Snowy Day / Verschneiter Tag

Just like places from Pennington to Washington D.C., we woke up to a snowy day yesterday. Unlike Pennington and Washington D.C., however, it was not a Snow Day for us. Business continued as usual, perhaps a little more slowly, uninterrupted by a little snow. If it's going to be winter, it might as well snow, I think. And, if you ask Nikolas, he'd quickly agree. Afterall, if it's too cold or icy to bike to school, then you might as well be able to have a sled ride.

I found it amusing to read an article this morning about President Obama wondering why schools were closed in the D.C. area because of a little snow and ice. It's something that we've wondered for years living in New Jersey, where even a forecast of flurries causes panicked lines at the grocery store, people stocking up in case they can't get out.

I'm all for Snow Days. There is something very magical about suddenly having a completely free day to play in the snow and laze around. The childish tradition of wearing your pyjamas inside out and backwards to bring on a Snow Day rings well with me. Perhaps it's because growing up we had only one Snow Day in my entire school career. And, the school board was highly criticized for that Snow Day because it was merely a snowy day with a minus 50 degree wind chill. Why should daily life stop for that?!

But, really, shouldn't there be better infrastructure to deal with snow removal in places that seem to struggle? It's not like it never snows in New Jersey. It snows every winter. Usually it's just a few inches, sometimes it's a lot, but even a few inches shuts most things down. It's not like they don't have snow plows in New Jersey either. It seems like there are plenty, but the plows also seem to be all caught up in red tape. In Pennington, we live on the corner of Green Street (a town road) and West Delaware Avenue (a county road). Two houses down, Burd Street (a town road) connects with West Delware Avenue, sort of a continuation of Green Street (or vice versa). We've watched, year after year, in wonder as township plows come up Green Street, reach the corner, lift up their plow blades, turn left onto West Delaware Avenue, turn right onto Burd Street, put down their plow blades and continue plowing. Perhaps if everyone just worried about cleaning the streets and not which streets they were on, the job wouldn't be so hard.

I've digressed, so now I will get back on track. Salzburg if beautiful in the snow. Peter rides his bike to class, but I've parked my bike until the paths are a little clearer (Where is my running/biking path in this photo?!) and enjoy walking instead. This snow will stick around at least through the weekend, though it's supposed to warm up a bit next week, and so we'll enjoy it while it's here. Lots of sledding and snow balls and snow men are on our To Do list, even if it's not a Snow Day.