There was a foot of snow on the roads here.
And the roads were gritted - they have been several times over the last few weeks, but with 12 inches of snow (thats about 30cm to you youngsters) there needs to be a constant stream of traffic over the duration of the fall to make the grit melt the snow.

Oooooh, your computer's recovered then Bev.

Funny you should say that, as all the people I know, although we are taught in centimetres, all use inches in speech, i bet all of them could show you an inch, but not a centimeter. Its stupid really, and we dont use metrics weights either.

Roads were fine here with not much traffic....

Very very little traffic around on the side roads here. OH took daughter to station to get up to town . Trains are supposed to be semi-ok - am hoping for a message to say she has arrived at work (msg just in - many trains cancelled and most delayed, some platforms closed, but she managed to get the slow train and got to work only slightly late).

Neighbours are still having difficulty getting cars out. One car was stranded across the footpath all day yesterday, having tried and failed to get out yesterday morning. Guy over the road is busy digging a path out of his gate. Son spent much of yesterday afternoon clearing a way across the junction so he would be able to drive out this morning - and that seemed successful.

Trains are still appalling here.

And why not, really? My route in wasn't too bad, but there was one bit closed because of an accident, and the diversion took you along an untreated road which was horrible. Then even when it was clear, we pottered along at a reasonable speed, but the car behind me was very unhappy about that and was right on my bumper

On the subject of trains, I wondered if this link

http://nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ldb/index.html

is any use to anyone travelling. It enables you to view live departure boards to get an idea of your train departures before you travel. At least that's the idea - and it worked a few minutes ago for our local mainline station and for London Victoria. The local boards in some cases will give you an idea of delayed times.

That is an excellent site : works very well for my local stations too

Thanks for the warning!

Careful - there is a fundamental problem with this site - as evidenced yesterday and this morning by insisting trains are 'on time' until someone at HQ decides to flag them as cancelled. Bad information is worse than no information, in my book. Many of my colleagues went to the station on the basis of this incorrect site and were none too pleased to find no trains, despite the website's claims to the contrary...

I don't understand why the buses stop running though. Here in Italy (where we get about as much snow as Southern England btw) at the first hint of snow they all put their snowchains on - the buses are meant to be reliable so you don't have to venture out in your cars when it's icy!

I thought I was going to have to look for a B&B in Croydon!

My boyfriend, who currently lives in Fareham (not Farnham) in Hampshire, made the 30 mile trip this morning up to his business premises in Alton. He and only one other person turned up to work. Considering most of his staff live very locally to work and a lot of them own 4x4 vehicles that are more than capable of driving through snow, that's a pretty poor turn out. When he phoned me at lunchtime, he said he was seriously considering cutting the staff pay by one day this month, or take the day from their annual leave. As a sole trader and small business he cannot afford to pay staff who simply don't turn up for work. He's not only lost work time and therefore money today, but he still has to pay for the facilities, electricity, water etc. I'm sure there are similar small companies who will have suffered the same thing.

school closed (for two days)
no trains running

pathetic, isn't it?

Well apart from only having 2 in the house, we actually have very little that goes into the "landfill" bag. Paper, cardboard, glass and tins are separated out and peelings, etc. go on the compost. Left over curry goes in the freezer (or is non-existent ). Come to think of it, I'm at a loss to figure out what actually DOES go in the bin.

The trouble with snow in the South of the country is that you're not prepared for it; you don't have the infrastructure to deal with it.. ie not enough gritters to go around because you don't normally need them. So there's a big panic when the transport shuts down.

I don't think saying 'toughen up' is very helpful either because the majority have no experience of driving in snow so can't estimate the risks and that's where mistakes are made. Inexperience, cars and ice/snow are a lethal cocktail.

So take a couple of days off; the world won't come to an end! Put your feet up and do something homebased.. a few days and you'll be back into the grind and regretting wasting your days with stress! Build a snowman, go sledging and giggle like a kid.. then go inside and have hot soup and you'll feel brilliant!

We deal with deep snow several times a year so it's nothing unusual and we just get on with it - yes, the schools close and we can't get to the grocery stores but we prepare in advance. Everyone in our glen has thermals, boots, skis etc. as standard and I carry grit and a shovel in my car. I regularly drive through four foot drifts: it's just a part of life and not a novelty (although I still like sledging ).

But I agree about the pathetic 4WD drivers avoiding the slush - that's just laughable! Ooooooh dirty!

I agree - we used to just have to walk to school. The only time our school closed was if the boiler had broken down in the winter and there was no heating. Otherwise, snow, floods whatever the weather, we had to go. Outlying villages sometimes got cut off with some pupils unable to reach the town, but the school stayed open for the more local kids. Which is how it should be........

If I'd known you lived in Croydon I'd have been knocking on your door!
I had some music with me - I took some on holiday on the off chance of there being another pianist around - so we could have had snowed in duets!

The Hon. Lady Cyrilla F.L.D.S.P.P.

(I think it's the 'Hon.' bit that's tickled me the most...)

Er - you DO realise I went to the Les Dawson School of Piano Playing, don't you???? Ah, but my husband IS a fabby pianist/organist, so you could have played some duets with him!

Imagine the Highlands of Scotland closed every time it snowed.... it would never be open during winter!!!!

and if you miss their turning you can drop in on us !