If you want to see the biggest difference between the UK and Poland, just wait until it snows. When just a few centimetres of snow are lying on the ground most of the schools are shut. Children listen to local radio in the morning to hear if their school is one of many giving an extra day off (sometimes more than a day). The trains run late and many services are cancelled altogether. I remember in the late 1980s when British Rail announced 'We have abandoned the timetable completely'. I thought to myself 'What's new?'. Finally, drivers are told not to drive unless their journeys are vitally important. This means that a lot of people take the day off work unless they can walk there.

Alright, this looks fairly pathetic when you compare it with Poland, but there are reasons for it. Firstly, a lot of special snow blowers and snow ploughs are needed to clear all the roads in the country. It is not worth buying hundreds of these when it only snows for about one week every couple of years. This means that a handful of special machines are used for thousands of kilometres of roads and railways. It snows more often in Poland so it is easier to justify spending the money on more of them.

Secondly, in the south-east of England the trains get their electricity from a 'third rail' at ground level. Once the snow covers this, it short-circuits and the railway companies have to start looking for diesels to pull the trains.

Finally, because it doesn't snow very often, most drivers do not have much experience of driving in snow. This is why they are advised not to try it. Again it is not worth learning a new set of driving skills for one week in two years.

There are two main consequences to this. The first is that skiing is always seen as a rich person's hobby. If someone in Britain wants to become a good skier they need the money to practise in another country. The second is that snow is always exciting for children. This is not surprising really as there is never enough time to get bored of it.

Adults as well find snow is fun to play with. There was a story about some coalminers who were on strike about twenty years ago. They built a snowman in the shape of a policeman. The police were not very friendly and drove their Range Rover into it, destroying it completely. Still, the miners were not put off and built another one. Again a couple of police officers drove their van into it, only this time it had been built over an iron bollard.

Glossary

to shut = to close

to cancel odwołać

to abandon porzucić

vitally niezmiernie

pathetic wzruszający

a snow plough pług śnieżny

a handful of kilka

to justify usprawiedliwić

[something] short-circuited doszło do zwarcia w

to advise poradzić

coalminer górnik

to be on strike strajkować

a bollard słupek

Exercises:

In the phrase 'many services are cancelled altogether', the verb 'cancel' is in the passive voice. How many other examples of verbs in the passive can you find in the text? What tenses are they?

KEY

most of the schools are shut

drivers are told not to drive

snowploughs are needed

special machines are used

skiing is always seen as a rich person's hobby

it had been built

(The last one is Past Perfect. The others are Present Simple.)

These words all describe temperature. Which one is the odd one out?

sweltering chilly freezing nippy

KEY sweltering (it describes extremely hot temperatures)

snow + man = snowman