Thursday, February 08, 2007

Sprinkling of snow and UK shuts down...

Are we the only country in the world where a sprinkling of snow causes such chaos...? Hundreds of schools closed, airports shut down, police warnings not to drive unless it's absolutely essential.

Has anyone noticed that the worst snowfall anywhere in the UK is just ten centimetres - that's only four inches in real money and barely enough to justify getting the wellies out.

Anyway, the four inches is only in the Brecon Beacons which is hardly a centre of population.

Most parts of the country have barely had a sprinkling of snow. Here in south Lincolnshire there hasn't even been enough to build a decent snowman!

A couple of weeks ago a windy day caused mass shutdowns of our transport system.

Surely, Britain can do better...?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

As far as I am aware the road network ran as normal, there were minor delays to the trains and the airports are already back to normal.

Here in LIncoln I see no snow at all!

fairdealphil said...

anonymous:

i agree.

there's more green than white on my back lawn as the sprinkling we had melts away...

my point is that the weather and its effects is top story on the news all day...

the snow shut the airports for most of the day: of course, i'm pleased they're "back to normal"

but the bbc 5 oclock news just reported that hundreds of schools will stay shut tomorrow, and police advice still appears to be stay off the roads...

Anonymous said...

I hate the "only travel if necessary" advice.

I travelled between Leicestershire and Derbyshire on the M1 and some rural roads today - barely a centimetre of snow had fallen, yet we're advised not to travel!

Anonymous said...

I went to Stamford and back today on (almost empty) service buses which were bang on time, warm and comfortable. I was amazed to learn when I got back that Stamford College (sorry, New College) had been shut for the day - no wonder there were so few travelling if none of the students was.

Why? It was perfectly possible to travel completely normally. All main roads were well-maintained and clear of snow and ice, and side roads were OK if you drive carefully.

Anonymous said...

interesting poll on central news showed that 97% of people thought the press and media had made too much of it.

fairdealphil said...

thanks all for comments...

what amazes me is that hundreds of schools will also be closed tomorrow.

Apart from children missing out on their education, there's also a huge cost to industry and business by this over-reaction.

Anonymous said...

I'm quite happy about the schools staying shut tomorrow. Commuting was heaven with none of the school run cars clogging up the roads.

Dave Pearson said...

A couple of weeks ago a windy day caused mass shutdowns of our transport system.

A "windy" day? Do you mean one of the worst European windstorms we've had for a long time, which caused at least 45 deaths and considerable damage?

fairdealphil said...

Dave:

Fair point on my "windy day". I was a bit tongue in cheek...

But do you agree with me that shutting schools for two days was an over-reaction to a sprinkling of snow...?

Dave Pearson said...

I was a bit tongue in cheek...

I gathered, especially from previous uses of it, that you found it all slightly amusing.

But do you agree with me that shutting schools for two days was an over-reaction to a sprinkling of snow...?

Pass — not knowing what the conditions were like in those areas, or what actually caused the closures, I can't really comment.

We had a sprinkling and our local schools weren't closed.