Snow joke

[j4]

Okay, look, it's not that I don't like snow. I like the look of it, I don't mind the cold (I wore my big thick fur coat today, though in retrospect something more waterproof might have been sensible), I'm not even going to attempt to drive in it, and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where the buses are still running (and to have the use of my legs).

However -- and this is where you get to call me a killjoy -- I do not want snowballs thrown at me. It is not "fun"; it is cold, soggy, occasionally painful, and generally quite unpleasant. Yes, I probably didn't mind it so much when I was a small child, when school was cancelled and I could prance about in the snow all morning and then go inside and have a big mug of hot ribena. But I'm not a small child now, I'm a grouchy adult who does not relish the thought of having to sit in work all afternoon wearing clothes which have been soaked with icy water. Also, they don't sell splashsuits in adult sizes. Or if they do, I guess I just don't go to those kind of shops...

So instead I've devised a warmer form of entertainment for other fun-haters. It has the same element of hit-or-miss about it, and all the fun of targetting people who aren't actually playing the game, but none of the cold-and-wet-ness, unless you sit in the freezer and play it, in which case frankly that's not my problem. Fellow curmudgeons, I bring you:

* * * SNOW BINGO * * *

I don't like being tickled, either. I mean, I know everybody says that, because they secretly actually want to be tickled, but I really really don't like it, not in a "don't throw me in that there briar patch" way, but in a "quite likely to punch you, actually" way. Just sayin'.

Comments

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

You're missing, "WHITE HELL headline in tabloid", except they're called red tops now because almost all papers are tabloids. I wonder how long it will be till the ex-broadsheets start getting called full fats?

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

Bravo, my dear, bravo.

How do you feel about lunch on Tuesday, btw?

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

Actually it'd have to be a week on Tuesday (the 20th), since I have a dentist appt.

Let me know if you'd like to.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Eep, sorry, missed your first comment, so thanks for poking me again!
Tuesday 20th would be great - hope the dentist's nothing too traumatic...

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

With you on being tickled, in a `literally will punch you in the face' kind of a way. Call me peverse, but I like being able to breathe.

However, have to dispute the sogginess of snowball fights (having had a few recently in Norway). When the snow is fresh it is dry. It brushes off before it melts. Would be soggy if you waited till the slush, but that would be silly.

If I am wrong I will let you know later.

Not that I am in any way calling you a killjoy. Hope you have a lovely warm dry lunch.

[j4.livejournal.com]

When the snow is fresh it is dry. It brushes off before it melts.

So why does the snow which falls on my coat make it wet? Trying to brush it off makes my gloves wet, too. My jumper (also snowed-on while walking from the bus-stop to work) is currently drying over the back of a chair. Snow is definitely not as soggy as rain, but it still falls firmly into the category of "wet stuff falling out of the sky"...

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

It does depend on the particular kind of snow (see, I'm not giving you free bingo points) and the temperature. It needs to be quite a bit colder for really good dry powdery snow.

[vatine]

From about -4°C and down, in my experience. Optimum for "large flakes, while still dry" seems to be about -10°C, down from about -20°C you start getting only tiny little specks and at -40 you get hardly any falling snow (though what's already fallen stays on wonderfully) at all.

[karen2205]

*nods* to both of those. Whenever I've been hit with snowballs they've been more hard balls of ice than pure, soft snow and that *hurts*.

I would kick and punch anyone who tickled me. And then I'd get angry.

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

Well, they must have been made of...

...the wrong sort of snow...

...*hides*

[kjaneway.livejournal.com]

I also hate snow.

Prety to photograph, but otherwise thoroughly annoying.

Fortunately, here in my bit of South Manchester, we've had no snow at all, this time.

(I didn't like snow as a kid, either, and was one of the three or so people who bothered to go into [secondary] school, the only day they closed it in the 7 years I was there, despite much of the population being within walking distance and my being a 12mile bus ride away. *mumblewingecomplain*)

[nja.livejournal.com]

So, tickling you with a snowball. Good idea or bad idea?

