Lightning, Thunder and Snow- Oh My!

It starts out like a typical December snow storm. Big wet flakes float out of the sky. They melt on impact but are beautiful enough to have you singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" under your breath as you walk to work. Somebody upstairs goes on holiday to the Bahamas and forgets to hit bthe "Off" switch before they leave the house. The snow doesn't stop. For one day. For two. Three. Four. I could keep going but you are probably getting the point. It piles up on the streets. My balcony could host the Winter Olympics if I added an ice rink. Walking on the sidewalk makes you 2 feet taller. The street corners become lakes of slush that shouldn't be crossed without a ferry (although like Oregon Trail, sometimes there are casualties in those corner lakes, a ferry tips over and Japanese school children slide down the drain). I keep thinking that it has to stop. I keep being wrong. Just to add insult to cold toes, I am the only person who thinks the world is ending (it all started like this in Day After Tomorrow, but that is topic for another blog). The Japanese not only don't cancel school for all the snow (I could really use a snow day) but they don't even see it as an excuse for being late:
"You are late."
"The buses are running an hour late because the streets are covered in snow."
"You should have walked."
"It's snowing though."
"Yeah, so?"

They bundle the kids up like little arctic explorers and send them out to brave the snow banks. Kindof cute actually.