Who has this type of reaction to snow, Tom or a Spainard? Or both?
From my conversations on both sides of the pond, I have come to a startling realization that my father (born and bred in New England mind you) and the Spainards (who never see snow) have that shared response!
I would expect as much from a Spainard, because as I learned through my science classes, there is little precipitation in this region. So a snow storm, complete with ice and a half day of school Friday, surely merits a National Disaster.
Flashback to last week in New England. New England has already been hit with several snow storms, leaving many stranded with obnoxious family members and pets in houses that suddenly seem very small. Tom100 is checking weather.com more than the guy who works at weather.com, and has begun to "freak out" about the upcoming storm.
Multiple times a day I am receiving notifications about the weather from Tom100, and the "Winter Storm" that is now DEFINITELY happening because the 50/50 weather guys suddenly have authority over all. Tom's defense to his sudden obsession with weather.com? I don't want to drive in the ::choice word:: snow storm, I don't want you to miss your flight, I want to get there safely, etc...
All legitimate concerns for an actual Snowstorm, or a "snowstorm" in Spain. I will cut them some slack because they just aren't used to this.
Back to Tom100...
The entire weekend is being shaped around this storm, and he decides we are going to leave our house a whole 10 hours before our flight. This sounds a bit nuts considering A) 10 instead of 4-5? B) The sky is CLEAR
I stick to my argument that this is crazy, but I am the only one who vocalizes my resistance. Therefore I lose and off we go to New Jersey at 11am, not 10am. I got that extra hour in! Tom100 was even nervous at this point for "leaving late"
So off we go, having a grand old time in the Rendezvous. We head off to New Jersey. Nance apparently thought we were going to get Hot Chocolate at Dunkin Donuts, because that is what she programed her new GPS to do. Isn't she clever?
After being directed off the highway several times, my dad's patience runs low and he turns his concentration to the road. The rest of us keep ourselves occupied with our cell phones on this treacherous trip, full of clear roads and skies.
We hit New York where the skies start to turn gray and cloudy. OH MAN HERE IS THE STORM! We cross the border, bid adieu to everything Connecticut and hello to everything New York.
And then appear a few small flakes that just aren't sticking around. I wouldn't have noticed them if it wasn't for the Snow Detective, our fearless captain, Tom100. He immediately starts blaming me for that extra hour (not ALL my fault) and begins getting anxious about the huge storm.
Am I in Spain?
The flakes continue falling all the way to Yankee Stadium. Despite his complaints about the "weather", Tom kept his promise and we did a drive-through of the Bronx. What a thrill!
We then continue on our voyage, Mother hops on the snow-train and decides this storm is "terrible" and that the roads are "dangerous". We silently agree to disagree and then proceed to get sprayed by sand by the snow-plows and then we are in New Jersey!
What time did we arrive you ask? We were there by 2pm. This left the afternoon free for Ruby Tuesdays, shopping and Marley & Me. I mean who wanted to spend time with their own dog anyways!
We leave the movie theater @6:30. I was hoping to see a huge storm at this point. However, Mother Nature stuck with her original plan and we had a sprinkling of snow on our car. Nothing a scraper couldn't handle!
We arrive at the airport, check in (no paying for heavy load this time!) and spend some more quality family time together in Jersey.
We board the plane, where I experience my only weather-related delay. The plane had to get de-iced.
OH MY GOODNESS! What a wild storm.
Off to Spain I go, wiping my hands clean of the storm and of paranoid weather watchers... Or so I thought..
I arrive in Madrid and see bits of snow scattered across the runway. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and I find that it was indeed snow. Apparently Madrid had a "snow storm" of 3-4 inche on Friday that caused numerous traffic problems, school closings, and the realization that the Madrilenos didn't have the equipment to take care of the snow.
A teacher at my school was stranded at her house because nobody had plowed her street. I saw a picture, there was definitely a sheet of white on her street, but I couldn't determine its depth.
Needless to say, everyone here is still talking (and reacting) to the storm. The taxi driver told me all about the traffic, the airport closing (it was COMPLETELY closed) and the disbelief shared by everyone.
At school, the teachers were quick to tell me about the half day. I asked them how they would be informed about a school closing, nobody had any idea. I told them about our system back home, and they said "It is because you are used to it." Yup!
Madrid has street cleaners, one of whom I saw attempting to break the ice with the back of her broom before attempting to sweep it away. The news today was reporting on the snow storm from Friday , it remains current news despite the fact that most if it is all melted. There was news from today, there was a lady scraping ice off her car! The cement patio at our school was icy this morning and unusable. I saw some teachers throwing salt on it later in the afternoon. Hmm great idea! Problem solved.
Needless to say, I have now seen the differences and similarities between the Spainards and TOM100 ( who shares his reasoning with millions of Americans). One knows how to react to the snow, and possibly overacts on occasion. The other does not know how to handle a snowflake to any degree.
Would Tom fit in here with the Spainards? Yes of course!
Tom, you will be fine here in Spain. You will all have a lot of snow tales to share along with failed attempts to conquer the "storm". No language barrier can stop these conversations of the shared love for cold snow!
4 comments:
hahahahaahahhaa i KNEW you guys were going to get there like 103972343 hours early
it was a hoot!
TOM100 would do great as long as remembers how to conjugate the verb hablar! Sounds like a blast!
ohhh tom100, i love it. good thing he doesn't live in NH, there could be even more problems... we have a good foot of snow on the ground currently, much more to come. Not to mention it was -10 this morning, its amazing how the single digits can feel warm later in the day.
i'm also the crazy idiot tom100 couldn't handle that chooses to drive in the snow all the way to vermont only to spend my entire weekend outside in freezing temperatures going as fast as i can down a mountain... now thats a hoot.
oh well. meghan come back to the US, i don't like this whole ocean thing between us.
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