To think the country needn't break down because of a bit of snow?

[Schulte]

So it snowed overnight. About 10cm, maybe less. The local primary school was closed today, and will be closed tomorrow although we don't even know if there will be any more snow. Nursery shut at 4pm 'for the safety of the children and staff'. My usual train to work was cancelled. One of my colleagues spent 2 hours waiting for a train at Clapham junction. I managed to leave the house without falling over and I had no trouble driving the kids around. Am I being unreasonable to think that life shouldn't come to a standstill just because it has snowed a bit? In winter, at that? I mean, how on earth do people in the Alps or in Scandinavia cope?

[Oblomov]

England can't cope. We would hope that we were getting better at these things since we've had a few times in the last few years, but it appears not.
I think they ran out of grit in Newcastle on day 2 last week. I mean PLEASE.
Heaven help us. we weren't even in december at the time. we have 3 more months of this.
FRIGHTENING.

[Schulte]

Ah but Oblomov, there won't be three more months of this it will turn warm at the weekend and that will be the end of that. DD2 is scared of the snow, by the way, had a right old hissy fit when we tried to leave the house this morning.

[AgentZigzag]

Those little tiny, weeny ice crystals, slowly floating innocently down like butter wouldn't melt

We've had a foot of snow, and I'm amazed at how it can disable you.

[hogshead]

guess it depends where you are! We have 12 inches of snow in the garden and still it keeps snowing!

I made it to work today - to leave an hour after i arrived as the roads were becoming impassable and i couldnt risk leaving DS at nursery and not being able to pick him up. when we got back there was 4 inches of snow on the drive where my car had been 2 hours before (we had cleared the drive so me and DH could get off to work)

I havent seen snow like this since 1981.

[Errmmmm]

It's ridiculous when you think countries like Canada manage perfectly well under these conditions for at least four months every year. However, we don't have the (expensive) winter infrastructure needed to cope.

I think it might be time for us to get the necessaries to keep going.

[Meglet]

snow disruption article on BBC

We don't get it regularly enough to spend ££££ on dealing with it.

[Oblomov]

schulte, they are predicting melting and rain for our 2 ft deep snow, this weekend. But they are also predicting the most snow in the next 3 months that we have ever seen. coldest.
we will see.

[reallytired]

We had miminal snow and our schools and nurseries have been open. Where I live seems to have dodged the snow somehow.

A big problem is that schools are not provided with grit and roads are not gritted either. There is huge culture of sueing. If little Tommmy breaks his arm walking across the school playground then his parents will sue.

I agree that life should go on. Lots of people who work in a school would agree with you.

[hogshead]

I guess though we dont have snow on quite this scale very often so it wouldn't be cost effective to put infrastructure in place for a relative few days of snow

[SoupDragon]

Oh, FFS....

[RockinRobinBird]

Goodness we haven't had a thread on this for at least half an hour...

It's not that hard to understand. We have a dilapidated transport system that needs big bucks paid into it to bring it up to scratch, never mind fit for this kind of weather. People don't routinely own winter tyres/snow chains etc because they'd be in the garage, if you have one, for 50 weeks of the year. The driving test also doesn't cover driving in these conditions so drivers are either speeding tossers or scared of accidents. Understandably. If people have spare money they're unlikely to use it for clothes and boots that will rarely be worn and children will have grown out of by the next snowfall.

We are not Scandinavia.
We are not Canada
We are not the Alps

I know that's disappointing and it perplexes you but it's the way it is, sorry.

[chandra]

Ermm, in Canada is like this or worse, every winter. So they have a good portion of their national budget allocated to cope with this weather and keep the roads passable, people often have those kind of snow motorbikes to move around when there is too much snow. Houses are better insulated, people have proper clothes to deal with worse temperatures.

Do you know what is the difference? well a visit to a very old cemetery may render some clues, you can read in some very old graves the phrase "Frozen to death".

So that's the difference, they are better prepared because otherwise it is impossible to survive, for us... this weather is just an unusual occurrence, hence the lack of budget and proper preparation.

[TryLikingClarity]

Sometimes I think it's partly cuz some people just see it as a chance to dodge work/college.

