Six o'clock already, I was just in the middle of a dream.....
And so I was, this morning, at some time past six. For once, a really great dream about going out for an exciting evening and having to pick out some glamorous clothes and shoes. I was just squirting on some delicious fragrance and then the phone started ringing.....
It kept ringing in my dream until I woke up, and even then I didn't manage to get out of bed to answer it. Neither did The Doctor. But I think we both knew what it was.
Snow. School cancelled.
The Doctor peered out of the window (a bit difficult, considering it was completely covered in wet, crusty snow). "There's quite a bit...." He immediately donned his ski clothes and went outside to do a recce. Ten minutes later he was back, reporting that we were completely snowed in and it would take several hours to dig the driveway and the cars out.
"I'm damned if I'm going to be forced to take a PTO," he muttered. A PTO - or Personal Time Off - is what it was suggested to him that he take last time it snowed and he didn't make it to work. Having spent all day slaving away on his computer at home, while I tried in vain to keep the Littleboys out of his way, he quite rightly refused. After all, why should he take holiday when it was such a furious blizzard that the forecasters were telling everyone not to travel?
This time, he was going to make it in whatever. He zipped up his ski jacket and stomped off to the Long Island Railroad station, where luckily the trains were still running.
I, meanwhile, was huddled under the duvet with my tea, not particularly wanting to face yet another day of being housebound with two manic children. (I wonder if I could take a PTO?). I mean, the snow is pretty, but this is the third time in a fortnight we've had a blizzard. And, we were supposed to be going out for sushi tonight, with a friend from the City who no doubt won't be able to get here now.
Then Littleboy 1 came into the room, yawning. I told him to look out of the window.
"Snow!" He exclaimed in delight. On his face, an expression of undiluted happiness. "We can go SLEDDING!"
Thank goodness for little boys.......
21 comments:
Isn't it amazing that they still have the trains running in weather like that?
Enjoy your sledding!
Hope your energy levels are up to all these snow days!
Your boys and my boys are cut from the same cloth. And they are right to be excited too - if you're English you never get the chance to have days like this (well not in my personal experience anyway, having not been there this year!).
But I do with Lorna - trains running? That would never have happened in the UK.
Have a great day. Tire them out. feed the hot chocolate. Turn your front room into a cinema and make popcorn. Can you tell I've had a few of these days recently?
As a NJ transplant to Nappy Valley (almost 2 years playing on Clapham Common, but who's counting?), I was so happy to find your blog. Your anthropological insights leave me very amused and very homesick!! FYI I am feeling a bit more comfortable in Nappy Valley now that I know to sign off emails with an "x", learned the hard way that you send birthday cake home with party guests in a bag and provide an additional "pudding" at the party, and when people invite your children to "tea" they are served actual dinner food and not Earl Grey in tiny cups. Thanks for the blog and enjoy the snow! from NJ mom
A PTo? that's a bit rich when the U.S is SO stingy with annual leave anyway. Its not like u have any to spare.
poor you. Hope the novelty wth yr 2 boy s doesnt wear off anyway!
Hope the good Doctor made it home from work OK! The NYT is reporting that today "was only the ninth time New York City schools had closed for snow since 1982."
CalifLorna - yes, that is one thing they do have sorted far better than in the UK. The trains are almost never affected, even in huge blizzards.
Iota - let's just say that I'm very glad it's Friday....
Brit in Bosnia - they are now v tired and hungry. LB1 built a luge track on the front lawn and LB2 made a snowman and knocked it down again. They don't like hot chocolate (weird) but they ate a ton of spag. bol for supper.
NJ Mom - glad the observations ring true! Hope you are enjoying Nappy Valley. I have to say I never send home birthday cake (it gets far too squishy) but I do sign my emails with x's......
PLIT - exactly right, vacation days are precious and not to be used up because the weather's too bad to get to work. He did go in, though, and hardly anyone else was there....
