My Yahoo tells me it's snowing in London. How incredibly beautiful it must be. Any of you Londoners care to comment?

Well I'd love to tell you it's all a merry Santaland, apple-cheeked rascals cheerily snowballing Mr Scrooge and all that, but it's NO FUN at all: very cold wind, almost more sleet than real snow. The only thing is, it's unlikely to settle, except perhaps enough to leave some interesting icy bits in unexpected places...

It is settling - or has settled quite thickly in my back garden in Paddington. Tomorrow looks like being treacherous. And we still have no Central Line for weeks, </moaning Londoner>

The snow we had 2-3 weeks ago was &quot;real&quot; snow - this is bitterly cold winds and slushy pavements, nothing more than an inconveniance - thankful that I dont have to use the tube in the mornings - I dont miss it at all.<BR>Check out some excellent pics of London in the snow at www.thisislondon.co.uk

We're getting snow here in Germany, too, and about time--it's been so gray and rainy and drab I might as well have been back in Brussels.<BR>From the BBC web site, it seems like this snowstorm is a real pain in the neck for Londoners--tube service to several stops on at least two lines ended at 5 pm--how will the commuters get home?

All of Europe must be in the snow by now. We've had some very big snowstorms in Belgium the whole day long and trafic was chaotic. My son just got home from his school after a 3 hour drive - which in normal conditions is only 50 min.! <BR>

It snowed here in Washington for about an hour today. No accumulation, but sure enough, half of the schools cancelled classes for the afternoon, and already for tomorrow. Too bad I'm not a teacher!

Well, it took me 4.5 hours to get home - the last (LONG AND BITTERLY COLD) stretch was walking - that bit was an hour and a half.<BR><BR>I have a hip problem similar to arthritis and I cant tell you how painful that got walking home. I did stop and ask a number of car drivers if any could give me a lift a short way - only one kind gentleman did so - and he was only going a short way along my route. Lovely man.<BR><BR>I can see how beautiful it is - but right now I wish it wasn't.<BR><BR>My husband didn't leave his office till 8pm because traffic was gridlocked. An hour later he hadn't managed to get to the outskirts of that town (5 min drive normally) and it will be several hours till he makes it home, hopefully in one piece. It's 10 pm now.<BR><BR>It's incredibly iced up out there.<BR>

PatrickLondon, That's exactly how I<BR>picture London! Isn't it unusual for<BR>you to get snow? I haven't been there<BR>in the winter but in my mind London is<BR>beautiful always. Rain or shine.

Hi<BR><BR>I'm an ex-Londoner.<BR><BR>It was always chaos.<BR><BR>Looks pretty, but you can't get home.<BR>Cars, buses, tubes go into ga ga mode.<BR><BR>I also lived in Sweden. Worse weather, but everything works day after day. <BR><BR>Why ?<BR><BR>Now I live in South France, chaos doesn't begin to describe the problems snow brings !<BR><BR>Peter<BR>http://tlp.netfirms./com<BR>

Ann, I ask this just out of curiosity: Why are those classes cancelled? Is it because they want to let the children play out in the snow?

PS - was one of the luckier ones - hubby made it home a little before 1 am.<BR><BR>Some poor drivers were stuck out all night - the M11 in particular was standstill.<BR><BR>

Elina-here in Washington, they literally cancel school when the forecast calls for snow--before even a flake falls.<BR><BR>It doesn't snow very much here in DC. Normally only a few times each winter. The result is when it snows or when snow is forecast, everyone panics and rushes to the grocery store to buy toilet paper, milk and bread (seriously--you can't find any of these things on snowy days).<BR><BR>This is not helped by the complete incompetence of the local road crews when it comes to treating roads.

Weird - I replied first re the schools and then the PS. The PS posted but not my earlier reply.<BR><BR>I suspect schools are closed because there is a worry about teachers getting in because of road conditions. They cant risk parents bringing in kids and there being unsufficient staff. I would imagine it's also in areas where parents would have difficulties getting the kids in anyway.<BR><BR>Those kids will be happily playing out in the snow on their unexpected day off!

Snow is a nice novelty here in the South-East of England... until you have to go anywhere in it. It took me almost 3 hours to drive 4 miles from the office to home yesterday. This was in Cambridge (60 mi N of London). But I was one of the lucky ones -- as someone else pointed out the M11 motorway between Cambridge and London was at a stanstill literally all night.

Thanks Ann and Kavey. I can only imagine how happy the kids here would be if we had similar rules. But if we had rules like that, the whole nation would be illiterate ;0)<BR><BR>But I just saw on Finnish TV that the snow has really caused trouble in England. I understand that it would be just like that if snow is rare in the region.

elina -<BR><BR>Thought I'd explain what happens here in Wisconsin where we normally get a lot of snow all winter (and much of spring).<BR><BR>There are a certain number of days allotted each year for &quot;snow days&quot; when schools are closed because of heavy snow, freezing rain, etc. If we have a particularly bad winter and exceed the allotted number of snow days, the school year is extended by that number of days. In other words, schools must be open a minimum number of days each school year.<BR><BR>Snow days are more common in school districts where children ride the school bus from rural areas. It's considered to be endangering the children to be out on snow-covered country roads where the bus could slide off the road or otherwise get stranded. I suspect that the reason schools were closed in Ann's area is because that region is not accustomed to heavy snowfall and doesn't have the equipment to clear the roads of even a relatively light snowfall and could be dangerous for children traveling to and from school.

OK, Janey, I see. We have snowy and icy roads 5 months every year, but here children usually walk to school, so if somebody falls, the biggest harm would be a bruise. And if the school is more than 5 kilometres from their home, they take a city payed school taxi. Or they just use the same busses, trains and trams that everybody uses.<BR><BR>Your &quot;snow days&quot; sound fun.

It was 92 degrees here in L.A. yesterday (that's 33 C.), a record high for the day. It's going down 15 degrees f. today, but for travelers to this area this weekend, it will be beautiful and sunny.

Elina: I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, where snow was common every winter, sometimes very, very heavy. I cannot remember one occasion when school was cancelled because of it. I too walked to my schools from elementary grades through most of high school (sometimes took a bus). I truly do not understand why schools close now, unless it was because of an incredible blizzard!