I'm not saying that's the case for all people, but I do think people who aren't confident about driving or travelling in snow just throw in the towel quickly at the first sight of snow. My mum is a perfect example of this; she called into work to say she wouldn't be in tonight at the first sight of snow falling today.

One of my best friends lives in Latvia but studied in UK with me for a few years. When she saw the news reports about snow and road closures etc she laughed. It's almost like it's a state of mind that us people in UK just don't have.

[juneybean]

Ah to have only 10 cm

[Hulababy]

Yesterday I had 55cm of snow in the garden. When playing out my reasonable tall 8y played up to her thighs and waist in snow on our street. I can no longer see my car.

I am in Sheffield. the snow fell thick and fast in one night mainly. It continued last night and into today.

Today the snow in the city centre streets were are 38cm - the highest for the city since records began back in 18 hundred and something.

It really hasn't just been a bit of snow in some places. It has been a lot of snow.

[Beveridge]

If we had sub-zero temperatures for 3 months of the year, it would actually be fairly easy to deal with - snow chains/studded tyres on, snow ploughs permanently on stand-by, etc.

But in a typical 24 hour period, it can be degrees below zero first thing, then above zero for a bit during daylight then falling below freezing again. Grit that gets washed off during temporary thawing then has to be replaced when the water refreezes.

This doesn't happen when it's permanently -20. In Alaska, for example, it doesn't snow that much, the snow that's there just lasts for ages and gets blown around.

So we actually have the worst of both worlds. Mind you, some knowledge of how to drive in the snow would help - the amount of people that just put their foot to the floor in first gear when they stick does not help the flow of traffic!

But again, if this kind of weather was more regular, new drivers would pick it up and the rest of us wouldn't forget - I only learned how to rock a car out of snow last year.Maybe an issue for the driving test?

[Schulte]

Oh I don't doubt that a LOT of snow can be a problem. But just a bit of snow - people are just lazy. And yes, the rest of Europe is laughing. Since I've lived in England, there's been approximately the same amount of snow here every year as in my home country. Yet, there schools NEVER close because of snow. Huh, how do you explain that.

[Beveridge]

Schools that never close will more than likely have staff that live fairly close and can get in on time to supervise pupils, have a largely urban catchment and do not have the vast majority of pupils brought in on school transport.

If the bus companies refuse to run on the grounds of safety, then it really is out of the hands of the school.

The particular geography of the location of the school matters too - some towns get less snowfall than others due to surrounding hills,shelter, wind direction etc. while the hinterland can be a complete white out.

And can you imagine the litigious implications if a pupil was hurt or worse while travelling to/from school?

[imgonnaliveforever]

First a disclaimer: I am biased as I am a teacher who has enjoyed some lovely snow days. I can see it is frustrating for others who want to get to work but can't cos schools are shut.

However, the reason roads are often passable is because the large amount of traffic generated by school runs is gone. Often roads that were "perfectly fine" would not have been so with an extra few thousand cars. I get that it's a pain when schools are closed, but really it frees up the roads for people who really need to travel.

[quaffer]

YABU. I get your point that life shouldn't come to a standstill because of the snow but unfortunately for some people it does because of their circumstances or factors outside of their control. Do you want a badge of honour for battling through the snow as you describe in your OP?Unfortunately I'm all out of those as the snow has stopped me from getting to the shops...

[RockinRobinBird]

We haven't got a bit of snow ffs. Come and look out of my window and I'm only 17 miles out of London. We have feet of the stuff.

And I wonder why we should care if Europe is laughing at us? WTF has that got to do with anything except an attempt at ridiculous smuggery.

[gingerwench]

I agree with Beveridge and RockinRobinBird that it's the freeze,thaw,freeze and unpredictability that causes problems. It's not a regular and long enough occurrence for us to just make plans, have all necessary supplies and just get on with it.

It's pretty deep in Edinburgh but it's getting squashed down. Main roads are ok to drive with care, until you get a broken down bus or similar. It's the residential streets that seem to scupper us...

For once, I think I agree that the snow is properly bad and some disruption is inevitable. It's when there is a disproportionate response to a couple of inches that I get annoyed. Particularly when TV and radio get all doom-laden at a few flakes. It's like the boy who cried wolf and now it's proper deep snow they've exhausted their hyperbole. Perhaps having a couple of hard winters in a row will change things?