Jesus, a little bit of snow in London and it's the beginning of the Apocalypse.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8420057.stm



If only she'd frozen to death.

We do tend to overreact down here - at least the media does. However, to be fair, we don't get six inches of snow, blizzard conditions and - yes - thunder and lightning overnight that often. It gives the reporters something different to talk about.

All the major roads are blocked and the buses aren't running. The M2 and M20 both had jack-knifed lorries, and the link road between (known as Blue Bell Hill) was completely impassable first thing this morning, with abandoned vehicles all over it.

With more forecast for later, most people seem to have taken the sensible decision to stay indoors. And it's looking like Scotland, NI and the north of England will get their share later on.

With 48 hours notice of severe weather on its way then hopefully these inconvenienced drivers do not expect any sympathy.

Quite.

Best Beloved had a hospital appointment this morning (nothing life-threatening, luckily). We tuned into the local radio and got the latest reports. Once we realised the main route we would be taking was impossibly impassable, we aborted the mission. BB'd spoken to the hospital yesterday to see if they had any contingency plans in case of bad weather, and he's called them since to confirm he's not trying to make the trip.

It's all a case of adapting, monitoring the situation and deciding whether your life (and others) is worth the risk.

I wish everyone in the UK went and spent a winter in somewhere like Canada or Finland. That's snow and cold for you.

I remember when I was at Primary school being constantly disappointed, listening to the radio, not hearing that our school was closed. It seems times have changed.

Some would say it is health and safety. The schools tend to err on the side of caution to avoid the chance of injuries and litigation.

In my day, we'd love it with a bit of ice or snow in the playground. There'd be a skid run set up, and snowball fights. I remember falling over once, and having a wet behind for the rest of playtime. If you fell and hurt yourself, you learned to be more careful in future. If the boiler broke, you'd wear your coat and scarf in lessons.

It's political correctness gone mad.

And kids are the worse for the nannying state IMHO.

the wife and i had to take the day off work
we both start at 6am and live on top of a steep hill halfway between Amersham and High Wycombe
the wife works in Amersham and i work in Wycombe so i drop the wife off at about 5.15ish then make my way to Wycombe and arrive about 5.30ish

but they never gritted any of the roads so the main A404 was just a sheet of snow, tree line to tree line, with no indication of where the road was
so we both phoned our respective work places and informed them that we would not be in

all bus services in our area are cancelled as no gritting was done so very few, if any, drivers could get in and even if they did they would be unable to get up/down any of the hills due to, yes you have guessed it, no gritting.

I am of the understanding that gritting during falling snow is not effective. It needs to be on the road before the snow arrives, so it can do its magic.

Of course, if the gritting is not done prior to the snowfall (Kent County Council and the Highways Agency have had gritters out on the A2/M2 for the past few nights) it's no good doing it later.

A lot of the snow we had locally fell very quickly, so any reaction from the authorities would be too late.

Yep, the gritters need to be out and in action before the snow starts falling.

In Bayern, we'd usually have to wait about 3 days for the snow ploughs and gritters to turn up, so the neighbourhood would usually clear away the top half meter or so of snow, so that people could get out of their drives, then they'd compact the rest, so that there was a firm layer of snow to drive on and you'd then drive out on that to the nearest main road.

The local farmers used to come out as well, with snow ploughs attached to their tractors and clear side roads. They'd get a small allowance for doing that.

The snow ploughs don't usually get rid of all of the snow, the get it down to a smooth surface, which you can drive on and grit it, so that it doesn't turn to ice.

We'd often go for weeks on end, without actually seeing the sides of the roads or any markings.

Other half has to go into work today. It]s a bit of a cross country drive fro her. The school never closes during heavy snow, but it’s in the middle of nowhere, so not that easy to get to. Other schools (like the ones local to where I am right now) close.

The good bit is the end of term rule - if a teacher doesn’t turn up for the last day of term, they can be docked a month’s pay. So she’s had to slide her car along variously dangerous icy roads to get in. I’ve not heard from her today, so she’s either OK and busy (it’s toys and games day) or in a ditch somewhere. Hopefully the former.

sounds like she works for a great british company
just like in victorian times …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8420755.stm

If anyone's interested in the whys and wherefores of salt spreading.

I'm slightly confused.

We had a lot of snow yesterday, and it settled overnight. There was A LOT of grit on the roads - it was pretty excessive tbh.

Anyway, today when I woke up the roads were all absolutely clear but there was snow on all the roofs/gardens/cars etc.



Does that mean the council got it spot on?