school closed (for two days)
no trains running

pathetic, isn't it?

Not really, id rather not risk icy roads, then be at school.

if the council did the job we paid them to do (via the council tax), the roads wouldn't be icy, would they?...

No, but our council just spent £2million on some new offices, which still arent big enough for all the council members.
And our school is mainly people from 20+ miles away, as it is one of the only catholic high school nearby, so its understandable they are closed.

LOL

My school is literally 800 yards away and is closed for two days - I cannot fathom. The catchment area is probably a 1 mile radius. The teachers probably are glad of any excuse to have a day off. Still, at least the kids to get to build a snowman - a rare event in these parts.

Is your expression at the moment similar to the snowmans?

Schools are generally closed because the staff can't get there, rather than the children. Teaching staff rarely live close to the schools they teach in.

It's always interesting to compare the other sites my company has. The large site at Philadelphia rarely has problems - there can be 15 inches of snow and the airport works and everything's fine.
The other large site in North Carolina, for them to see snow is very rare. But, when it does snow, the whole world stops there. In NC, snow is sufficiently infrequent that it's not worth putting the infrastructure in place to deal with snow.

In the UK, I think we sit somewhere in the middle. We're reasonably prepared for ice and frost. But proper snow is quite infrequent. This sort of snow, well we had some like this in 2003 down this way, and before that I think in another thread it's been said this is the worst since 1989. And it'll likely all be gone by Wednesday. So, yes, the world does come to a halt, but only for two days and that's not even every year.

If our councils had to have the infrastructure in place to deal with this - snow ploughs, etc - we'd all just be moaning that we didn't have enough schoools / the bins aren't emptied often enough / etc, because they'd put all that money in to dealing with our infrequent snow!

I don't understand it. We used to have much bigger snowfalls than this "in the olden days" and used to get around OK. I drove around the lanes on the hills above Durham when the ungritted roads were like a bobsleigh run - in a Renault 5 not a 4WD. Mind you I did end up on the neighbour's front lawn one day.

I think part of the problem is that people seem to have lost the ability to drive in a calm, considerate manner. If they can't hammer around at "normal" breakneck speed carving each other up, they think they have to leave the car at home.

There's no chance of me getting anywhere close to where I usually would be on a Monday, even if the school was open (which it isn't...)

Well the bins ARENT emptied often enough. Every other week for Landfill for example? That is incredibly poor performance!!

My sympathies! I live in SE London (well, the suburbs of it), and there are no trains and no buses running. No buses in Central London at all and many sections of the tube are closed. It is rather silly. Schools I teach at in the beginning of the week are closed until Wednesday.

I also have my MA class tonight but have been told that if I go in to Central London, there is no guaruntee that I can get back home because there is more snow on the way! I have never seen anything like it, not even when I wasup in Yorkshire in November. And there was a lot of snow then!

I have to say, while I was waiting for the bus, a fair number of the cars that did go past were going too fast, too close the car in front (on the rare occasions there were two together), or had only wiped the snow off of the front and rear screens (i.e. other windows and lights were still covered in snow).

If you are going out there in your car - be careful. You may be driving perfectly sensibly, but remember all the other idiots there are out there!

How much rubbish do you generate? I put my bin out this morning for the first time in 3 weeks.

How many people live in your house?...

I wish they would empty our recycling bin more than once every 4 weeks

Oh go on, I dare you! There were times when I was trying to get to school that we thought the bus was going to overturn. Did we get any sympathy?


Maybe I live in the olden days but it certainly doesn't cause this much disruption here. 6 inches? Seriously, you can still go out. It's not the end of the world...

unfortunatly i dont own wellies.

Snowfall of this magnitude at this end of the country is very, very rare : the last time I can remember snow like this, I was still at school as a pupil...

Yes, but... It's not like there's been a tsunami or something. It's snow!

Ok, I'll leave it now. Hope you all have fun on your unexpected day off!

It is just snow, but it's more likely in your part of the world Miss Ross especially in London it's very rare, my parents have lived in London for 17 years and this is them most snow they've ever seen there.

And it can be really dangerous out there, Leeds is ok this time round, but when we had snow last year it had melted and forzen onto the roads before it snowed some more, roads hadn't been gritted and lorries were swerving all over the road and it wasn't really safe to drive til a few hours later.

Anyways, no day off for me!

Too many whimps around these days. A bit of snow and that's it, hardly anyone steps outside their front door.

The forecasters have been predicting this since last Wednesday/Thursday and still the UK infrastructure can't get its act together.

Once I'd actaully dug the car out of the snow - had to do that before I could open the door and get into it - it was quite a pleasant drive, with very few cars on the road. But that was at 8 o'clock this morning and for the first time ever, I used the 'winter' driving mode switch on my Volvo.

