I’ve just sat watching the news with a very bemused look on my face, wondering if i am actually an unwitting onlooker to some bizarre joke.
It was, of course, about the “horrendous snowfalls which have caused havoc across the country” – one reporter said “in some areas up to 4 INCHES has fallen” another scratted about on the top of a grassy welsh hill for a handful of slush (which she actually had to move from the spot to manage to find) and explained that these huge levels of snow would now freeze and cause icy conditions tomorrow. Well duh.
Another stood in the absolutely snow free square of Crowbridge and explained that conditions would mean that many school would have to remain closed tomorrow.
Now, i told my dad not to drive down the A1 today because i preferred him not to drive in inevitably slippy and difficult conditions, i certainly wouldn’t have gone anywhere either, because i’d rather drive in nice weather. We had about 2 inches at most here and granted, i saw one car slide around the corner in our completely ungritted street. I’d prefer notr to do, or have anyone i love do, long drives on difficult roads in snow.
BUT HOW CAN 4 INCHES OF SNOW be enough to bring the country to the brink of a complete stop? HOW? it barely comes up to the top of a shoe. Surely the Scots must routinely get more than this? Surely the Austrians and Swiss manage several months on more than this. I’m damn sure 2-4 inches of snow wouldn’t have provoked 10 reporters out on all day jollies, wall to wall news coverage of it and 1000’s of school children to miss a days school in my day!
Has the world gone MAD? It was 2-4 inches of snow. It was melting by late morning here!
No. I think we have to blame 24 hour news for this one. Creating stories from nothing for the sake of filling a few hours….
Well possibly countries who regularly receive very large amounts of snow for much of the winter have much better infrastructure to deal with it than us. How many people do you know who have snow chains for their cars? Everyone in Norway probably does. Seems fairly obvious to me.
The amount of snow we had today was the most we have seen since we have had kids – 10 years. I think that is a news event in this area.
But a completely snow free town square?
Was that your point then?
Lol Merry! So you won’t drive, but people you don’t know should? 😉
I’ve laughed at us (as a nation) today, thinking about how countries with proper winters must think we’re complete wimps, but even though it seems crazy, it must make more economic sense to pretty much shut down than to be ever prepared for the one day every 5 or 10 years that it actually happens.
Over 100 schools closed across our borough today, and then Violet got sent home at 1 o’clock as the teachers were worried about driving home if it turned icy. Hmmm … wonder whether they actually checked a forecast, or just watched BBC24? 😆
Well, i guess my point was it was a ridiculous over-exaggeration of news cover. The news had Max and i in stitches; one woman on a snow free welsh hill and one man in a snow free town square talking about freak weather conditions. It’s FEBRUARY – SNOW HAPPENS!!!!
Of course people should be sensible and if i had to drive my kids to school in the countryside, i’d well and truly avoid it, or work from home if i could, or come home/pick people up early. But inner city Birmingham has to be reasonably well gritted presumably.
There is a blogpost from me from a couple of years ago in the hell hole house when our agents hadn’t come into work for 1 inch of snow and said, when i rang them, that they couldn’t therefore help me get a plumber out despite out heating breaking down. Piss poor.
Ever prepared with snowchains is silly in this country of course but frankly, without a bizarre media hype about a few inches of snow, most people might just get on with it. And if they must hype, at least give it up when there isn’t any snow to look at – how can 4 inches honestly be described as “incredible snow fall levels”?
Hm. Can we blame the Americans for this too?? Hm…
Oh yeah, the news sounds highly risible 🙂
Sorry I was responding to your point ‘BUT HOW CAN 4 INCHES OF SNOW be enough to bring the country to the brink of a complete stop? HOW?’, not the news coverage which I have not seen.
It might be February and snow might happen but it hasn’t happened where I live for a decade.
Quite.
And even if we were, 4 inches is not a huge amount if you apply a bit of common sense – which we didn’t actually seem to be being encouraged to do!
rofl Jax – you got nothing then? We got a good 1/2 inch this morning, but was all gone in no time.
Just all of you hope that East midlands airport aren’t watching the BBC news as I want my flight to go tomorrow!
Common sense would to me be, don’t drive in 4 inches of snow unless you really have to. Isn’t this what happened?
Oh go on then. But I prefer blaming the Americans…..
Gah! Why don’t ever get snow down here? All we got was rain, more rain and some nasty stinging hail. And we *were* forecast snow!
Just as well I guess, an inch here and it all falls apart 😉
Oh Merry you are SO right. The world has gone mad and today I read a book written about 100 years ago when three children were walking to school in two feet of snow.
Since the dawn of 24hour TV and more precisely news coverage there has been an influx of highly dodgy stories that barely class as news all because reporters will do ANYTHING for a “story” *sigh* – or maybe I’m over reacting.
Yes, not driving in 4 inches of snow is sensible if you don’t have to. Sending reports out madly hunting for any snow they can find and instilling panic in the nation – not sensible.
Gawd knows what they’ll do with bird flu – oh i know, report on a vet in hospital with a cold.
Think how many working hours were lost for no reason in jax’s part of the world today… mind you Jax, is it intentional that they’ve turned that stretch of the M1 into a carpark? LOVELY that was on friday evening. I envy you not.
well, I got up this morning, and looked out of the window hopefully, as I’d already told them I wouldn’t be in if it was snowing.
It wasn’t 🙁
I left the children here just in case, and headed off up the M1 – had one of the best journeys I’ve had in a long time.
One of my colleagues who lives somewhere south of the M25 but was up in our office decided to stay an extra night rather than drive back into the chaos of the south, and another one sent us a lovely shot of his snowed over garden.
And then it stopped snowing. I stayed at work until 6.30, went out and scraped the very thin layer of frozen snow off my windscreen and drove home with absolutely no difficulties.
I don’t mind ppl who are getting an unusual amount of snow going on about it. I do object to being told that the entire country is in the grip of severe weather when it hasn’t even crept past the midlands. There’s quite a lot of the country up here too!
I did an outreach clinic about 20 miles away. yep, the first windy lanes were snoy/slushy so I took them slowly, bu the A road was OK. 3 of the half patients that didn’t turn up, lived in the village where the clinic was!!! they didn’t ring – though someone else did to explain they were frightened of snow [fair enough, at least rang] I traveled the furthest distance.
I didn’t notice much ‘panic’ in Reading.
Why don’t you do what I do, don’t watch the news!!!!
Nothing else worth watching 😉
It was bizarre when I was walking the kids to school and one of the other parents stopped me and said “I’m not taking mine, it might be closed”. It hadn’t even crossed my mind, kids had their wellies on, I had my knee high boots and the most we got to a dangerous incident was DS3 falling off the kerb because he couldn’t see it! DS2 tripped several times but given the snow was a softer landing than the concrete he just ended up wet! By the time it got to 3 and we had to make the decision whether to drive the 20 miles to Tae Kwon Do it was all turning to slush anyway, we had no trouble at all. It does just seem rather a panic over nothing. Yes its the most we’ve had in ages but still, stiff boots, wrap up warm and its no trouble at all!