Snow Days, Low Days

Sendai got hit by a huge snowstorm last night, which would be unusual even in the middle of winter but is exceptionally rare in March. I didn't take any measurements, but it looks like at least a foot of wet, heavy snow so far (it's still going as I write, though the pace has tapered off somewhat).

It struck me as odd that twenty years ago, when I was attending a school insteading of working in one, this would have been cause for celebration, as it surely would have meant a day off, to be spent sledding, throwing snowballs at the other kids in the neighborhood, and drinking hot chocolate. Nowadays, not so much. The Japanese take education far too seriously to cancel school just because of some slippery roads, even on a day when no classes were scheduled, and when I arrived this morning several students who'd come to school to take part in club activities were shoveling out the parking lot. And while Sendai looks pretty in the snow, it sure isn't much fun to commute through under those conditions, and all I could think about this morning was how the next few days are going to entail dodging slush banks and hidden puddles and probably arriving at work with wet feet anyway. Chalk another thing up amidst "lost delights of childhood".