Thursday, February 01, 2007

Pet peeve

Sister's school was cancelled this morning, which I found out at 6:10 am with a call from an automated phone operator. This particularly sucked because Sister is currently in Florida with my mother, living it up in Disneyworld, and I really didn't need to know this time.

We have what is termed a "wintry mix" outside in NC today. It started off with pretty snow around 7:30 or so and turned into some kind of sleety rain mix within a couple of hours. It's not currently warm enough to stick to the roads so I made it out earlier to Whole Foods for some things I didn't really need and a latte which I kinda did need. What I really needed, of course, was to set foot out of the house with Bean. I didn't relish the idea of being stuck in here with her for the whole day one little bit.

While shopping, I was once again subjected to the tired Yankee tirade against Southerners and snow, courtesy of the deli clerk who sliced my ham. Fer chrissakes, I've heard this rant a hundred times if I've heard it once. It goes like this: "You guys call THIS snow?! Back in Chicago/New York/Philadelphia, where I'm from, this would be nothing. They'd have the school buses running without even thinking twice! What is your problem down here anyway?"

Please, Yankees, just shut the hell up about this, will ya? We just don't get much snow here and therefore no one wants to waste their money on snow tires or chains or even a fleet of snowplows and tons of salt for the roads. I mean, why bother? It does something frozen here maybe once or twice a year if we're lucky, and it's usually ice, not snow, which nobody should be driving around in anyway, 4-wheel drive, snow tires, Yankee heritage or not.

So what if we cancel school when you would be bravely forging ahead in your school buses. Take a break, drink some hot chocolate with your out-of-school kids and find a new way to disparage the South, o.k.? God knows there's plenty of fodder if you want to rant.

9 comments:

devilishsouthernbelle.net said...

That's actually one of my pet peeves, too. Our state governments just don't have the extra cash to spend on snowplows; we do good to get sand/gravel on the roads. I have yet to hear a yankee or a west-coaster say 'You call this heat?' though. Because they all know that they may have hotter temps (in the case of the west-coasters), but the mugginess of the south more than makes up for a few extra degrees of arid temperature.

Lauren D. McKinney said...

Hey we're slated to get the same "wintry mix" up here in the north AFTER you get it! Not that you down there know anything about REAL snow like we do up in Philadelphia.

That's funny, because compared to Rochester/Boston/Minneapolis, Philadelphia IS the South.

Yep, people always have the same ritual conversations about weather, don't they? I actually find that a little comforting, in a strange way.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

HEY! I tried to post a comment the other day but my computer is EFFED up! It's good to see you around again! Take care!

Angel said...

I'd rather have wintry mix, to be honest....Us Yankees need to get over it...we're justs jelous that you all live in the south, that's all! ;)

Joan said...

There was no reason our schools needed to be closed but I guess they were being cautious. We lounged around most of the day. I understand what you are saying about people from up North. What gets me was how the news reporters had to really try hard to make a story out of this weather which turned out to be nothing.

JMom said...

my girls enjoyed the snow day, although they were a bit disappointed there wasn't enough snow to play in. I heard the "you call this a winter event" comment at least three times yesterday too, but what do I know. I go into winter mode when temps hit 50 degrees. I just wish I could have stayed home yesterday too, buy my pooper of a job made us come in anyway.

That Chick Over There said...

We had almost the exact same situation here. I think we had less than 1/4 of an inch of snow and school closed for God only knows what reason. I guess it's good to be cautious.

Disappointed the kids though. They really wanted something to play in.

Buffy said...

I had no idea NC had a Whole Foods.

Sugarmama said...

Hi, Buffy! Nice to meetcha. Yes, NC has a Whole Foods. I know of at least 3 here--Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh. Could be more, I don't know.