Almost American - yes, and the eighth time was 2 weeks ago.....but I am not sure it means the weather is more severe, just that they are becoming more cautious, form what I can gather.
I wish they'd close the schools over here if it snows. We're just expected to take them in. I suppose we don't get enough snow to need to DIG anything. That just seems freaky.
Awwww, sometimes they just put the shine back into things don't they. And the Doctor's employers sound quite mean. Tsk.
PTO? Grrrrr. That's just rude. Hope you have a more relaxing weekend!
xx
SLEDDING? Theyy're little Americans already!
Mwa - digging is all part of the fun here. It does mean I don't need to go to the gym, though...
Jo - Definitely. And, no his employers are actually quite nice, but they seem to have a different attitude to holiday over here...
Mud - see above. It is annoying, though, as we want to make the most of our holiday time....
Expat Mum - You bet! He also says 'sure' the whole time and refers to his parents as 'you guys'.....
I will think of you kicking snow around and rubbing your hands to get warm while I look for that waterfall in the Abel Tasman. We are off tomorrow I am having a franti packing session whilst trying to deal with the screaming littlies
You're lucky. When I was a kid, NYC *never* closed schools for snow, not even when there were drifts up to my waist at 10 - and at that point I'd already reached my adult height, incidentally, a healthy 5'6". (I think. For whatever reason, I know my height in centimeters, 166, but not in feet and inches. But that's because my mother and my sister are like stairs, 176, 166, 156 and it's a nifty mnemonic for our heights. Heck, even my foster sister came in at just about 146 until she had a very late growth spurt after her first child!)
And now they do cancel school occasionally.
But of course, you aren't in the city, so what am I saying? Maybe all those days when I was a kid and having an "excused absence" the ones on Lawn Guyland were legitimately excused.
Jenny - I am unspeakably jealous. Hope it's wonderful.
Conuly - apparently it's becoming more frequent here as well. They seem to follow what the NYC schools do, mostly, although of course here more people would be travelling by car/bus.
Today in London the sun is shining and Spring seems to be saying a tentative hello.
So, of course, this morning something had to go wrong. Northern Line was suspended from Morden to Stockwell. Jubilee, Waterloo & City and Bakerloo all had severe delays (they closed access to tube at Waterloo & London Bridge) and the DLR decided it wasn't necessary to stop at Bank. Oh yes, and the river boat was packed to the gills. See what you're missing?
Hurrah for good ol' LIRR for running on time and to all stations in bad weather. Perhaps they'd like to invite TFL over for a bit of knowledge sharing? :-)
I wonder if the snow day thing is more common now because of the threat of a lawsuit? "Child breaks thumb on way to school during blizzard". Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
I'm with the boys....there can NEVER be enough snow...
Melanie - I am sure you're right about the lawsuits. And yes, the UK could certainly learn something from the LIRR, although I suspect it all comes down to how much money you are prepared to spend on dealing with winter weather!
NB - You'd love it out here then.....
I grew up across the street from a golf course and was always soooo excited whenever it snowed....people always bent the fence back to let in all the sledders! Now I understand the practical frustrations of getting to work and driving in snow but it still does have a magic about it for me. Then again I'm not on LI where you have had so much snow lately!
Do you guys have a snow blower? It's one of my dad's fav items!
Good old LIRR but sorry to hear that your husband had to go to work...maybe if it took a page out of London transport's book and shut down they wouldn't demand he take a PTO.
Hey now, this is getting confusing. I've just come across a new blog called Nappy Valley, and it's by an American mom living in Clapham. Are you sure you haven't cloned, reinvented, and reincarnated yourself backwards, or something? (You'd probably know if you had.)
http://nappyvalleyhousewife.blogspot.com/
Tanya - a snow blower would be great. Lots of the neighbours have them. We are a bit loathed to buy one as they are quite expensive and it is only for another 2 winters - but if I lived here permanently, then definitely!
Iota - how bizarre! But then not, as there are loads of Americans living in Nappy Valley. It's not me, though.....
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