Understanding Snow With Ulrika Jonsson
ULRIKA Jonsson wins Celebrity Big Brother and so in well placed to wonder:
“How can a country that fought so valiantly in two World Wars be brought to its knees by snow?”
Ulrika asks the question of Sun readers. And while they wonder if the Germans are to blame, Ulrika talks:
I woke up yesterday, looked out of the window and thought I was back in Sweden. Everything was covered in a soft, white blanket of snow and I jumped for joy! Then I remembered I was in incompetent southern England and my heart sank.
While sophisticated Swedes get assemble flat-packed furniture, roll in the snow and beat themselves with twigs, Ulrika is caught on the horns of something nasty:
Before I had a chance to get the kids into uniform, I received a message that school was closed. This was swiftly followed by a text from my nanny that her car had come off the road and she would be unable to come in to work. What could be more fun than four children at home without childcare and a pile of work to get done?
But I suspect I wasn’t the only parent in that dilemma.
Not in southern England. In Bradford – the “Stockholm of Yorkshire” – the scene might be a little different. But fair point:
In Sweden, it would take considerably more than a snowfall to bring the country to its knees.
Sweden avoids problems with snow like it avoids world wars – by exercising a policy of neutrality, grit and thick jackets.
You see, over there we have things called snowploughs. We even have heated train stations/rails and even some roads. We use salt and sand to grit our roads and we even put winter tyres on our cars to stop us fish-tailing out of control on hills.
What is it with Swedes and fish? You have to wonder why anyone lives here. Can we have Ulrika’s old house? What we need is perspective:
How is it that a nation which fought so valiantly in two World Wars, suffered rationing for years and endured horrific shock-flooding in the north of the country for two summers running can succumb so easily to the wonderful white stuff? Yesterday my kids were thrilled to be off school.
Cruel Britannia…
Posted: 3rd, February 2009 | In: Celebrities Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
