Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hope is fading

Those of you who are living in Nagano, Hokkaido etc. will just laugh at this post, but for those of us in the southern regions snow is a bit of a novelty.... and in my case it brings hope that perhaps my classes this afternoon will be cancelled! Last night there was a heavy snow warning and this morning we woke to about 1cm of snow on the ground and more falling rapidly. The kids were taken off to school in their new gumboots (thanks Santa) and I kept a close eye on the live cameras of the roads near here hoping that they would get to school okay. Next I kept an eye on the live cameras in the hope that the roads would then become relatively dangerous so that I wouldn't have to worry about going to classes this afternoon. And then the snow stopped and the sun came out. Bugger! It has just started snowing again quite heavily so I guess there is still hope of being snowed in... with the kids stuck at school.... oops I hadn't thought of that!
If you want to check out the roads in our area (just in case you feel like popping over for a coffee!) here is the link: Local Cameras Number 10 camera is the closest to our house. It seems to work if you first click on the camera you want to look at and then the "Windows Media Player" button.
In other news... my daughter has discovered where Santa does his shopping! The other day she took her alarm clock that Santa brought her out of its box and found the guarantee in it. It was dated December 23rd.... and was from Beppu YouMe Town.... At first she couldn't work it out, but then she decided (with a little bit of encouragement) that Santa probably can't make all the toys on his own and carry them all the way from the North Pole so he has special helpers who go shopping for him and leave the things ready for him in different "drop off" points around the world. The story gets more complicated every year!

7 comments:

  1. I'm with ya on the snow scene!!! Lots of excitement in our house today too and we had a lot less than you!! I was even going to post it!!

    Love the Santa story, I think I'll have to remember that one and pull it out when needed.

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  2. Fingers crossed for some snow for you. Even living here I still like snow- sure beats brown dead looking but still equally as cold scenery!

    Love the santa story- what an imagination! Reminded me to check for warranties too!

    My sister found all the Christmas presents in my mum's closet when she was about 7 and decided that that's where santa puts them so the parents can decide who gets what.

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  3. It looks like your snow has stopped again. Do they have those cameras all over Japan? I will have to find the ones on our route to school. I am already really worried about dd walking so far and it is still over year away.

    The snow was coming down in buckets this morning when we were walking M to yochien, then stopped and the sun came out as soon as we were home again. Sigh. I think it will all be melted by the time school is finished and she will be sad because she was really looking forward to sledding.

    Hope your snow timing works out better than ours. We are supposed to get more tomorrow here in Gifu.

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  4. and just think - you have to remember that story too cause guaranteed the kids remember every bit of it. Fancy that. Elves that shop at Youme town. Next year the Kunimi elf might have to gate crash the Yamage elf's shopping expedition to Beppu.

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  5. Anonymous9:53 pm

    I wish not concur on it. I think nice post. Especially the title-deed attracted me to study the whole story.

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  6. My husband is from Fukuoka and they don't get much snow either-but it gets exciting for me when we visit in the winter and it snows....living on Saipan we obviously never get snow.

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  7. I haven't got snow once this year. : ( Well it rarely ever snows in the area we live too, but I was wishing for a bit of a sprinkling or at least a light dusting. ; )

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