I think the funniest sights were 4x4 drivers avoiding the slush and thick snow at the roadside. Oh dear, they might get the bodywork dirty

2

Ah there you go, there are 6 here... The maths is therefore correct if I am clamouring for weekly collections

We have 5 in ours, but alot of ours is recyclable, ie everything that isnt glass or food goes in the blue bin. Its not that black bin for us, its the blue one, as the stuff that goes into that takes up way more space than a bit of old curry.

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.

We recycle a lot but I do not like the fact I pay ££ in council tax and they can't be bothered to take all my rubbish away (recyclable or not) every week. Sheer laziness and poor value for money, in my book.

Are you applying for the "mr angry" position on the forums confutatis?

Back to snow - we've got 12" here - I measured it and not in a drift.

The schools are closed and most of the kids are playing outside and having a lot of fun. - WHich I think is a good thing.

Most of the people who battle into work today will waste half their time talking about the snow or checking the forcast/travel news on the internet. So whats the point.

It also puts a higher demand on the emergency servces and a couple of minor bumps can block a road meaning they can't get through at all. 20 - 30 - 40 years ago there was a lot less traffic so it was actually easier - The more traffic the more congestion, and the more cars that have been on the snow the more icy it becomes.

We don't get this much snow frequently enough for it to make financial sence for the local councils to spend enough money to be ready for it.

So stop complaining and enjoy it!

But the quicker they are filled the sooner landfill collections will stop altogether.

We live in a throwaway society, not just household waste, but many people also throw things in the bin just for the sake of it - they wanted a new one. This fickle attitude is neither good for the environment nor future generations. What's also needed is a drastic and immediate cut-back in the amount of packaging around all products - food and household goods - and to give even more encouragment to those with gardens to compost food waste. Supermarket BOGOFs don't help either, they add to waste.

But then we still have the issue of people who just don't care and throw everything in the waste bin, why should they care, after all it probably won't be their problem. They won't be around when all the landfill sites are full and there's nowhere left to throw rubbish.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with snow, so I'll now mention that the Met Office radar pictures are showing heavy snowfall moving in from the the east set to hit London in a little over two hours. Current predictions show it could be even heavier than we had last night.

I do think Amanda has a point - this was forecast yet I didn't see ONE gritter out yesterday. However the council DID deliver me a new blue bag for my recycling *irony*. They have set out new rules for our cardboard recycling - instead of just putting it outside we have to cut it up so individual pieces fit in said blue bag.... I won't bore you all with giving you the dimensions of said bag but it is &*)£"&(*)"$^&(&**"!ing small!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My next door neighbour is a policeman unable to get to work today. So much for the emergency services! I had to help dig him out of his front gate in my pyjamas. (I mean, I was wearing my pyjamas, not Mr Plod....gah - is it too early for a hot toddy?)

Blue (cos I'm cold) Bag xx

To quote Terry Pratchett, 'How does the snow-plough driver get to work?'.

He phones a policeman - obviously. Preferably one wearing his neighbour's Winnie-the-Pooh brushed-cotton pyjamas carrying a shovel....

B x

Well down here we didn't get gritted but it wouldn't have been any use - the grit would be sitting there under six inches of snow. There's only so much grit can do

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!

That's something one of our 'work-life balance' courses said last year. That if you were off sick from work for a few days, you'll find that everything works out. Either your work is urgent, and someone else does it; or your work isn't that urgent, and it'll be waiting for you when you get back, but it's obviously not something to worry about or they'd find someone else to do it!

Apparently three people made it in to our department today (out of about 40). The majority will be 'working at home', and for the majority that will also mean going out in the garden and building snowmen while being paid for it

I've recently got home because the school where I work decided to close at 11am. So everyone struggles in, it's decided there are enough staff to take the classes - then they close. Why??? There's only about 1 1/2" of snow here so having got everyone in why change their minds? It's the worst possible scenario for a parent with a child in year 7 who has just struggled into work themselves.

Got home to discover that Hubby's eye appointment at the local hospital had been cancelled; clinic shut because of the snow. We just do not cope, do we?

From my point of view it's great as I have a long, lazy afternoon ahead. I'm going to play the piano!

Oh dear, "in the old days", "in the old days", "in the old days", "A dusting of snow and the whole country is at a standstill" blah blah blah, moan moan moan .......... People need to lighten up a bit.
One or two days off school/ off work isn't the end of the world, people would be much better off getting out in the fresh air to play in the snow or staying in for a well earned rest anyway. There's more to life than going to work.

Yes I agree. Do we really want rises in road/council tax etc in order to deal with a situation that may only occur every 20 years? And I agree we shouldn't underestimate the dangers of driving in such weather. We have 10 inches of snow here and already an ambulance has got stuck and had to be pulled out by a fire engine.

My OH and I have been down to our village today. The kids are having a whale of a time making giant snowmen and having snow fights. People are calling on elderly neighbours to check they're all right. The coffee shops are doing a roaring trade. An event like this shifts your perspective a bit, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

A word in defence of our council workers.

