happy new year!

[ewein2412]

It is still snowing. We have not seen the ground for two weeks. I have lived in the UK for 15 years and this is an all-time first.

Also, the Tay is starting to freeze. HOW COOL IS THAT.

We walked into town yesterday, New Year's Day, to look at it. All the shops were shut. It was exactly high tide and the river was absolutely still--I've never seen it before that the water wasn't moving very rapidly, high or low. Perth Bridge, the stone arch bridge that is a couple of years older than the United States of America, was perfectly reflected in the water. (It was too dark to take a decent picture.)



I have been thinking about deliasherman's comment about having to keep the sidewalk of a corner lot clear of snow, and it has dawned on me that part of the reason Britain "grinds to a halt" when it snows is because no one clears the pavement in front of their house. Or, indeed, even in front of their shop. It's rather incredible. It doesn't even OCCUR to them (as Sara pointed out, they probably don't have snow shovels). The situation here is that it snowed 8 inches one week ago, and the pavements are still covered with 8 inches of snow--making it extremely difficult to walk anywhere. Added to this, people have cleared their driveways, plowing up huge dikes of snow ACROSS the pavements, meaning every time you come to a driveway you either have to climb over a waist-high mound of snow, or you have to detour into the street (which is icy and none too clear of snow either).

What amazes me is how universal it is--the only clear bit of pavement in the whole city, apart from those major routes plowed by the Council with their little pavement plough, is the bit in front (and in back) of our house. And, of course, most of the block around our house that Sara obsessed over.

You'd think one or two people might do it as a courtesy--or even to make their own lives more convenient! WHERE IS YOUR CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY, PEOPLE???

We had our New Year's Eve in the summer house with a bonfire in our fire basket; and Lebkuchen and popcorn and pink champagne and fireworks. We tried to make the maple sugar candy on snow and FAILED AGAIN! But it was a very good party. I skied up to the reservoir under the blue moon and there was a layer of fog hanging in the Tay, absolutely magical. I bought my cross-country skis in 2001, the last time we had snow on the ground for a week, and haven't used them much since. But this is the first time I have been able to ski down the middle of our street a week after the snow actually fell.

Tim and I were married on New Year's Day in 1996. We have now been married for 14 years, 1 day, and about 18 hours.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Wishing you many more excellent years!

[ewein2412]

thank you!

[camille-is-here.livejournal.com]

Perhaps your cleared sidewalks will start a trend!

And, congratulations, you guys! My, how time flies!

[ewein2412]

thanks, it certainly does!

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

14 years. Yep. I remember you at our wedding, nine months later, looking wistful because Tim wasn't there.

Happy New Year to you all. And bless Sara for a fellow shoveler and a civic-minded soul.

[ewein2412]

looking wistful because Tim wasn't there

possibly also because I had found out earlier that week that I was pregnant with Sara!

Happy new year to you and Ellen too!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Happy anniversary ;o)

[ewein2412]

thanks!

[marguerlucy.livejournal.com]

Happy Anniversary! And hilarious regarding the sidewalks.

[ewein2412]

thank you!

a British friend has suggested that people don't clear their sidewalks because as long as you leave the snow there untouched you aren't responsible for it. As soon as you try to clear it and someone slips there, they can sue you.

Presumably if you give someone CPR and accidentally break their ribs while starting their heart they will also sue you? *boggles a bit* Fortunately under the National Health Service getting your ribs fixed is free.

[sovay]

Happy New Year!

[ewein2412]

same to you!

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

I think you read Neil Gaiman's journal, but in case you don't, here's the report from the day he tried to fly away from snowy Scotland
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/12/how-i-got-to-boston.html

[ewein2412]

Neil Gaiman = whiner!!! tim does this every week without a lovely Personal Assistant doing the grunt work for him.

DOES HE WANT TO FLY IN A PLANE WITH ICY WINGS????

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

I guess I should learn more about plane de-icing. It seems to me that there was a stretch of time that nearly every time we flew in winter it happened, but its been several years since we've encountered it at all. Is it based on temperature, or on actually having ice on the plane? Snow doesn't seem to be the relevant thing, because various subsets of our family have flown in snow twice in the past two weeks.

[ewein2412]

Airframe icing = scary. It doesn't necessarily have to do with snow. If the airframe is wet and the temp. drops, ice forms--so it can happen in the air as well as on the ground (for example, if you fly a wet plane into a freezing air mass). The problem is that the ice changes the flight characteristics of the plane--puts the weight in the wrong places, changes the balance and shape of the wings, makes the aircraft harder to control and easier to stall. Ice that's formed swiftly collects MORE ice--a vicious circle.

I don't know anything about de-icing and I'm sure they're more competent about it in Minnesota than in Scotland, which has a climate similar to Seattle's. But you know, if the airport authority hasn't got the capability to make the plane safe, I'm always happy (or at least resigned) to wait on the ground!

[estara.livejournal.com]

1st: well you can say about German virtues or values what you want from the outside, but over here it's illegal to not remove snow from the sidewalks of a house that you own (in my house with 9 flats we have a concierge (?) who does that and is paid for it). Furthermore if you ignore that and someone slips on the sidewalk in front of your house, you can and will be sued and lose that case, so you have to pay damage.

