Anecdotal evidence isn't seen as being very reliable, especially over any length of time. The assumption seems to be that human memory is weak and fallible.
There are so many cases where a person's memory has turned out to be faulty. I know all that.
But I also know that winters aren't as harsh as they used to be back home. I remember making snow forts. I remember skiing down Upper James Street (which is also highway 6) and having the whole 6 lanes to myself.
So when I found myself in a conversation with an older taxi driver this past winter, I found it interesting to listen to his memories of winter in Seoul. According to him, they used to ice fish on the Han River. I can't imagine, given the three winters I've seen here, that the Han ever freezes solid now. The Han river is about 500m wide as it passes through Seoul in a lazy "w" and I've only seen ice on the very edges of it.
He had so much detail, even though English wasn't his first language, I could picture what he was talking about (probably filling in the details from my own preconceptions about ice fishing). It was one of the most enjoyable taxi rides I've taken anywhere.
Before coming to Korea, my knowledge of the country was really limited. It always shocks my kids when I tell them that the only Korean name most people back home know is Kim Jong-il, the dictator of North Korea. The most I'd ever heard of Korea was as a backdrop for the TV show MASH. Even that TV show depicted winters as being harsher than those that I'd seen during my time here.
And here was an old man, giving anecdotal evidence that MASH didn't show it as being harsh enough.
