In his latest Letter From The UK, Geoff Maxted examines the phenomenon (and the irony) of why we are still in disbelief every time it snows.
In Europe over the last few days, very heavy snow has fallen in various countries. Mostly these are countries where it happens every year and are thus popular for winter sports, but this year there has been an extreme snowfall. In one location there was over ten feet of the white stuff being cleared from the roof of a school, for example.
All Show & No Go
On the very morning that I am writing this our national public broadcaster, the BBC, had a frantic morning show host trying to get a man to say how horrendous it was. In fact, he wasn?t that bothered. People were taking it in their stride, he said. They were used to it. It was very funny watching the host try to big up a disaster that hasn?t happened. Meanwhile, at a winter sport venue in Oberhof, Germany, 21,000 people still turned up to watch a biathlon event, despite the snow and extreme weather. And they all had a lovely time.
Fargo (Don’t Cha Know)
Anyone who watched this brilliant Coen Brothers movie will know the story unfolds in the snowy lands of Minnesota. We watch people going about their lives normally on foot and in cars, talking about the weather as they routinely dig out their driveways.
So the USA too gets weather events it seems. I quote John Bacon at USA Today, ?A brutal winter storm that dumped up to 20 inches of snow in the Midwest last week roared east S...