BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 08:08 AM

I thought Disney was in Florida?


Glad to share the white stuff with our friends in the UK.
SINS, in snowy Maine

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: My guru always said
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 08:08 AM

We had over a foot of snow here yesterday in Leatherhead and I for one was not surprised that public bus service couldn't run.

I managed to walk to work where I help to organise our Dial-a-Ride service for the elderly and disabled. My manager couldn't get to the office and neither could 2 other office workers. One bus driver walked in and between us we phoned every single Client who was due to travel yesterday to say that we were not running the buses.

Every single person (about 150 of them) totally understood and were grateful that we had phoned. We're not running today or tomorrow either as the sideroads are atrocious and we are a door-to-door service.   We have rung every Client to let them know. It would be foolish of us to attempt to run the service when elderly Clients are unsteady on their feet & there is any risk to them or to our drivers.

Lucky you, Roger, to only get 2 inches of snow, and you're not that far from Leatherhead either......

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 08:05 AM

At school on the rare occasions it froze and snowed they'd announce a snow holiday or a skating holiday, and it was brilliant.

It still is.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:45 AM

yeh, we'll all have an annexe built onto the house for the snow plough so we'll all be ready for the three days that it snows this decade.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:15 AM

Over a foot of the white stuff here in Surrey. School closed. Road outside impassable (in fact I only just slid home in time on Sunday night before the great shutdown), no bus, no trains for a second day - eerily quiet. Decision on the school opening tomorrow to be taken this afternoon but no sign of any melting despite the sunshine and blue sky. It all looks very pretty - from indoors!

Sarah

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:06 AM

" . . . the sun never set on the British Empire . . . ".

You know why ?

Because even God wouldn't trust an Englishman in the dark :-)

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:52 AM

yes, let's not forget that London and the South are not the be all and end all of the UK. Scotland and the North of England cope with this every year. However, it is worth the while of councils up there to invest in snow ploughs to keep the roads open. In London we rarely get enough snow to make it unsafe to drive and this sort of stuff happens less than once a decade. Economics!

That said, I do think more effort could have been made. I haven't seen a single council worker with a shovel, the pavements haven't been gritted, Phoebe's school couldn't even bother to put a message on their telephone system to say that the school was closed.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: goatfell
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:37 AM

in Glasgow yesterday people just got on with their day after all it's just snow I can imgine wee places that a rural being closed off but not towns or cities.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:30 AM

Where's global warming when you need it?

One of the most alarming aspects of global warming is the predicted failure of the Gulf Stream, which depends on a certain salinity to keep it moving, but this salinity is being diluted by fresh melt water from the Arctic which could, according to some scientists, bring it to a standstill. In such an eventuality, at these latitudes, Britain becomes a frozen tundra - the nothingness, the whiteness, the endlessness stretching on beyond the human imagination; desolation of the soul!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig2NtHY2g9k

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Tangledwood
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:22 AM

"and yet the entire nation has come to a virtual halt "


Did anybody notice?    hehehe

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Cats
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:20 AM

We had very little snow in Cornwall yesterday and my school was definitley open. I drove down to Truro [just over 50 miles] and saw the odd snowflake. This morning is a bit different. We have about 3 inches of snow up here on the high moors. The main roads have snow ploughs on them but my school [25 miles away over the moors] has closed today. The lanes aren't clear and there is ice under the snow. The West of Cornwall has been worst hit. So, Jon's out taking pikkies ready for next years Christmas cards, the cats are curled up and snoozing, and after I have done this I am going to curl up in front of the wood fire with a good book and a very large mug of hot chocolate and have the day to myself. I for one would rather have money spent on our infrastructure and our schools than have it spent on something that last happened down here about 18 years ago. [3 years ago when Bodmin Moor was closed doesn't count as, had the lorry not jacknifed going up the hill on the A30, it would have been kept open... anyway I was in Birmingham and missed it!]

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: peregrina
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:13 AM

odd that no one even used the word snow plow on the news today. They take up less storage space than grit and can be attached to vehicles normally used for other purposes...

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 03:46 AM

Well, we had 6" to 8" of snow down here in Sussex, and I can't recall the last time it was that deep. Our last snowfall of any significance in this area was 5th April last year. As other folks have said, there's no point in having snow tyres, chains, etc. in a country where - in parts, at any rate - there's now very little regular snow.

