A Stranger in a Strange Land.

This morning we woke up to snow on the ground. For my friends and family who have had more than enough of the white stuff already this winter they are probably saying "so what!" However, for us in Fukuyama snow on the ground is a big deal. I did not realize how big a deal this was though until I began my usual commute to work by bicycle. I was halfway over the bridge when I heard a distinct "chakka chakka" sound coming up from behind me, and as I looked over my shoulder I was shocked. A van had snow chains on its tires. SNOW CHAINS!? Now, when I say we had snow on the ground what I mean to say is the ground had a light half centimeter dusting of snow. And this guy had snow chains on. Sorry, I am still in disbelief.

Once at work I began to relate this, what seemed to me, hilarious story and discovered that I was the odd man out. One teacher had woken up at 5:30 am in order to change over all four tires on his car to winter tires. Another teacher walked to work because, while her husband's car had ice tires on it, hers did not and so he prohibited her from driving out of concern for her safety. WHAT!? Sorry, again with the disbelief.

The whole situation reminded me of a time back in Manitoba: We were about halfway through one of our wonderful 6 month winters, complete with an average of 2 meters of snow, when the city of Toronto got a few centimeters of the fluffy white stuff. In typical over the top Toronto fashion, a state of emergency was declared and the military was called in for assistance.

Here is an example of a winter road where snow chains are probably not needed... and a fairly close approximation of what the roads looked like this morning.

Here is an example of a situation in which snow chains or at the very least ice tires might be a good idea. This was not what the roads looked like this morning.