We had lots of snow days when I was a boy, but it was just that – snowy. They didn’t cancel school. Unless the boiler broke down at Lewisburg Junior high School, we went to school, trudged through the snow 5 miles going and 10 miles coming home. Math was different back then.
When the back, one-lane roads had drifts so high the buses couldn’t run, the country kids stayed home and had to make up their school work when the roads cleared. For all intents and purposes, we didn’t have snow days. If we had to miss school because there was ice and snow on the roads, we would have had to go to school year round, including Saturdays and Sundays. There was a lot of snow back in the hills of West Virginia in the late 50’s.
That’s why I was stunned last week when they cancelled virtual school because it had snowed four inches. Are you serious? Virtual on-line school was cancelled? I doubt if it made any difference because kids aren’t learning anything on-line anyway – a total waste of time and a display of some nifty footwork by the teachers’ unions.
I knew snow was coming, so I went to the store two days before the “blizzard” and bought some turkey wings for soup. Already, the stores were crowded with customers – though six feet apart. Folks were stocking up on bread and milk like there would be no more, just because we were going to get 4 inches of snow.
It was a pretty snow, when all was said and done, with just enough accumulation that the neighborhood kids could sleigh ride on the hill behind our house and the snowplows were up and at ‘em at first light. Few cars were out and about because – gulp – we had 4 inches of snow.
While the news anchor on TV was saying, “If you don’t have to go out, please stay at home ”, I decided to go out for the hell of it. I have a Jeep, you know, and Jeeps don’t worry about snow days, they just go. I went to Kroger’s and had the store to myself. There was plenty of food – even milk and bread – but no customers. The checkout lady was so bored that we chatted at length and even swapped recipes on turkey soup. I did my shopping for the next couple of days, when everybody would go back to work and the virtual schools would resume, and then went home. The roads were clear, but since it was a “snow day”, folks had dutifully stayed at home.
Sometimes I think we might have too many “snowflakes” in Charlottesville.