Originally, I was going to call this post Throwback Thursday, A Tale Of Two Cities. I was going to write about the city in which I was born and the city in which I currently live.
The former has experienced a 37 percent decline in its population in my lifetime, while the population of the latter has increased by 2,474 percent. No, that is not a typo. People vote with their feet, remember.
In the end, however, I just didn’t think I could write a post about the topic that would appeal to me or to my readers. Still, here’s a photo that has some relevance today:
I believe this picture of a December, 1960 snowfall is from The Baltimore Sun. Of course, the Northeast has just seen its first major snow event in 2-3 years although I think Baltimore was mostly spared. No, I’m not sorry we missed the storm because we moved and no, we were not living in the Baltimore area.
The only constant in the world is change. For most of my life I have loved snow, probably in large part due to the fact that a significant snowfall would get me out of school. I also do not remember ever having to make up any snow days.
Then, seemingly in the space between one winter and the next in my mid-50s, I lost my affinity for winter and its weather. It was sunny and 63° here yesterday. I have seen more cloudless skies here in the six weeks or so since we left the mid-Atlantic for good than I would see there in a year.
Yes, I know it will be very hot here next summer. That’s a price I gladly pay for the weather the rest of the year. My wonderful wife says the summers never bothered her when she lived here from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s. Still, I’m very glad we just spent a significant amount getting our HVAC system up to snuff. (Does that phrase show my age?)
I would like to read about any major changes in your preferences during your lives, whether or not it’s related to weather or the seasons.
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Do you think you would want to own a car that could reach 300 MPH? According to this article, renowned car builder Hennessey (headquartered in Texas) will build (is building?) a car called the Venom F5 that can reach 500 KM/hour or 311 MPH. From the article, a picture of the car:
The Venom F5 is powered by an original Hennessey engine, the “Fury” V-8, which is a 6.6 liter, twin-turbo motor that can produce over 1,800 HP and about 1,200 LB-FT of torque. Only 24 of these will be made at a price of $2.1 million each. Here is a remark by John Hennessey:
“This car goes against the grain of modern hypercars, many of which have become soft and docile. The F5 resets the balance, having been designed from the ground up to be the antithesis of the ‘everyday hypercar’ – it will always be an occasion to drive.”
I find that comment to be very interesting. In my opinion, a car that can reach 225+ MPH, like some cars that have been produced in the last 10-20 years, cannot be described as docile, even if they are smooth to drive at normal speeds.
I am reluctant to ask if you would be interested in buying a Venom F5 assuming you could afford it because I really believe that people don’t know what they would do in an “out-of-context” situation until they are experiencing it. Still, it’s an interesting question to ponder, at least as sort of a cerebral exercise.
#ThrowbackThursday
#ATaleOfTwoCities
#HennesseyVenomF5
#somanycarsjustonelife
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Disaffected Musings 
Yes it is very icy and slippery this morning in the East. We would love to share a bit of your 60 degree weather. As the Hennessey goes, I will just stick with my choice of the Ford GT from earlier in the week.
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Good to “hear” from you as always, C/2.
I haven’t shared this with blog readers, but I am a big fan of the third-generation GT. Of course, the odds I ever own one are slim and none and slim got on the 6:45 flight to Hawaii.
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Baltimore got about 4 inches with frozen rain afterwards. It was cold, wet and windy.
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Thanks, “BB.” Doesn’t sound like a great day to me.
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I can admit I’m much less enamoured of snow events as I get older. Ideally it would snow only often enough to keep things ‘wintery’, like once a week and over night, and be comfortably cold enough the snow doesn’t melt too quickly.
In theory, I like low, swoopy super cars. I appreciate them as beautifully designed and engineered. But in practice, I can’t see me really being comfortable enough to enjoy driving cars like the Hennessey or even the Ford GT.
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Thanks, markcars2014. Almost all of us have obstacles that prevent us from fulfilling some/most of our dreams. We can still dream, though.
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I spent 13 years living in New England in my younger days. The first 10 years, age 7-17, were fun. Snowball fights, sled races, ice hockey, etc. Left for 2 years then married and returned. Not near as much fun the second time. Cleaning the driveway at 5 am so you could drive in snow to get to work knocked the bloom off that rose real quick. In February of ’78 there was a major storm that shut down the area for a week*, some places had 40+ inches of snow. I resolved to get out of that madness after that. In 1 1/2 years I ended up divorced and relocated to the southeast. We will occasionally get some snow, worst I have seen was in 1993 with 7 inches on the ground. I long ago came to the decision that after November 1, I had no need to travel further north than the Ga TN border. Any move I make in the future will be closer to the equator, not further from it.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978
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Didn’t know you had lived in New England. Your experiences certainly explain your desire to live away from snow.
I was living in the mid-Atlantic in January of 1978 and, frankly, don’t remember that blizzard. I do remember one the following February that was severe enough so that classes were cancelled for the first time in the history of the university I was attending. I also remember the “Superstorm” of 1993; it snowed 14-16 inches where I was living because we had a period of freezing rain and sleet, but 30-40 miles to the northwest of me they received 35-40 inches of snow. I WILL NOT miss that weather…
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It’s funny you said you don’t remember the blizzard of 1978; neither do I! I guess we were so caught up in Senior year! I do remember the blizzard of 1979 because I had to walk 2 1/2 miles in 17 inches of snow AND BACK to apologize to a coed I had lied to the weekend before. Such is the life of a college freshman.
We live in a community where the HOA shovels so the 4” were “somewhat” removed, which meant I was out throwing ice melt at 11 pm to make sure that the driveway would not be a sheet of ice when the Mrs. left for work at 5:20 am for the hospital. For me, as long as I can work from home during snow storms and be warm I am cool.
As I get older and blinder, the thought of driving at 300 mph is beyond me. I’m a comfort not speed guy. I saw a used Bentley Mulsanne for $99,000 that, if I find $200,000, has my name on it.
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Thanks for sharing, sir. Before the Internet and 24/7 news, if an event didn’t directly impact our area it was often “under reported.”
As for your Mulsanne, you might want to read tomorrow’s post. I can’t say if it’s about that make/model, specifically, but it will be sort of the opposite of a regular Friday post, even more so than the last such post.
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Photos like your opening image of Baltimore remind me why I spend my winters in the southland. I watched a news story on a 60-car pileup yesterday, semi trucks and cars all munched together.
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Yes, sir…I’m not a kid, anymore, and the snow might look nice for a few minutes, but not so nice to navigate.
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