2nd: Real Lebkuchen? Did Falko Konditormeister have some when you went to Edinburgh? Can you now confirm that he was the guy you've been buying German baked goods from before? Or did friends bring some along - or did you even make some yourself??

I was so happy my uncle decided to do one more year of handmade Königsberger Marzipan (marchpane/almond paste - whatever you call it)
http://image01.otto.de/pool/formata/1649445.jpg simple version and http://www.laikit.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/konigsberger2.jpg more elaborate.

Awww, happy belated anniversary of your wedding.

[estara.livejournal.com]

I might want to add that with "you" in the first paragraph, I'm not directly addressing you - E Wein, but generally non-German people who have pre-conceived ideas about Germany (much as we do about them, heh).

[ewein2412]

i knew that!

[estara.livejournal.com]

I'm a "better safe, than sorry"-anal person, you see ^^. Probably a very German trait of my mixed-heritage persona.

[ewein2412]

it is true that my perception of ANYTHING is always colored a bit by what I'm writing at the moment, which puts "German" at a suddenly unfair disadvantage. Although the same could be said of "French."

It is also true that I am utterly incapable of designing a straightforward Baddie, and end up giving them children and ulterior motives and guilty consciences.

[estara.livejournal.com]

Those are much more satisfying baddies anyway.

[ewein2412]

these Lebkuchen. Not sure you're label them "real"! And I still don't know if it's the same guy as I didn't see his stand this time, but I feel sure that it is.

http://www.edelweissimports.com/gottena-lebkuchen-allerlei-pr-2113.html

and thanks for the anniversary wishes!

[estara.livejournal.com]

Well, growing up in Franconia, home of the lebkuchen, let me tell you these are not really the real deal. However don't despair, next year you can import the real deal from the same vendor, heh.
http://www.edelweissimports.com/wicklein-nuremberg-lebkuchen-c-202-pr-2078.html

[ewein2412]

wowee, those look YUMMY.

the advantage of the pale imitations is that they sell them in the local supermarket!

I suppose I will have to try to make them myself sometime.

[estara.livejournal.com]

My mum makes smaller ones with a chocolate glaze and they're very filling and tasty (although still not quite like the original ones).

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

It occurred to us but has been stupidly difficult to accomplish; garden shovel only quasi-successful. Baaaah. Where does one go to buy grit/salt in this country? My whole subdivision is an icy hell, what's normally a five minute walk currently takes twenty because there's no traction anyway. Terror reigns when I go outside; I hate walking on ice.

I've wanted to try and make maple sugar candy on snow for years. How did Laura Ingalls do it??? =)

Happy anniversary!!! Mine with my husband is in a few days. =)

[ewein2412]

grit/salt usually available from B&Q or most petrol stations. However, "if it has to do with snow, we're out of it." Cat litter (the very cheap clay stuff) is a very good alternative - available in the supermarket. Reasonably cheap salt also available in the supermarket but it's sold as table salt-- 20 pence for a kilogram. It does the trick but you have to buy a lot of bags.

The maple sugar candy failed. I've decided that the reason it fails is because the ambient temp. when Laura Ingalls Wilder did it was about -20!

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Kitty litter! That's BRILLIANT!!! How have I never thought of that?!?! ...well, I don't have cats, which is a good reason, I suppose. I will be getting some of that on my way home today and spreading it out ASAP. Thank you!! Will table salt really work? I'd thought of trying it but...hmmm, I suppose figured the granules were too small to be sufficiently effective. Internet research today suggests that they may still be helpful, even if they are small, so I shall try that as well.

I might want to try to make maple sugar candy, but not enough to find -20 weather! My curiosity will have to remain unsatisfied. =)

[ewein2412]

I was surprised at how effectively the table salt DID work -- I just walked up the garden path sowing it like seed (and feeling like Odysseus trying to avoid being drafted to Troy). I guess once it's dissolved it doesn't really matter how big the grains are.

Did you see this one-- somewhere mid-story it says that Lanarkshire Council are looking into shipping in salt supplies from Africa:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8440213.stm

[ewein2412]

ps happy anniversary to you too!

[(Anonymous)]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, E!

I'm a little scared to come back to my flat next Monday, which has been on minimal heat (no thermostat, of COURSE not!) for the last six weeks... and will be a bear to get back up to temp, I'm sure. Brrr. I can't wait to take pictures of Glasgow in its icy/slippery/non-shoveled walk glory. I'm sure no one has shoveled there. No one even salts there, except the Council takes care of the main roads and the walks in front of the posh houses. Not in our neck of the woods, certainly.

The coldest winter in 25 years, according to the Met office. Yeah. I won't believe that 'til I see it; the same office proclaimed a BBQ Summer this past year, and it RAINED.

But still: the Tay freezing!? Wow.

The previous was from Tanita. Again. ::sigh

[(Anonymous)]

...LiveJournal hates me.

[ewein2412]

I hear the Clyde is freezing, too!

I hope your flat is not too cold.