England is not the most natural of places to live and snow-ski; we don’t have mountains or reliable snow. Its even worse living around London — but that is where I learned to snow-ski; mostly on artificial slopes.

So why can’t you ski in Texas? Okay, it’s often unbearably hot, but from November to March it’s not so bad. Of course; there aren’t any mountains, but the hill country could support a short slope (400-1,000 feet) and it certainly cold enough to form ice — which makes the plastic surfaces behave more like snow. Other parts of the world have indoor slopes; so they could build one in the major cities like Houston or Dallas — both of whom have a large number of transplants (probably a reasonable skiing fraternity). So why can’t you ski in Texas?