(The answer to the damp snow thing is the temperature - little brother was quite happy to work outdoors in Scandinavia in the winter because it was so cold that he stayed dry, he hated working outdoors in the UK when it snowed. It may also have something to do with the amount of water vapour in the air, which decreases with temperature).

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Snow is good for making snowmen. Or rather, gathering with like-minded friends and making anatomically-detailed tableaux of 'Agric' students and sheep.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I enjoy a good snowball fight, but only when I'm dressed appropriately (ie, when I go inside, I will become dry by taking off the outer layer of clothes), and when people aren't being nasty (putting chunks of ice inside the snowballs, aiming for the face, and so on). Also, the first snowball should always be thrown gently and at close range so that the snowball-ee has the option of ignoring it and walking away instead of joining in.

[redbird]

Snowball fights are like many other physical activities: fine if all parties consent, and consent is not acquired by dragging someone in and hoping they don't punch you in the eye.

I take it "at least you don't have nasty wind chills" wouldn't actually help. (It's -9 here, wind chill -14, but my parka is rated for that, I'll put the all-purpose extra layer cardigan under that, wear my long underwear, and it'll be fine. No snow today.)

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

I don't like being tickled, either. I mean, I know everybody says that, because they secretly actually want to be tickled, but I really really don't like it, not in a "don't throw me in that there briar patch" way, but in a "quite likely to punch you, actually" way. Just sayin'.
I'm with you on that one. I tend to 'Go Nova' in response - all limbs fire out at full force. Much like a landmine, actually ...

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

I kill ticklers, me.

Snowballs: when I was at the bottom of the cliff and Child and 'II were on top, 'II got me on the side of the face, knocked my specs off and a lens out of the frame and it flaming well HURT and I said so and went in and cried for a minute or two because I TOLD HIM he was throwing too hard.

So I went on the cliff top with Child and he threw uphill and that equalised matters nicely.

But only OK when voluntary and with possibility of retribution. If I were cycling to work and some scat-headed Yoof threw snowballs at me I'd want to run them down with the spear-points mounted sideways on my hubs.

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

You could always try wearing black plastic goth kit... or take a look at the larger end of the child sizes ;-)

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

"you'd think" seems to be becoming a bit of a catchphrase of yours, as well as a tag (http://j4.livejournal.com/tag/you%27d+think). It amuses me that this tab was next to a post entitled "I think not" (http://beingjdc.livejournal.com/345880.html).

Snowballs: agreed fully. The super sensational soaraway 65p lime-green Times Online have added a "chav your say" box to every story they post, including one about some think tank or other promoting risk as a reaction to some schools banning snowballs and all sorts of other things. My view on it was that some of the things being banned were sensible, others were less sensible and lumping the two together was unhelpful. Wouldn't you think?

House! (Incidentally, I'm morbidly curious what you used as that nice graduated background behind the 25 squares.)

[j4.livejournal.com]

"You'd think" is indeed a catchphrase of mine, and will probably be my epitaph. :-/

My view on it was that some of the things being banned were sensible, others were less sensible and lumping the two together was unhelpful. Wouldn't you think?

I'm not convinced there's any objective way of measuring "sensibleness", though presumably you could do some sort of cost/benefit analysis based on the amount of effort policing these sort of bans would involve, and the (harder to measure) benefit of doing so.

I've been reading Scenes from the Battleground (http://www.infet.co.uk/blog/index.php/a/a) (battlegroundrss) recently, which has left me with the distinct impression that snowballs would be quite a long way down the priority list of things to try to stamp out in schools -- with things like knives being a lot further up the list.

I do get the feeling that there's a general trend towards trying to outlaw risk ("if it's legal, it must be safe; if it's not safe, it should be illegal"), and a corresponding trend away from encouraging people to take personal responsibility for their actions or the consequences thereof.

[I really need to do some active research (rather than the kind of drive-by blog-absorbing that I do at the moment) to find people who are writing well and interestingly about attitudes to risk in society.]

I shamelessly stole the bingo card from this one (http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/05/keynote-bingo-for-macworld-07/). (brrm actually recognised it!)