Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow, Filling the sky and earth below, Over the housetops, over the street, Over the heads of the people you meet. Dancing, Flirting, Skimming along. – J.W. (Joseph Warren) Watson
There is something about living in Ireland that results in us not handling the weather very well. I mean this in a positive and negative way.
When it’s cold, we wish it was hot, when it’s hot we complain that it’s too hot and wish it were cooler. Somewhere we are looking for the bed that’s just right, which is probably why are climate is said to be mild moist and variable.
I walk to work most mornings, which obviously means it can be in different kinds of weather, very rarely is it in a tropical paradise. Walking through the snow this week, has allowed me to come up with a few different thoughts.
The first being how does something like this cause so much chaos., Much like the recent flooding, our world seems to stop when other countries seem to know how to deal with it better then us. Secondly, do we think about others enough in situations such as these?
The poor and the old could be suffering without means to help themselves out of a situation. I am sorry to say that I do not practice what I preach enough in this instance, because the first thing the majority of us think of is how wet and cold we are before thinking of others.
I have heard some horror stories about people travelling and some just taking two hours to get out of an industrial estate. Some had lengthy car and bus journeys while others decided to take the fun element of snow and put a more sinister twist to it, such as putting “foreign” objects inside snowballs and throwing them and setting up snow mounds as road blocks.
Desperate weather can obviously bring out different emotions in people. This time around I think we need to spare some thought for others and help out if we can. Hopefully the snow will subside and we will be able to look towards spring and brighter days and evenings.
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 and is filed under Pain and suffering, Thoughts & Questions.
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Ann Says:
We’re so used to rain that anything else sends us into confusion and sometimes even withdrawal.
But what about the homeless? One charity group I know of drives round the city at night offering blankets, sleeping bags and clothing to those who for whatever reason are out there, trying to survive.
How awful it must be to be in a state of mind where indoor accomodation is no longer the attraction it once was, while outdoors is perishingly cold.
Belfast had its first heavy snow early today and schools were closed, traffic greatly disrupted so that even those with the best will in the world were unable to get to work in time or at all.
It’s lovely to look at that’s for sure, and it’s a shame when the simple pleasures of walking or playing in snow get spoilt in the way you’ve described, Mike.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:52 pm