I drove 45 miles through Hampshire last night just before it really started snowing here, all roads appeared to have been recently gritted and my car got peppered by grit on several occasions as I passed the lorries.

This morning I woke up to about 20 cm (hey 1 of us has to go metric!) and started to dig my car out to do the same journey again.

MISTAKE! No way could the grit cope with the amount of snow that came down and the trunk roads were down to single icy lanes.

MISTAKE 2! I decided to head towards Surrey to use an alternative route using bigger roads than the winding little ones I'd used yesterday - ok my Northern routes made me think that it would just be a bit of snow and a lot of fuss about nothing!

2.5 hours later after giving up as it was too dangerous I made it home after a 12 mile round trip that would usually take 20 mins at most. In this time though I did see a snow plough (yes there are snow ploughs around the Surrety/Hants border and they were working hard this am) and it was obvious something had improved the conditions on the A31 as whilst still 1 lane 30 mph was safe and the fastest I'd driven all morning.

I'm sure given more resources we could keep the country moving more, then again this is only the 4th time in 15 years that snow has prevented me getting to where I needed to be. Do I want to pay more taxes for that, we'd soon be complaining about wasted money paying for council workers and snow ploughs to sit around doing nothing.

Ok sake to come out now......my rant is over

Hmmm, well, I'm quite enjoying myself here. I don't intend to drive 'cos I had a nasty experience a few years ago in icy conditions. But I'm going out into the town this afternoon to do some shopping (nothing exciting - lemsips for son's cold) putting on my wellies.

And I'm enjoying not having to watch the clock to go out to lunchtime lessons because school's closed - so I'm having a good tidy up and clear out with lots of loud music on to keep me going (occasional breaks to see if any-one's being friendly on the email). Evening pupil's cancelled because her roads not gritted and it's too far to walk.

Our road has been gritted but we are one of the more main roads round here.

And I happen to agree with whoever said that the bins aren't emptied often enough (especially since I'm having such a good time clearing out).

The news at one spent 20 minutes talking about the snow. They had to have a person "on the spot" in various places. Pathetic.
We woke to 10 cm. Side roads are appalling. Main roads were clearish by lunchtime, so I got to Kidderminster in time to take a relative to their hospital appointment.
IN defence of 4 by 4's, I drive a Land Rover, and it's very dirty and I don't mind at all.
Bev.

Oooooh, your computer's recovered then Bev.

We don't all live in inner city areas where ice and snow are unheard of. Kent and Essex get some of the worst snow fall as comes in off the North Sea. They aren't up north and they seem to cope well enough. The crux of the problem is that too many people in the south simply use the rarity of adverse cold weather as an excuse to take a day off.

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.


Sorry, but I find that comment rather patronising. A large portion of the south east is still very much countryside and some of us down here are equally well equipped with suitable vehicles, tools and clothing for whatever the weather throws at us. I for one certainly don't treat snow as a novelty.

My school has decided to close for two days. I'm not happy, don't they realise I have a choir to reherse? *fumes*

But then I guess even if I did struggle in through the snow none of the kids would anyway, they'll all be out playing snowballs!

Whilst I agree that it's a bit slack for people who can walk to work not to bother to turn up, there are always those who like to make martyrs of themselves by tackling a ridiculous (and possibly treacherous for themselves and others) journey or who seem to believe the country will grind to a halt without their vital, indispensable presence (and no, obviously I'm not including those who work in hospitals / for the emergency services, etc.). Presumably these are the same people who struggle into work with a streaming cold and a temperature of 103 to sit at their desk looking miserable and giving everyone else their germs.

I was amazed this morning how many people I saw sliding around in totally inappropriate footwear or who are clearly not that steady on their feet (elderly people or those with walking sticks) walking along the pavement at a snail's pace, just asking to break a hip / leg / wrist.

As they've said on the telly hundreds of times today, if your journey's not essential, stay at home!!!!

And regarding the gritting debate, while grit is clearly not much use under a foot of snow, the snow on the roads isn't that deep and I haven't seen one gritter out, nor a single piece of grit.

I'm guilty of that. Unfortunately I teach maths in a state grammar school that apparently "is never closed, Miss, ever, not since it opened in 1800 or something", "no, since 33BC" to quote my year 12s today.
I finally got around to going to the doctor for some antibiotics as I've had the same cough/cold for, er, 8 weeks now. Oops. I just feel really guilty about leaving my classes for a day, especially given the number of exams that my sixth form have and the fact that there isn't really enough timetable-time for all the modules - some of the year 13s are doing further maths which means that they have to do the work in (literally) half the time, so missing a lesson here and there makes an enormous difference when you only have about fourteen lessons in which to teach an entire module!
That said, I do think that the snow is really, really pretty... I wish I could have had a day off just to sit and watch it!

well. a fair amount of snow here in manchester, but this doesn't stop the professors showing us with tonnes of work.

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.

And the grit needs to be there in the first place...