I come back to sound like a broken record.

[ridicully]

I really like living here, but the way life just shuts down because of a bit of snow is driving me insane.
Especially since I was in northern Finland just last week where snow is just something that happens and then you deal with it sensibly.
No, 10 (or even 15) cm of snow do not equal "being snowed in". And I say that as someone who very cleverly left her winter tires in Germany when I brought the car over here.

*grumblemumblegrumble*

Comments

[liz_mo]

*lol*
It's not much better "here" in GErmany ;-)
Especially not in the Rhineland.
By now (after 3 weeks!!!) of constant snow, people are slowly getting used to it :)
Good luck!

[eva]

Oh God yes, I was going to say that nowhere can be as bad as Cologne. You'd think there were meters and meters of snow, the way people are carrying on. I come from an area where knee-high snow and temperatures of minus 15 aren't unknown, and people here think we face cold death with 10 centimeters and minus 5.

At least people are finally forced to get winter tires with the new law. The typical Cologne citizen thinks he doesn't need any because there's never any snow anyway, and when there is snow, he tries to drive with those summer tires, doesn't know how to drive properly on snow, and is "helped" by a city that doesn't get the hang on what to do when it snows and tends to run out of salt when the streets are iced.

[liz_mo]

*lol*
I moved from Bonn to Duesseldorf and my boyfriend was born in Cologne, so I can attest you IT NEVER SNOWS HERE!
I remember winters with not ONE SNOWFLAKE. Or if there were it was "Puderzucker", gone by midday.
So why use winter tires and/or stock up on salt? ;-)

[ridicully]

I grew up near Frankfurt, not the most snowy area of the country, but I remember winters when we had a couple of days of snow when I was a kid.
Of course after learning how to drive, I moved to Leipzig and Berlin and learned how to slide around corners on the snow.
I've looked down on anyone who doesn't think its fun ever since ;D

But yeah, bigger cities, people will be even bigger idiots in the snow. But yesterday it took one of my clients over an hour to do a 10 minute drive in a proper old school farmer's Landrover. That's not worth complaining about any more, that's just *sad*.

[dirtyzucchini]

My British colleagues assure me it's because nobody over there is used to snow at all, there has never been any snow, snow is cold and white and scary! I call bull on that, because that's the same thing they told me last year and the year before. You'd think people could get used to it, but then, winter surprises German drivers every single year, especially when it starts in... oh, December. *sigh*

On a mostly unrelated note: Happy Birthday! Sorry I'm so terribly late, I'm very bad at stuff like that...

[ridicully]

Oh, I complain about the german drivers that don't appreciate the fun of sliding around corners on snow just as much. But at least they are vaguely aware of the idea of winter bringing snow.
You would have thought that the idea of water falling out of the sky wouldn't surprise people here but apparently water freezing transforms it into a horror from the deep.

And don't worry, I forget about birthdays all the time *g*

[lexin]

Every year, snow is a surprise to the British. We're congenitally incapable of "getting used" to to it. There is no "getting used" to it, all Brits know that; snow is nasty, unnatural and evil.

[ridicully]

It certainly sounds like it. Heathrow tried to get away with claiming 30 tons of snow on every airplane parking spot yesterday.
How this is supposed to work without snow being something darkly magical I have no idea.