I spent two months in Spain years ago and in every European city I have ever visited, I have envied them their extensive rail systems. For my honeymoon a couple of years ago, we traveled all around Italy completely by train and it was a lovely experience.

Before the light rail opened here, all we heard was morons bitching, moaning, and groaning about how no one will use it and what a waste of money it will be. How amazingly short-sighted people are! As it turns out, people LOVE the light rail and ridership has far exceeded what even the city planners expected. Last night there was a game at the “Bobcats Arena” and the train was chock-a-block! No one will ride it indeed! Yes, of course, people would rather sit in traffic inhaling fumes, getting their blood pressure up instead of riding the train, relaxing, reading the paper or listening to an IPod when the option is available.

So last night, thanks to the train, we had a fun night out with dinner and drinks downtown. Before all the drinking, the hubby and I headed to an RV show. Thinking that we had narrowed down the options, we decided this time to focus on a low-priced fifth-wheel, the stablest of the trailers. As usual, we left more confused than when we arrived. We’re told that an RV loan is tax-deductible as a second home. A smart salesman told us all about people who transport trailers for you and how some people park them at desirable locations such as the beach. That would solve the problem of where to store the trailer and provide a guaranteed beach vacation whenever we want. So now we’re thinking, maybe we want something a little nicer if we’re going to be keeping it as a “second home?”

Lots of fun decisions ahead.

There wasn’t much to photograph, but here’s what snow in Charlotte looks like:

Here’s the latest according to Weather.com, which is generally useless in these matters.

Unknown? That’s a first. Are frogs a possibility? How about money? I’d take money over snow!

Here’s the more detailed prediction:

Only one inch of snow. I doubt we’ll get even that much, but again, reports say Atlanta is getting snow and that is a very, very good sign. For a change, I’m not the only one excited about the prospect of snow. Even the newscasters are saying, “I feel like a kid again.” We all seem to be wishing for it and since we all know the Laws of Attraction are true, there’s more proof that we’ll get a good blizzard with all of us wishing so hard for one.

Before a snow storm here there are two hard and fast rules. One is that upon the first utterance of the word “snow” everyone is directed to immediately proceed to the grocery story and load up on groceries. I forgot ! I can’t believe it. I even drove past the grocery store tonight. Our refrigerator is nearly empty too apart from emergency frozen eggrolls and beer.

Rule number two is that the news channels find a Yankee, which isn’t difficult, and interview him to get his take on Charlotte’s reaction to the weather forecast. You can always tell the new Northerners because, predictably, they mock Charlotteans for getting worked up over a couple of inches of snow. What the idiot newcomers don’t realize is that there are plenty of us here from the North. We know how to drive in snow, we just don’t want to drive in snow. We want a damned snow day for a change, and if we all conspire to pretend we can’t remember how to drive in the snow, we might actually get a freaking day off!

To start, there is the “Thread Count Settlement” against Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Apparently they lied about the thread count in their sheets, though they said they didn’t but they’re settling anyway. Had I bought any sheets from them, I could be a claimant and then I could receive a whopping $10 gift card or a 20% off coupon to go with my eight other 20% off coupons. Cool, eh?

Okay, I admit that in the realm of exciting, a 20% coupon might not really rank up there. But beat this:

Do you see the important word? Snow! I’m not actually getting my hopes up, but here’s the thing. The conditions are right. Every time we’ve had any accumulation in Charlotte, it has come from Atlanta, along the I-85 corridor. The reporters aren’t calling for an accumulation, but again, that makes it even more likely we’ll have one.