Wait, aren't you in Australia? What season is it there?

A snow day! I remember the intense joy of waking up to find that school was canceled due to snow. How great is that! I hope you enjoy your day off.

You're only allowed to stay home if you are stocked up on hot cocoa.

I can never remember having a snow day. A too-cold-for-school/work day, yes (I remember many mornings repeatedly calling the airport time and temp for the magic number -45°F). Things don't close here for the snow, unless you're luck enough to talk your boss into closing early for the "long, slow drive home".

I get snow days every year. We call them "driving bans" here. In that if you try to go to work the police will stop you, tell you to get your crazy ass home, and reward your foolishness with a ticket.

During driving bans only emergency personnel can be on the roads- cops, medical workers, plow drivers, and the people who work at thruway rest areas.

Mostly because here, when we get snow storms, it's never the "been snowing for days and we have two feet" variety. It's the "been snowing three hours and we have four feet" sort. So the roads get very bad very fast, and the plows can't keep up with them. Cars are likely to get stuck and make it even slower work to plow since you then need to get them towed.

(I remember many mornings repeatedly calling the airport time and temp for the magic number -45°F)

Serious?? Holy christ, I think I'd drop dead just going outside in that. We get snow, but 45 below? I can't even imagine what it would be like. They warn people not to go outside when it hits ten below here.

Wait, aren't you in Australia? What season is it there?

No, I'm in the UK. It's a tad early for this sort of thing.

Damn, they gritted the roads! I'll have to go to work after all.

And here I am planning to sleep with a window open. Brrrrrrrrr.

I had to drive home from the south (2 hours) in driving snow last night (really unusual here in the UK, especially in November), but the ground clearly wasn't frozen - it's all gone now.

In the UK, it always snows once in November. The snow's a bit further south than usual this year, granted, but it always snows once in November.

I can't believe people are constantly suprised by this. IT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR. IT HAPPENED LAST YEAR AND THE YEAR BEFORE THAT.

Now all I need is people to start worrying that it's going to be a really bad winter and then watch them freak out when it snows a tiny little bit in the middle of December and then does nothing until the 12th January.

I don't remember any snow here this early last year or the year before... but you live further north.

I do live very near the top of the tallest hill in Britain (just three feet short of a mountain), so I really shouldn't complain about weird weather.

but 45 below? I can't even imagine what it would be like.

Those cold temps were in Fairbanks, and my office only closed at -45°F because we were mostly run by volunteers. I think the schools up there don't close until -50°F.

Damn, I miss the bragging rights of living in Fairbanks.