I had an odd thought this morning. When the Pilgrims (yes, the ones we study at Thanksgiving as kids) came to America from England, they came to New England. Yes, I know, that's obvious, so what's the big deal?
Well, we hear about the fact that surviving the first winter was hard, and I always figured it was mostly because they had to learn to build shelter and grow food and build basic skills they weren't used to. Basically, it was a bunch of city folks having to build their new home from the ground up, right?
Yes, but there's more to it than that, which is what finally occurred to me. Last year, I was living in England. Now I'm living in New England, not too terribly far from Plymouth, where the Pilgrims lived. Comparing the British winter to the New England winter, the winter here is absolutely brutal, especially for people who haven't ever experienced a "real" winter before.
I'm sure there are other parts of the British Isles that have harsher winters than East Anglia, where I lived. Still, though, the fact that they are surrounded by water means that the temperatures don't get nearly so low as they've been getting here. In England, I was surprised when the schools shut down for an inch of snow. Here, there are several inches on the ground consistently, and the schools don't even blink. They may have a delayed start or cancel after school activities so the busses aren't driving in the dark on icy roads...but that's it for most of the time. They do cancel occasionally, but have plans in place for that and send schoolwork home with the kids ahead of time.
The snow isn't the harshest part of the winter here, though...the temperatures are. The temperatures in England got to freezing, and below freezing, but the cold snaps here have gotten below -20 degrees. It's hard enough dealing with that in a solid house with a woodstove and oil heater. Imagine living through that in newly built houses, which were likely built to the standards for a British winter. Add to that the amount of wood they would have needed for heat, and the fact that it wouldn't be seasoned wood...honestly, it's amazing they survived at all.
I thought I knew what to expect from winter after having lived in Spokane. Spokane gets winter, but it's mostly just snow. Here, the temperatures are even more brutal, and there's a new set of skills to learn. Coming into this kind of winter without any real experience, and without knowing what to expect, would have been beyond rough. So, as I said at the beginning, I have a newfound respect for the fact that they survived at all.
Well, we hear about the fact that surviving the first winter was hard, and I always figured it was mostly because they had to learn to build shelter and grow food and build basic skills they weren't used to. Basically, it was a bunch of city folks having to build their new home from the ground up, right?
Yes, but there's more to it than that, which is what finally occurred to me. Last year, I was living in England. Now I'm living in New England, not too terribly far from Plymouth, where the Pilgrims lived. Comparing the British winter to the New England winter, the winter here is absolutely brutal, especially for people who haven't ever experienced a "real" winter before.
I'm sure there are other parts of the British Isles that have harsher winters than East Anglia, where I lived. Still, though, the fact that they are surrounded by water means that the temperatures don't get nearly so low as they've been getting here. In England, I was surprised when the schools shut down for an inch of snow. Here, there are several inches on the ground consistently, and the schools don't even blink. They may have a delayed start or cancel after school activities so the busses aren't driving in the dark on icy roads...but that's it for most of the time. They do cancel occasionally, but have plans in place for that and send schoolwork home with the kids ahead of time.
The snow isn't the harshest part of the winter here, though...the temperatures are. The temperatures in England got to freezing, and below freezing, but the cold snaps here have gotten below -20 degrees. It's hard enough dealing with that in a solid house with a woodstove and oil heater. Imagine living through that in newly built houses, which were likely built to the standards for a British winter. Add to that the amount of wood they would have needed for heat, and the fact that it wouldn't be seasoned wood...honestly, it's amazing they survived at all.
I thought I knew what to expect from winter after having lived in Spokane. Spokane gets winter, but it's mostly just snow. Here, the temperatures are even more brutal, and there's a new set of skills to learn. Coming into this kind of winter without any real experience, and without knowing what to expect, would have been beyond rough. So, as I said at the beginning, I have a newfound respect for the fact that they survived at all.
Is why I always say it never gets cold here. Unless it's below 32F, I don't generally even bother with a jumper. As a kid in VT, I regularly walked to school in -30F, or even -40F.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I recently donated almost all my wool jumpers to the charity shop, simply because it's not cold enough to wear them.
-Ari
Joel didn't even bother to bring his wool coat (Swiss army guard surplus) when we moved to Amsterdam, and in the 7+ years there he never needed it, whereas in WI he wore it a few months out of every year. We unpacked it from storage when back at Christmas, since we expected Heidelberg to get a bit more winter than Amsterdam, and so far it has -- but the coldest it's been was -12C, which is cold but not "oh my god my brain has frozen" cold. I remember once in Madison we reached the fixed point, where the C and F scales collide. That was cold.
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