Whenever something like a Big Snow Crisis day happens,there's always something in the media about how it has cost The Economy £3.5 billion.
I think it's a load of bollocks.
So many people have commented on how nice yesterday was, chatting with people in their neighbourhood and enjoying an unexpected holiday. Surely these things are to be savoured. They improve mental health and they increase happiness. These things don't have to be justified in monetary terms. They are good for their own sake.
I wonder what is going on in those organisations which contribute to that £3.5 billion cost of yesterday. I accept that there are certain businesses such as farming or the theatres that went dark that will not fully recover the lost produce or income. But I don't see where the problem is elsewhere. For example, some offices may have had to pay out to put staff up in hotels or travel by taxi. But that's firm loss is the hotel and taxi firm's gain. Probably fewer people went shopping (or maybe not, perhaps some people who would have been working found a displacement activity), but most people have finite disposable income anyway, so will just buy that dress or that sofa next week instead. I accept that for some small businesses, the loss of a day's trade is what will send them under, but let's be brutal, they were going under, anyway.
Most of us who have to work to deadline usually end up meeting it one way or the other. For example, I am currently arranging a replacement mortgage. This involves the old lender (Alastair Darling t/a Northern Rock) and the new lender, the mortgage broker, the conveyancing solicitors, and me, and as it will also pay off my personal loan (Alastair Darling t/a RBS NatWest). Ultimately, the mortgage will go ahead, or if it doesn't it won't be because of any snow delays, so it makes no difference to The Economy.
But even without doing the sums, I still can't help thinking - so what? Life isn't all about profit-and-loss. We aren't just Economic Machines. I know I chose to play Drama Queen about my cancelled hair appointment, so you might wonder how I would react if I had an elective operation cancelled. Well, pretty upset, and pissed off. And I would have been pissed off if I had booked for Die Tote Stadt last night, because it was cancelled. (I'm going Thursday). But you know, we are also adults, and part of being an adult is to accept that sometimes things don't go the way one expects them to. Operations get cancelled for all sorts of reasons. Favourite singers drop out despite our best efforts to be there. Sometimes one just has to live with disappointment and relish the benefits. I mean, what has been nicer than seeing the smiling faces of children playing in the snow? The sense of fun, and for many of them awe at something they have never experienced before. I suppose I was like that at age 11 when we had Big Snow and the Winter of Discontent.
Most importantly, it's going to snow on my birthday*. Yippee!!!!
* it often does, actually, I'm convinced it's the snowiest day of the year, on average
