This Winter Wonderland- Opinion by Midtownblogger

We in the United States have endured bad winters before, but this one has been a doozy for most of the country..

And a lot of it seems directly linked to the melting polar ice cap and the looping jet stream and other factors associated with Climate Change.

People are really SICK of winter in a lot of the country, especially the Middle West...

My relatives around Chicago, for instance, are used to tough winters but their stoicism has broken this year and they are complaining just like people in other parts of the country.

Likewise, the changed weather pattern has led to one of the worst drought patterns the U.S. West has seen in ages...

(There seems to be some relief now for the Pacific Northwest, but that does not surprise me for an area which just traditionally is set up with winds from the Pacific as well as the Arctic to get a lot of moisture flowing in).

I am fortunate to live in Midtown Manhattan, which is geared towards enormous efforts of snow removal and because of the density of the population, continual mass movement on the streets and avenues combined with the laws that encourage property owners to shovel their sidewalks, has led to a winter that while awful has been bearable--- at least for those people who do not have to be outside for long periods all the time. Or just enough of the time.

And it has come at a big cost, even though NYC has a lot of  money set aside for dealing with winter.  Places that do not have the huge influx of outside tourist money that NYC has ( to people from North Dakota, coming here this winter has been almost like going to Florida...there have been many warm ups in the weather and notably New Year's Eve and the Super Bowl went by just missing the big swipes of the Arctic Bear Claw winds and storms.)

Of course, most New Yorkers love to complain ( in my case, my mixed ancestry has also given me as it seems a "kvetching gene" from some ancestor -- but complaining runs in my family anyway.
My father used to tell the story of his great aunts Sophie and Lena, who had a competition going when it came to complaining.

Sample exchange:

Lena: When I had ( a certain operation) my pain was so great I fainted!

Sophie: When I had it, my pain was so great I COULDN'T faint!

And so forth.

Oddly enough, even though growing older has given me more reason for complaints, I am faced with the fact that growing old...well, stinks, to put it politely ( I can think of many more colorful ways of expressing this, especially when it has come to my teeth and lately of arthritis.. in the case of the arthritis, I was cheerfully informed that most of what I am exhibiting (X rays and MRI show) is relatively garden variety meniscus tear stuff and "joint changes just normal for someone of your age, in fact, relatively MILD for your age".

Oy, to coin a phrase often heard in NYC, thanks for all the consolation THAT gives me.

The cold weather apparently makes a lot of these aspects worse but since I am in constant contact with people who live in rural Vermont and Northern Illinois, for instance, it puts it in perspective. 

Not that I don't believe in Climate Change and wonder what is in store for us for the rest of the year ( tornado season is coming along in a while for parts of the country again, remember)..

And New York can look beautiful at the beginning of a snowstorm or for the few hours when it can be seen and not have to be dealt with in the early morning ( at least, not dealt with by ME).

For everyone else in the country, I don't begrudge you your snowman voodoo dolls at all.