Anyway, the lunchtime beer tasted good in my local (Harveys, Speckled Hen, Youngs and London Pride), and I spent a pleasant morning working out a fingerstyle arrangement of "Moonlight Bay" for guitar, and created a SN/tab/chord sheet for it.

More snow please!

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Stu
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 03:21 AM

"Snow is snow, and if y'ain't used to it, any amount is too much"

Well the rest of the country gets it and copes, but London has ground to a halt. They really should have been able to cope with what fell but there wasn't a bus running in the capital yesterday morning, which is rather pathetic.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 12:34 AM

kat, Morgan looks just like you did when you were little! Does he also resemble his mother?

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 11:36 PM

I understand closing things down when folks are not used to it; it saves a lot of grief and overtime for the safety folks if there aren't a lot of drivers out having accidents.

There is a lot of contrast to where we live now in Colorado, in the "Banana Belt," to Casper, WY where there was always plenty of snow: 2nd day of Autumn 2000 out my front door.

Here it hardly ever snows and rarely stays around, though this year has been the exception. There are always a few idiots out and about causing accidents when it does. There were those kinds of drivers in Casper, but generally people know how to drive in it up there.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: 3refs
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 09:54 PM

"I am not sure the British Empire ,was the greatest the world has ever known.could you explain why you think it was?"

This was not asked of me, but as a fellow Canadian Colonialist I'll give you my slant. At one time in our recent history, the sun never set on the British Empire! I don't think the Mongols, Alexander or even the Americans can make the same statement!

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Peace
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 09:43 PM

As Bobert would say, "I'm jus' funnin' with ya." Snow is snow, and if y'ain't used to it, any amount is too much. Dress warmly and be careful if it melts and freezes. That stuff is called ice and it can be slippery.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Peace
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 09:40 PM

My hometown, September 15, 2006.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Peace
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 09:37 PM

PPS You could melt that stuff with a good electric hair dryer. Just make sure you're insulated.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Peace
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 09:36 PM

PS I'm a Canuck (Canadian colonial) and I shed more dandruff than that on a daily basis. Sorry. No sympathy here. But one can locate it in the dictionary somewhere between shit and syphilis--both snow and sympathy.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Peace
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 09:31 PM

A whole two inches? Hope you have a dog sled. Remember, ya can't eat a skidoo.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 07:52 PM

A whole three inches! That is something to marvel over.

Outside we now have a foot and a half of snow, most of which we've had for a month. The temperature has been well below freezing for at least a month and a half.

Today it was 40 degrees F. I was tempted to go to the beach.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 07:26 PM

you know, bubblyrat, if you'd use what they did when the Empire was at its highest, you would have little trouble. Horses & carts do well in the snow.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Alice
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 07:00 PM

pop some corn
watch some movies
play some music
read some books

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 06:42 PM

I think we should all close everything and put our feet up - til its nice again. double grog rations all round.

Where's global warming when you need it?

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 06:30 PM

Orkney schools didn't close. Orkney got no snow. So it is not all the UK anyway.There are loads of reasons to be embarrased as a nation.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 06:05 PM

Well firstly all the schools didn't close - I was at one. Secondly we only get snow like this very infrequently so it is not worth the expenditure of having all the equipment other countries use. I am not going to fit studded tyres for 1 day every ten years when I can't drive safely.
Secondly, what's the problem? One day out of 365 won't ruin us!

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 05:59 PM

yes, indeed,are you from Tunbridge Wells?
I am not sure the British Empire ,was the greatest the world has ever known.could you explain why you think it was?

Subject: Coping with snow in Britain
From: bubblyrat
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 05:26 PM

It is currently extremely embarrassing to be British !! We have had,in the last 24 hours or so, a modicum of snow, a few inches at best,and yet the entire nation has come to a virtual halt !!Is this the same nation that once forged and administered the greatest Empire the world has ever known ?? The same nation that endured five years of bombing,blockade,privation & starvation whilst under attack from Nazi Germany ??
               I could not BELIEVE the utter chaos and confusion that reigned supreme throughout the land today,following what amounted to,let's face it,a dusting of snow that countries like Switzerland, Norway,Canada, Sweden,Austria,Russia,Poland,even North Korea,would ,quite possibly ,not have even noticed !! WHY did all the schools close ?? WHY did the buses in London not run ??WHY were there no underground (subway) trains ??WHY were all the airports closed ??
         It is, without a doubt,a NATIONAL DISGRACE !!Our enemies must be very happy !!