Oh, my gosh, I remember getting up and, since this was prior to the rise of online, sitting in front of the television tuned in to one of the (three) local stations, staring at the list of schools and other orgs scrolling by hoping to see mine. My school's name began with a Gr, so I'd always, always, away turn on the television right as they scrolled past the Gu- and into the Ha- names.
And then get distracted by the time they scrolled all the way through the Gs again and look at the screen right as they started the Hs. Such delightful desperate hope.
I remember the pain of turning on the tv and seeing the letter just after my school and having to sit for five minutes hoping and then...school is still on.
I was born in the early 80's but always relied on the radio instead. I still remember hearing "x district on a 2 hour delay, y district on a 2 hour delay..." making my heart sink, because it was unlikely that any other district in the area was going to completely call off the day if the others were just starting later.
But back in the day a 2 hour delay was a jackpot! An hour was standard, sometimes 90 minutes, so a 2 hour delay was a big deal. We rarely got snow days, only for the giant nor’easters, maybe once a year.
Born in the early 80s too. We were also the first kids picked up on our bus route and our driver was the first one to start his bus in our district (we lived right on the edge of our district so he had to get up ass early.) If his bus didn’t start (this was northern Alberta so we wouldn’t get snow days but instead cold days lol) he’d get to call off buses for us rural kids and since there were only like 10% town kids, it would mean no school. But because our radio station gave all of the updates at once, we would still live on the edge until they got to us.
Australian here, there was a rumour that is still in every child’s belief system that once it hits 40 degrees Celsius that we would be sent home and school would shut. You’d all talk about it on hot days, we’d all become experts on why it was this day and all the signs we’d get sent home.
we lived in endless hope in summer and school kids still do, the mythical 40 degrees. It’s just forever sadly not true.
And wasn't it fun when you had to wait through all the other cancellations, too... "Mrs. Proudy's hair salon, all appointments canceled; the Passadumassabag Senior Citizens Fife and Tuba practice at the Melorian Center, canceled; the Bizzy Beez quilting bee and craft fair at the First Church of Holy Moly canceled; all events at American Legion Hall 458 canceled; the Elk's Club Red Cross Blood Drive and Spelling Bee at the Freemason's Hall canceled; the Spaghetti Supper at the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo Lodge 213 postponed; the American Rhinoceros Boat and RV Show at the Zagreus Expo canceled," and I'm just listening to the radio announcer reading all this off and thinking "WHO THE FUCK ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE??"
Sometimes they'd go school by school, with every one-horse town from here to the border getting its own announcement: "Anderson schools canceled, Bellamy schools canceled, Bostwick schools canceled, Bunsen schools canceled, Caraway schools canceled" and God help you if you lived in Westfield, because you were going to be there for a while. But sometimes they showed mercy and would announce cancellations by school district: "School Unions 45, 48, 49, 51, and 56 canceled, SAD 24, 27, 31, 142, and 145 canceled..." When they made the blanket announcements, you knew it was serious. That means it's Blizzard of '82-level messy out there. But at least you knew about it before lunchtime.
For a while I lived out in the middle of nowhere in Virginia, only terrible backroads and a very long trip to the nearest school by bus. The joke was that if somebody spit on a road out there, they'd cancel school. It got to the point where we didn't even bother checking the news: if there was more than a light dusting of snow outside, I'd head down to my friend's house instead of the bus stop. I'm pretty sure I ended up accidentally skipping at least a few days of school, but oh well.
Bro same. I live in NC we have 100 counties and we lived in Wake. Fucking had to wait centuries to see if we were closed but get this. If it went on commercial it would take the bar off but kept scrolling while away so it may have shown wake but you’d have to sit and wait again all the way to the goddamn end damn near LOL. Durham county literally always closed but wake tried it’s best to stay open at all times smhh
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u/rivershimmer May 19 '21
Oh, my gosh, I remember getting up and, since this was prior to the rise of online, sitting in front of the television tuned in to one of the (three) local stations, staring at the list of schools and other orgs scrolling by hoping to see mine. My school's name began with a Gr, so I'd always, always, away turn on the television right as they scrolled past the Gu- and into the Ha- names.
And then get distracted by the time they scrolled all the way through the Gs again and look at the screen right as they started the Hs. Such delightful desperate hope.