We had two inches of snow lying this morning

Normally when this happens in the UK, my f-list is full of people saying "SNNNNNEEEEOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!" and the like.

Since this hasn't happened this time, I shall take the opportunity to quote papersky, and plug the gap:

From: Jo Walton
Subject: Re: Blast it, how do I make names sound how I want them?
Date: 1998/10/20
Organization: Intellectual Berserkers for a Better Tomorrow
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.composition

Dorothy J Heydt writes:

Julian Flood wrote:

Not in Coney Weston, a few still say 'it snew somethin terrible las week'. As they and their ancestors have been here since the Ice Age I bow to their seniority.

Where is Coney Weston and how would you describe their ancestors? 'Cause the Saxons only came in as the Roman Empire was falling. Others even later. Interesting survival, though.

It's in Suffolk, not far from Bury St. Edmonds. It's not in Johnson's :Placenames of England and Wales: which means it's probably not in Doomesday, as he mentions most of what is but he does miss some. It's unlikely to be other than a Saxon settlement, going by the village pattern around there, but it could be older, road atlases aren't the best tool for telling.

When the mammoths came a-thundering off the glaciers in the North
we were huddled here in Coney and we never ventured forth.
We ignored it in our village when the wind of changes blew
but if it was getting parky out, we always said "it snew".

We were here in Coney Weston when the Beaker People came
(and we've still got these here beakers and they still look just the same)
we have weathered out the bloody Celts, the bloody Saxons too,
and the useless bloody Normans and we always said "it snew".

There was Shakespeare, from the Midlands, and Milton's London ways.
There was Doctor Johnson's little book and his newfangled ways.
There was three wise clerks of Oxenford, fiddling with something new
but here in Coney Weston we have always said "it snew".