The big-ish snow

Yesterday, London was blanketed by snow...a whole 6 inches of it (sense the sarcasm!). Not much by say Chicago standards, even New York standards...but a lot for here. Enough for here to shut down the city, bringing all of the buses, planes, and most trains to a halt, closing school. Due to the inclement weather an estimated 6 million people just didn't show up for work throughout Britain, most not even calling in. Sure, it took me 2 hours to get into work yesterday, walking the icy sidewalks (because neither shop owners, companies, nor the city feel any responsibility to pedestrians and actually shovel or salt the streets or sidewalks) and I had to walk to 3 different tube stations in order to find a working train (all of which were listed as being operational when I left my flat in the morning). But I got to work! Along with every other American I know in London, even when their commutes were even worse than mine.

As I was walking to work I was recalling my two mile walks to work during the transit strike in Manhattan. It was the dead of winter and probably the coldest week 0f the year. There was a great sense of community on those icy days, as people would walk together in packs like penguins to try to keep out the cold. Everyone was put out, everyone was cold and tired, but everyone did everything they could to get to work. Why? Because we had jobs to do and because we all felt a sense of obligation. Ok, maybe I'm generalizing a bit, but each day we'd get into the office, all with our stories of struggle and triumph to tell - hitchhiking across the Brooklyn Bridge, walking from the upper east side to Battery Park to get to work by noon, carpooling with coworkers from the outer boroughs, slipping and falling multiple times with strangers coming to your aid. But when I finally got into my office yesterday all the lights were out, and I was all alone. The place was a ghost town. There were so few people who actually turned up for work, the Museum was forced to close by 2 pm.

Yes, there was a lot of snow and ice. But everyone knew the snow and ice were coming, so why was nothing done to prepare for this? Why were the roads not salted? Why were the train tracks not de-iced? Because no one turned up to do the jobs they were supposed to be doing! I know I'm going on a bit too long about this, but I find it really irritating. I would have liked to stay in bed, I would have liked to make a snow man, and I would have liked to sit in a pub by a fireplace (if one was actually open yesterday), but instead I went to work and did my job.