Snø i Bergen compared to snow in England

I find reactions to snow fascinating, it's a very strange thing! For those that dont know, in England every year there is typically one day of good snow fall. It will usually happen overnight and then will  be slush shortly after lunch time. I remember once it hit hard in my home town and to say chaos in-sued would be a gross understatement. After a heavily delayed train journey I found myself stuck in the town centre with a suitcase full to bursting point and post apocalyptic scenes all around me.

Hundreds of cars were abandoned all over the town and everyone I knew was stuck in hours of traffic. In the end I spent over an hour dragging my case uphil through several inches of snow where finally I met my Dad in his car. I should point out that the train station to my house was usually a 10 minute journey. I recall this snow lasted a couple of days and my town made national news!

Now lets flip to snø i Bergen, which first appeared a couple of weeks ago. To summarize, a little more traffic (but not much) everyone still goes to work/school and  basically you just get the hell on with it. Norway is a country prepared, very prepared! Bergen does not even get that much snow relative to proper snowy places, yet ploughs are everywhere, winter tires are compulsory and everyone has appropriate wool clothing. In fact Norwegians in my experience have an obsession with wool, it's like holy water and they believe it to be the answer to everything. Wool socks, thermals, hats, mittens the works! Every time I mention any part of my body being cold a Norwegian laughs at me for not covering it with wool.

Due to the fact that Bergen is pretty much guaranteed to have a few weeks of snow a year the nostalgia for it is naturally much lower, people go literally mental in England if they see a single snow flake I swear. I would say many in Bergen enjoy it, especially at first but naturally some find it frustrating, I however though have loved nearly every minute of it. I remember several times I was working outside in my job in what I would describe as blizzards. It was cold, wet and difficult to
work but such an awesome experience, I find hard snow fall really gets the adrenaline pumping. Walking through the city drunk one night in heavy snow was also a very strange and new experience. Everything was so bright it was like day time, which was nice given how few hours of sun there is now, but that's for another post.

Sadly the snow has now disappeared just in time for Christmas and does not look to be returning again in the next few weeks. A very slight disappointment but I've enjoyed the snow so far and it was a little tedious at times so I have bid it farewell for now and hope it returns for little while again in the new year.

Veiw from a balcony on one of the first snowy days

Caught in a blizzard on a walk home from town

This was around christmas either 08 or 09 in England. My brother, a friend and I made a snow rabbit

I dont get it either but it seemed like a good idea at the time, also incase you were wondering, yes the dog did get in the way a lot as I remember