Snow again

[ffutures]

The whole of the UK has had an amber alert for moderately heavy snowfall today and over the weekend, so I took the tube in to work. It started snowing very gently as I got in, and has been snowing lightly but persistently all morning, and settling to some extent. Still not very deep, but if this keeps up there may be a few inches by the end of the day. Our playground at work is surfaced with astroturf, a very good insulator, so the snow hasn't melted at all, and the kids had a big snowball fight during the morning break.

So my weekend plans have gone from "get some exercise" to "sloth and warmth" - I've got several unplayed DVDs and lots of writing to do so hopefully I won't get bored...

later We've just been told that the school will be closing when the least lesson ends at 3.30, no after-school activities, and staff to push off ASAP once the kids are gone. I'm really heartbroken...

and later left work at 3.45, got home a little after 4 - about as good as I ever get with public transport. Now to veg out for the next little while...

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Is it managing to not turn into that horrid brown slurry?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Depends how many people are walking on it - brown mud on the pavement further down the high street, white snow on the playground etc.

[eledonecirrhosa.livejournal.com]

All our buses have been cancelled in snowy Bristol, so had to walk to most of the way to work. One bus did go 2 stops before heading back to the depot.

This seems to be because - despite the local news and weather shouting "Woohoo! It'll snow on Friday!" all week, the Council has neglected to grit any roads.

A couple of other pedestrians and I had to rescue a car that had skidded sideways and got itself stuck on a hill.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

What the hell happened? Back in the sixties / seventies we had weeks of heavy snow several years in a row, and there was very little disruption. A few years of mild winters and everything falls apart.

[eledonecirrhosa.livejournal.com]

Probably a combination of things.

Back in the 60s/70s councils had a staff of people who did things like empty the bins and mend potholes, and those people could be switched to gritting roads if needed. These days, bin emptying and various other things have been outsourced to private companies, and it says nothing about road gritting in their contract...

Plus everyone and their dog drives everywhere now, so the roads are clogged with cars trying to get little Johnny to school, go to the supermarket, get to work, etc. Even if the same percentage of them do stupid things in the snow as did them back in the 60s, then that's a lot more accidents waiting to happen!

And finally, I think the ethic behind bus companies has gone from "We must keep a stiff upper lip and get these people to work/school/the shops no matter what" to "What if one of our buses has an accident and someone sues us...?"

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It's been snowing here most of the morning but, apart from up on the mountain road, it isn't sticking at all. Which is odd as the temperature is approx 1C - but no signs of it sticking at all.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's sticking here - be very interested to see what happens over the weekend.