thirtysomething...

Well, the saying must be true. You can take a boy outta The South, but you can't take The South outta the boy.

One of the constants of living in The South is warmth. Heat. Humidity. Even more so for the Coastal South.

You don't really have to worry with buying snow tires every winter. Ice Scraper? What's that? Salt is something you put on french fries & green beans (w/ a pat of butter), not something that's spread out on roads. Snow means school is closed. If "They" even think it's going to snow or have a millimeter of ice, schools are closed. Once that decision has been made or the reactionary weathermen predict cold, inclement weather the grocery stores have a run on bread and milk. You can apparently survive on milk and bread in the winter. I wouldn't know. I grew up in upstate South Carolina, so I'm familiar with schools closing cause they thought it might snow, sometime. I've driven in snow once, on ice a few times, but I never fell for the milk & bread bit.

For the past 10 years I've lived in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Charleston to be precise. Snow? Ice? The last time I saw snow I was in Germany, and that was November of '05. Ice is something you put in Sweet Tea or single malt. It's something you make. It doesn't just appear one morning and coat everything outside.

Now I'm living in South East England. It's cold. It's damp. I'm not even close to being used to the change. I'm wearing thermals. I have never worn thermals before. Well once. The only time I went hunting I bought a pair and it was just odd. Mind you, I've been in the cold, I can deal with it. But still....

Think about it this way: McDonalds' French Fries. Mmm Mmm Good. You can smell them cooking while you're waiting on your burgers. The golden little morsels have a distinctive taste and smell. I know you're just salivating thinking about those little guys.

Now take the salt off. Forever and ever. But only where you live.

They taste completely different now. You recognize them by looks and the red container they arrive in, they must be McDonalds, but it's not the same. Something's odd. You'll still eat them. Complain for a bit. Even buy more later. You'll deal with the change. You'll learn to live with it, still longing for the days of the Original.

I'm still in the complaining stage. :)

It's Cold. Damn Cold. And my brother in Wisconsin has no sympathy. That's ok. He has to dig his car out of 3 feet of snow to even GO to McDonalds.