Crazy German File #8

So, it snowed yesterday, and by yesterday I mean it started snowing at about 4 p.m. Sunday and didn't stop until very early Tuesday. Now, you midwesterners will not really recognize this as an official snowstorm. It was just kind of an annoyance. However, the snow made for many a frozen window as I headed to the library and ran some errands this morning. It was gorgeous really. Everything covered in a heavy coat of fluffy snow, lots of snow falling from the trees, etc. A veritable winter wonderland.

Here's the Crazy German part. While I was running my errands I saw several people, a minimum of four, scraping their windows. That was all good, because almost all of us have had a morning when we had to scrape our windows before we left for work. And I know that you are all thinking, "It's no big deal, turn on the defrost and it practically melts away." YEAH. That's what I thought. However, evidently running your engine for a few minutes without the express purpose of moving forward is a terrible environmental travesty.

I've ridden with Germans in their cars before, and if they know the stoplight is going to be a long one, they turn the engine off. Furthermore, when in Ireland in October I noticed that Colm and Claire's Audi (German Made) has an auto off function when put in park-- which, of course, everyone does at every stoplight-- which means that the car stops and restarts at every stop light and, thus, saving fuel and emissions.

All of this explained, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to me when I saw everyone feverishly scraping their windows this morning without the aid of the defroster. I don't know. Having lived through a Wisconsin winter or two or 25, I'm not sure I would ever attempt cleaning my windshield after a snow like yesterday without the aid of my defroster. I'd be more willing to keep my house at 60 for the next few days to offset carbon emissions than to have to fight through that kind of ice just to head down the road. These people were sweating, but they saved that little bit of carbon. I guess I should applaud them, but sometimes you gotta wonder.