In those two minutes it took, I witnessed three people leave their homes to go to work. At 5.30. Good grief. :-) Sure makes me appreciate my ten-meter commute.
The light is actually even more red than that.
Pictures are manipulated to enhance contrast and sharpness.
I didn't think they even got snow in England very much.
ReplyDeleteWe don't, typically. That's why I get fascinated every time.
ReplyDelete(Half of it is gone already.)
From what I've heard from people in London the city almost grinds to a halt with a few inches of snow. And yet, here is this hardcore bunch in northern England still getting in their cars and going to work. Bravo! Another triumph! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a very strange little country.
ReplyDeleteBolton is in the Pennines neigh on, tucked in the hills North of Manchester, at the back end of the Cheshire plane and the not so hilly Lancashire. It therefore is one of the areas that gets dumped on, rain and snow.
Down in Manchester proper, we'd get less snow than up around Bolton, and beyond Bolton is Black Rod which will get a much mightier fall of snow.
Still, it's all measured in inches, not feet. Some areas have snow plows, and others just have snow plow implements for their dump trucks.
We get snow in the Bay Area, on two very tall hills, and no where else. I haven't touched snow since New Year in 1995, there was a lot in Yosemite then.
"TEN-METER COMMUTE?!?"
ReplyDeleteMan, that's fierce.
One of my two jobs has a commute that varies between 10cm and one metre. Three if I take the scenic route.
Your photos remind me that I should some day blog my own series: the view from one of my balconies, always the same forest scenery, exact same framing too, but taken at different periods of the year. Very pretty.
"in London the city almost grinds to a halt with a few inches of snow."
Those Westerners, what sissies. Around 1982, we had snow higher than an adult man, for three weeks. THEN school was out. On the village square (altitude: 1,000 metres), for a good while we accessed the shops through tunnels.
All right, so that was exceptional. We lost far more school days for "security" reasons. Air raids, mountainside battles, shellings, snailings, turtlings, harings... Oh yeah, much more entertaining than your lame European "action movies". How many of you had to merely lean down to pick up bullets in their living room? I still have my collection of shell shards and rocket tip souvenirs.
Snow... HAH! The stuff you find today, that ain't real snow like we had in my days. Ours was a blinding WHITE. Ho-ho-ho!
You may go to bed now, kids, Grampa-Scal has finished reminiscing his war stories and tall tales.
Not so tall, actually. It's all genuine.
"Still boring o death", I know. Hey, I've got my standards!
(~_^)
"and the not so hilly Lancashire"
What, you mean short for "hillbilly", or a place with hills? ;o)
"Still, it's all measured in inches, not feet."
Feet? In my days, you wimpy whippersnappers, we measured snow in LEGS. Why, your grandma, she had legs as long as the 1973 snow fall, ha-cha-cha, I'm tellin' you, we didn't stay cold in the long winter nights, blink-blink, nudge-nudge!
"I haven't touched snow since New Year in 1995"
I have. Durn stuff's still cold as a witch's tit, harrumph!
Especially considering that in Lebanon, typical witches are also undead ghouls. Yup, even our folk tales ain't for wusses 'round here.
"Man, that's fierce."
ReplyDeleteI know. Where I lived before, it used to be three meters, and only because I had to walk around the table from the bed to the computer. But I suppose the exercise is good for me.
I love the red or more yellish street lamps. They radiate some warmth during these long and cold nights.
ReplyDeleteHere in my area, they have mostly white street lamps, adding to the cold and dull impression of our winters.
Ps/ Please note that I mean the colour of the light and not of the post itself.
;-)
I like yellow sodium lights, good penetration in fog, and softer on the eyes than white street lights.
ReplyDeleteIf you stand on a motorway overpass without your glasses on on a wet evening, the yellow lights trick the road into looking like a wet beach, and the tyres sucking up the spray can sound like the sea lapping at the sand.
Of course Didsbury can make you feel landlocked and homesick.
-Meter : Person or device that measures.
ReplyDelete-Metre : Length unit. Also some obscure stuff in poetry.
Nearly identical in writing. And damn, if they're not pronounced exactly the same, too!
You learn every day. Life's like that, it's its specificity.
"Literally". ;-)
"Here in my area, they have mostly white street lamps"
Well, all throughout Lebanon, we have street lights that are turned on smack in the middle of the day, even bright summer ones.
I guess that's a psychological compensation mechanism. To make up for all those hours --especially in the evening and at night-- when there's no electricity. It is rationed because there's not enough to power the whole country at once.
And I swear to Toutatis I'm not fibbing! You should really visit scenic Lebanon, we have sights like nothing you've ever seen in the rest of the world. Sinbad the Sailor didn't have enough of one lifetime to marvel at it all.
Heck, even us natives, just when we think we've seen it all, something new, bizarre and fascinating comes along. Or comes awide. Like a guy carrying a big ladder. Sideways.
