Wow ... it’s winter

Friday, December 18, 2009

If you watch television news, you probably got the shock of your life last week when it was announced, with great fanfare, that: IT IS COLD OUT.

Yes, the news of this freakish December weather was all over the TV airwaves from Manchester to Boston, where weather spewers used pointers and computer models to tell everyone who lives in an exceptionally warm cave that: IT’S COLD OUT.

Wow.

Of course we can’t speak for everyone, but the news that it’s cold in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in December came as a shock to everyone here at the Journal. We thought that all that warm weather in November and early this month meant that it would be warm forever and that it would never snow again because it would be too warm.

So we were as shocked as the weather people on television who were so shocked they appeared to need shock treatment to unshock themselves. Until the next time when they’re shocked by, say, warm weather in April. Or rain.

By the way, if you got to work or school all right last week after our serious first snow (surprise!) of the season, you know whom to thank: your state and local highway crews. They didn’t have to go out as early as they often do because the snow didn’t start until around 5 a.m., but if it had started at midnight, you can bet they would have been out by 2 a.m., plowing and salting and sanding to make sure you could get to where you needed to go.

We forget about these folks for long periods of time, particularly in the summer when we don’t seem to need them and when they’re not as visible, but as soon as that first white flake falls, we want them out and working, and we don’t care what time it is, just get there and do it, you guys.

And they do.

These are dedicated people that never get the appreciation they deserve.

Keep in mind when you vote on budget items in March that when your Department of Public Works says that a new dump truck or plow is needed, they’re not fooling. You want to get to work in a snowstorm? Give ’em what they need.

Hey, they pay taxes, too, so they’re not being gratuitous when they ask for help.