Where Everybody's Crazy

On Wednesday I got back from a rather good holiday in Hokkaido with some Bible college friends. I seem to have brought the Hokkaido snow with me, because for the past three days I've had to dig myself out of my house.

Well, that's what I've been telling everyone, but it's not true. For the first two days, I've had to clear the area in front of my house to fulfill my social obligations. In parts where it normally snows really, really heavily, the council comes out with snowploughs, but in places like Nagahama, the way to get the snow cleared is good old-fashioned Japanese guilt-tripping. You really don't want to be the only one in your neighbourhood who is letting the team down by having a snow-covered patch in front of your house. My pastor was telling me on Friday how embarrassed he felt to have snow in front of the church when everyone else in the street had cleared their bit.

Hey, I don't like it, but it works.

So Friday and Saturday I was just keeping my neighbours happy. Today, though, I really had to dig myself out of the house. Last night was the first time since getting back that the roads were clear enough to cycle on, but it snowed an awful lot overnight, (the weather warning says 20 inches in the past day) and I literally could not get out of my house without some shovelling.

And not only did I have to dig myself out of my house, I had to dig myself into church at the other end. Or at least, join the work party clearing out the church carpark.

The snow is falling much more heavily now than this morning, and the weather forecast says it won't stop all week.