(National proverb.)
Alex said...
"I like yellow sodium lights, good penetration in fog, and softer on the eyes than white street lights."
Oh yeah? Well, I'd like to know why European norms abandoned them. Precisely because they cause less daze and visual strain and perform better in fog.
What's that, you say? "The decision was taken by bureaucrats? Ah, yes of course, how could I forget! This explains everything.
They must've consulted Lebanese advisors...
(knock-knock-knock!) By Belenos, these Lebanese are...
ReplyDeleteYes, Obelix, yes, we know!
ReplyDeleteSeems "meter" is OK:
ReplyDeleteDictionary: meter (mē'tər)
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
n. (Abbr. m)
The international standard unit of length, approximately equivalent to 39.37 inches.
Pascal said...
ReplyDelete"...even us natives..."
I believe it is *we* natives, Pascal.
And WE Americans write that *pesky* metric measurement as such: METER. Of course, we don't use it any more than we have to but...I believe that the second version that you write, w/the *re* ending is your French influence on your language, yes? ;-)
Ookie-dookie. Me terribly sorry for lecture, sahib. Me terrye to do no more it, yes? We all do beeg slime... SMILE! I go now, meester. Bye.
ReplyDelete[WOOSSHHH!]
Signed: yours trooly,
Apu Logeeprofyuselee
Excuse me, I said *on* (sur) when I should have said *of* your language! lol!
ReplyDeleteWe're BOTH tripping all over ourselves trying to get these silly lingos written correctly! lol!
Did you go see *De Nattergale - Sad Blues* Pascal? It seems (as the article also states), that...it really doesn't matter much, anyway...unless...
And...it's really quite FUNNY (as you are! No, wait...I am officially declaring you a certified NUT!! ;0) when it is done...intentionally! :-)
Metre is correct. Meter a wacky US variant. They changed it just to be different.
ReplyDeleteIt's from the Greek métron from French mètre. Modern usage itroduced by Burattini (metro cattolico) in 1675. Noticing a pattern here?
"Since this mistake doesn’t really confuse one’s meaning, it probably doesn’t matter in casual conversation, or even perhaps, in casual writing."
ReplyDeleteThe one that bugs me is the American spelling of Litre, they spell it Liter, which, by rules of English should sound the same as Lighter. Mind you, this is a country that spells "Pedestrian Crossing" as "XING PED". I also wondered why at some light controlled junctions I was requested to "ahead signal". Turns out you have to read bottom to top when driving here. That takes some getting used to.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Americans spell it "theater" instead of "cinema".
I also wondered why at some light controlled junctions I was requested to "ahead signal". Turns out you have to read bottom to top when driving here. That takes some getting used to.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty weird way to do things. I should say really weird. These Americans are crazy!
this is a country that spells "Pedestrian Crossing" as "XING PED".
I could have easily run over some xing ped while trying to figure that one out.
In Canada it is often a mix of UK and US, which can be interesting. Unless you're in Quebec and then God help you if you don't know at least a little French.
Don't disturb me, don't discourage me: I've just been regaining confidence in the USA, because I have made some wonderful friends there and b/of Barack.
ReplyDeleteAt school, decades ago, we were told that meter is the US way to spell the British metre, the same was/is still valid for theatre/theater.
oh Monsieur, you can't call it that British metre. We gave the world feet and inches, yard, chains, furlong and mile, fathom and spit, crease and nautical mile.
ReplyDeleteMeter and it's multiples, from nm to km are from the continent, from Napoleonic France I believe.
Anyway, what has this got to do with snow?
ReplyDeleteWell, if you have a "meter" of snow, it's quite some work to get through it.
ReplyDeleteI got myself the best English-French, French-English dictionary that money can buy [and I got it at a bargain price, too!], Harrap's Standard. I found that nothing but the best could meet my needs, the others lacked too many of the words I sought.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this reference, which seems to include all American terms and nuances, the length unit is solely written "metre". I'm guessing "meter" as an equivalent to "le mètre" is wrong, but very widespread. Maybe similarly to that confusion between "its" and "it's".
As for "us natives" or "we natives", I couldn't say. Subtle grammatical nuances, and the way it's intended has its importance as well. It is only wrong use if it WAS used in the way that the mistake involves.
Provided there IS another way.
Languages evolve. They are alive. As long as they remain coherent ("its vs it's" threatens that coherence by creating a confusion of concepts), rules are partially malleable.
For instance, "me and Eolake" creates no confusion. It's just subtly impolite, because of the speaker putting himself first. Impolite, improper, but not false.
"Savvy?" -- (Jack Sparrow, pirate captain)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meter%5B3%5D
ReplyDeleteBoring old, stock standard, everyone has it US Mirriam Webster Collegiate dictionary definition of "meter".