No, the snow in Ireland is just like the rain. It snows and it stops. It snows and it stops. It snows and it stops. On again off again the past few days. No great amounts at any time, but just enough to keep the already icy, untreated roads & sidewalks slippery.
Yesterday my neighbor couldn't get her car out of her driveway. She's a widow with young children and she'd been holed up for a few days, but she was running low on food and milk, etc. So, I had to shovel her driveway clear, which was pushing my week's exercise beyond my endurance levels. It's not easy to shift this post-Christmas, over-fed and under-utilized body to daily (twice daily, actually) physical labor. I'd be slimming down these days if I hadn't upped my rations to maintain my less than svelte figure.
Truth is, yesterday wasn't really that bad. Clearing my neighbor's driveway wasn't nearly as bad as today. A few months ago my daughter had booked a trip to America for today. At the time I never imagined that the winter weather issue would be on this end.
We rose early because we have been advised to "allow plenty of time for our journey" and we left at 6:15 to make the 25 mile journey to the airport for her 11am flight. Plenty of time.
And it was. There was no bad weather and the highway was clear all the way. Arrived just after 7. Then it started to snow. Not really that heavily, but it looked like snow. For a while anyway, maybe 40 minutes. Then it tapered off to what I'd call light snow followed a while later by flurries. Total accumulation was maybe an inch? Maybe?
I thought little of it, but I thought I'd wait a bit just to be sure. Around 9:30 she called from the Gate to say the flight wasn't going til 2:30 because the runways were closed. She sounded a little down about all the hours she'd have to spend at the gate, but it wasn't a biggie. The Americans on her flight were really surprised. They could see that there wasn't a whole lot of snow out there. Eventually, when all looked good, I headed home.
I was nearly there when I got the call. Flight canceled. Now my daughter was really disappointed. The American passengers were incredulous. It was 'only a dusting,' they said. And, they were right. Her flight wasn't the only one. The airport was pure chaos.I had other things I had to do so she had to make her own way home. She made it eventually, but we have the treat of trying it all again tomorrow morning. The forecast is for more snow overnight and tomorrow. (Weather.com says it will all be rain. I'm not sure which is preferable.)
Actually, now that I think about it, it's not the snow that's annoying, but people and governments' (local and national and other state bodies) inability to deal with it. I like looking at it and wouldn't mind if it stayed a while. The hills around my house are really pretty these days. But, if we can't deal with it then better it should vanish and pronto.
