Global Warming – my arse!

For the last dozen or so years that I have lived in Bonny Scotland snow has been an occasional winter occurrence – not for the last few years however. Whenever a few inches worth of icy precipitation would fall kids (young and old) would rush out. Snow ball fights would break out and the occasional, pathetically small, snowman would appear.

For the last week or so the cold has set in early. The snow started on Friday and as I type it’s still falling. Scotland has mostly shut down. Main roads are open but many cars have struggled to reach that far and lie abandoned and buried in driveways and side streets. We can’t complain as Sweden is getting hammered more so than we are.

Personally, I’m loving it. I mostly work remotely anyway so I’ve been around to help out. First order of business was to dig out the street I live in. We Micks seem to always end up with a shovel in our hands. I started out to do so on my own. Pretty soon I had company.

I have a neighbour that I have known for years but would normally pass by without saying more than a few words. As I shovelled away he appeared alongside me. We set to and after 90 minutes or so we could not only get our cars out but had cleared a path for other side streets that need access to the main road.

My household didn’t really need anything except a few perishable items. Due to the state of affairs in the world I had a reasonable stock of essentials. One of these days I’m getting a tee-shirt made up with the words ‘smug mode’ on the front. Even my long suffering wife was less sceptical of my ‘eccentric’ ways.

We were in the minority as what we did have was transport. After a quick tour around some of our elderly neighbours we were able to make it to the local supermarket. Other neighbours have been doing this also. Life has carried on as normal. Massive snowmen have appeared and one enterprising soul built an igloo for the kids.

I don’t write this to blow my own horn. I write it to illustrate that despite all the fears and isolation many of us in the blogging community feel – we can carry on when the day comes. Don’t rely on others helping – do it yourself. That message is valid in so many ways. It just takes one person to start and others will join in.

The feeling of isolation has been beaten into us now for decades. When we watch the idiot box we see stories of war, famine, death and pestilence. Look outside your window and it invariably is a scene of nothing like that – just everyday life passing by. Don’t let those neighbours be strangers any longer.

I’m well aware that plans exist to bring these horsemen to our lives. The instigators of these plans are well aware of how powerful and natural it is for ordinary people to work together to overcome adversary. Their very plans will generate the glue that finally brings us back together again. This time many of us know who the real culprits are – we will not forget



PS I read that the global warming conspirators are meeting in Cancun, Mexico, this week. I wonder what excuse they will use this time.