Snow Comparison

One year ago, (at the beginning of February 2011) Chicago got a ton of snow. The biggest snow storm we had seen since we had moved there. The biggest snow storm most of the locals had ever seen. It took Charles hours to shovel our driveway.

School was shut down for a day and everyone had fun playing in the snow. The snow drifts were incredible. We opened the garage door and this was how high the snow was. When I opened the front door it was the same - almost up to my waist!

But within a day, our road was plowed out and life was back to normal.

Now let's compare England one year later. At the beginning of February (the first Sunday of the month to be exact), England got snow. We got a good 2-3 inches of snow which doesn't seem like a lot if you have previously lived in Chicago or anywhere it snows frequently but in England that is enough to make everything come to a standstill.

Nothing gets plowed here. They do not have snow plows, no one has snow blowers or even snow shovels (including us - how pathetic). No one shovels or clears their walks or driveway. In some ways it is a beautiful thing since in Chicago our neighbors were all such over-achievers they were out shoveling their walks before the snow finished falling. But in other ways, it is a nightmare.

We are the ones from Chicago, we know how to drive in the snow and we don't freak out about a little bit of snow but of course, we were the ones who got stuck right outside of our driveway. Pretty embarrassing...

The amazing thing to me was taking the girls to school the next day. Now remember, it snowed on Sunday morning, by Monday morning shouldn't things be cleared and everyone up and running? No. Not here. I took the girls to school and the school parking lot and sidewalks had not seen a shovel or plow whatsoever! No one had even bothered to do ANYTHING! Mothers could not push their strollers (prams, pushchairs, buggies if you want to know the UK terms) through the snow. It was insane. What was even more insane was that the next day everything was worse - ice! I kept thinking there would be law suits left and right if this happened in Chicago. But not here. Our driveway was no exception as well as ALL our neighbors - covered with snow one day, an ice rink the next. A friend of mine who is British told me that you could be sewed if you shoveled your walk and someone fell because it would be your fault for not clearing it and salting properly. Whereas, if you do not clear your walk and someone falls, you can blame nature and natural causes, so that is why no one bothers to shovel. Amazing! 

Here is a view of the backyard.

After all this, I hear that Chicago has had a very mild winter this year with very little snow and temperatures of 60 degrees! Why oh why must I suffer so much and always have to live where the snow falls?