Wednesday, 09 April 2008
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Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Caroline Scott-Thomas:
The snow in Nova Scotia
Pupils are back at school across Scotland this week after a freezing, snowy spring holiday. While English schools decided to postpone the break so that pupils there have a better chance of spring-like weather, Scottish students were treated to a bonus winter holiday instead. Treated? You bet. It’s in their blood.
When Scots, many of whom were farmers, left home to colonise the New World, it would seem sensible for them to seek out favourable climates, but this is actually the opposite of what they did. The intrepid folk who set out to start a new life across the seas were homesick. And home meant mist, rain and cold. Ah, Nova Scotia! An average maximum winter temperature of -6 to -4 degrees Celsius would surely quell that homesickness.
Meanwhile, others settled in East New Jersey where farmers attempted to scrape a living from the soil, which suffers heavy frosts from the beginning of October until the start of May.
The first Scots who went to New Zealand arrived in the relatively warm north of the country but, lured by the promise of more Scottish conditions, soon made their way to the South Island and were later joined by further Scottish emigrants who founded Dunedin in one of the coldest parts of the country. Being cold was not homely enough for them, however, so they designed the city to be a ‘little Edinburgh’, basing its street plan on Edinburgh’s New Town. Problematically, while the New Town is situated on a flat ridge, Dunedin is a harbour city, so the plan resulted in the creation of the steepest street in the world, where today parked cars slide down into a busy road when it is icy.
A street in "Little Edinburgh," Dunedin, New Zealand
Scottish people somehow thrived in these conditions and the proof of their hardiness is that all over the world their ancestors survive. On the one occasion when Scottish colonists tried to buck the trend, their failure was enormous.
Obviously no-one told the Scots about the fine weather in Panama or they never would have gone. When around 2500 Scots migrated there in 1695 they brought with them all their warmest woollen clothes. Unused to the hot climate, they were soon almost completely wiped out by disease or starvation and were then finished off by the Spanish.
So let that be a lesson to us all. Sometimes we just don’t know what’s good for us, and although at this time of the year we may long for some sunshine, it’s the snow and ice on which we thrive. Looking forward to the summer? Bah! Let it snow. It’s in our nature.
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