SNOW!

Oh yes, snow is on its way – in fact, we’ve been issued a snow storm weather warning for Howard County, so I’ve cancelled plans for going out (sorry Josie!), since as I remember from last time it snowed I was bit rubbish at driving in it.

Schools here will potentially be closed tomorrow if conditions appear to be hazardous/snowy/icy/icy-rain or whatever, and then they are supposed to add these cancelled ‘snow days’ on at the end of the school year.

I don’t remember that happening at the end of this school year just gone, and whilst it may sound incredibly selfish (I just read this back, and yes, it does), that means one more day at the outdoor pools without the kids – hoorah! So, all said and done, there are benefits to snow days in December, January and February 😉

Yeah, bring on a snow day (even tho it buggers up my work plans)

Toys for kids

Me and the kiddo went shopping for Christmas presents yesterday. Not for us, but for underprivileged kids in Howard County. The delightful Jaki Ulman invited us in to help her out collecting toys in aid of the Howard County Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, an emergency and transitional shelter, and a 24-hour phone and walk-in crisis center for men, women, and children right here in HoCo.

The kids with the toys for kids

David Simon says stuff about America

I love The Wire. I love it a lot. I love that it is a brilliant drama, I love that it is set in Baltimore and I love that the two leading men are British and do excellent American accents.

The Wire set

Anyway, the creator of The Wire said this today in The Guardian.

‘America is a country that is now utterly divided when it comes to its society, its economy, its politics. There are definitely two Americas. I live in one, on one block in Baltimore that is part of the viable America, the America that is connected to its own economy, where there is a plausible future for the people born into it. About 20 blocks away is another America entirely. It’s astonishing how little we have to do with each other, and yet we are living in such proximity.’

I see this when I visit Baltimore; I’ve seen the contrasts for myself and it is mystifying and fascinating and mind-blowing. And whilst, of course, this polarisation exists in other cities, it seems to have become very much the fabric of Baltimore.

Anyway, if you want to read more of the article (it gets v political). it’s here.