Carry On Regardless

A friend asked me, in all seriousness, why this weekend's football had been postponed. Another, with more good humour, enlightened me about the problems they had getting a train to and from work. Others ask why the pavements haven't been cleared and the bins emptied.

Ahem. The football's off because overnight temperatures where I live are about the seasonal norm for Siberia. The trains aren't running because the diesel's freezing in the fuel tanks. And the streets haven't been gritted because there's no salt, while the bin lorries can't get up steep hills because the roads haven't been gritted.

In case you haven't noticed we have a weather emergency. That doesn't mean a wee bit more snow than usual or some additional nights of frost. It means a weather event so unusual that we have not seen its like in one, perhaps two, generations.

Given the facts as they exits I am amazed the entire country hasn't ground to a complete halt. Yes, we are not prepared for this. But my question is why should we be ? We certainly should be equiped to deal with what we know and have experienced in the past. But 1963, the last time we got a winter like this, is almost 50 years ago. Who is around who can offer their pearls of wisdom to us now who was working back then ?

So we do what we can with what we have and leave the rest to Mother Nature. That's the long and short of it folks. Those who desist are no respecters of the weather and, when it's -11C outside during the day, I would much rather give the elements their due.

It is a times like these you realise humans expect too much of themselves and of others. We think we can carry on regardless no matter the conditions and then find out we can't. And when we can't then someone must be to blame. But when things aren't normal then things don't work normally.

When the Inuit see the winter coming they build an igloo and wait for it to pass. Even in Siberia, although the roads are open and people go to work, they batten down the hatches.

But our frenetic lives cannot be disrupted. We must be able to go to work and our bosses simply demand that we be there no matter the risks. If there is no need to be at work, or no work, then we must be able to roam free to spend money in shops, socialise, be busy.

And if we are unable to do any of the above then our lives are unfulfilled, we become sad, or more likely anxious, stressed and angry.

What's the best thing to do ? Stop worrying, probably. It'll get warmer soon.