Let it snow/sleet/ice.

You know, I really enjoy inclement weather as long as I don't have to go out in it. The thing about growing up in a coastal community is that on the rare occassions we got any of the frozen wet stuff, the entire county would shut down. School buses would be pulled off the roads (schools closed, of course), and kids would wake up early to glue themselves to the television screen to make double-sure that their school system was indeed closed and not on some crap-ass delay. The worst case scenario would be that school would be open, but would be dismissed in a couple of hours (having the students there just long enough to be considered a full day that didn't have to be made up).

I think the state of North Carolina owns three snow plows with two of them being stored somewhere in the mountain region. The third is in the shop. I'm sure that any plow my county ever saw was hooked to the front of some farmer's pick-up truck. If whatever stuff on the roads doesn't melt off, it wasn't coming off if you lived out in the rural end. I felt sorry for the mail carrier. I always worried he'd slide into one of those super-deep ditches.

Inclement weather days are best enjoyed on Wednesdays in order to break up a long week. True, you'll probably have to return to school or work on Thursday, but that mid-week vacation makes it a bit more tolerable, no?

People in metropolitan areas just don't know how to slow down during these rare blessings. They'd rather argue that [insert group not native to area] can't drive in snow and make themselves martyrs by going to work to grind out 15 minutes of productivity over 8 hours. Not me. As long as I have bread and something to wash it down with, I'm not leaving this house on a snow day for anything (except when I smoked - I left the house to find an open convenience store for cigarettes. Ended up going to the grocery store to get them.).

It would be an entirely different situation if this were Michigan and we could expect snow regularly between November and March. People in Michigan would never get anything done if they slowed down for a half-inch of ice on the roads. At the same time, if the tables were turned if it were 90 degrees and humid there on an April day, I gurarantee you that a good percentage of adults in Michigan would be skipping work in favor of anydamnthing else.

It's just an excuse, folks. It's nice to look out the window at while it's coming down, and it's a great reason to stand over the heat vent holding a cup of tea after going out to the driveway to get the newspaper.

Don't assume that Southerers can't drive in snow. Anyone who's ever terraplaned on a dirt road or extricated their vehicle from a mud patch can drive in snow. We just don't want to.

Posted by Tiffany at December 6, 2006 10:23 AM | TrackBack