I woke this morning and thought to myself: I wonder if it will ever snow again in Johannesburg, South Africa? Because, if you didn’t know, the last time it did was way back in 1981, which, for our younger readers, was a few years before the launch of MTV – if you can imagine a world without MTV, then sure, why not one without snow. [ed note: correction, the same year as the launch of MTV!]
(There’s a joke in there about the good old days when TV stations signed off and the screen went to snow, but I’ve got to move along to the story here…)
Well, what do you know! It’s snowing in South Africa! While the rest of us suffer through one of the worst heat waves on record, kids are having snowball fights in Johannesburg.
When I was a kid, we used to put snowballs in the freezer during winter with the hope of taking them out once summer arrived for a few laughs. But by that time they were just solid balls of ice, not unlike something you could have made with tap water… ahh, youth.
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I wish it would actually snow, it only snows when your young in the south so you can’t remember (snow’s evil like that.)
posted by Rachel on 8-3-2006 at 7:28 pm
No offense guys, but you say the snow happened in 1981, a few years before MTV. MTV actually started in 1981, the same year.
posted by Michael on 8-4-2006 at 8:12 am
Thanks Michael! Good point. According to Wiki: “At the time of launch [1981], only a few thousand people on one cable system in northern New Jersey could see [MTV].”
I remember hearing about this new, super-cool station. And begging my parents to subscribe to cable just for MTV… but alas, it wasn’t available in my neck of the woods until some time later.
But you’re still spot-on with 1981, for those lucky ones in Northern New Jersey.
Maybe I should have said VH-1?? They launched in 1985 and, if I recall correctly, played Kenny G. so often, it’s amazing anyone ever wanted to pick up a saxophone again!
posted by David on 8-4-2006 at 10:16 am