards are to be believed more snow could be on the way.

Poor snowman, he only lasted a few hours.  The Authorities deemed him undesirable and had him demolished.  Spoilsports!