To wish people would stop bloody moaning about a bit of snow

[Ryoko]

Seriously in London we get like 2 inches and everyones moaning, the news is full of exclamation marks in triangles and moaning about how are people going to get to work and talking to moaning idiots in the streets complaining that it's cold, (people wearing skinny jeans, fashion boots and normal winter jackets, idiots!).

Anyway too much moaning, too many idiots looking for any excuse to close schools and stay home, too many people who want to moan about it being too cold to go out instead of investing in some proper winter gear and letting some air out the tyres.

And why do we still put up with this countries reliance on out dated third rail systems that grind to a halt at the slightest thing, no one else in the world is still using that 80 odd year old system, they realised it was crap, so why are we still using it?.

I can't help but wonder why year after year we are like this, countries are laughing at us, nation full of lazy moaners.

I've got every right to moan about the snow, we've got snow past our knees here and it is pissing me right off now.

Schools have been closed all week, the motorways blocked, even the bloody Forth Bridge was closed yesterday. I can't get out my street by car even though I would kill to at the moment and you are right, public transport has been unreliable.

I just want to hibernate.

I do actually sort of agree with you.

I hate the snow myself, but only because I don't like being so bloody cold, don't drive and it's a massive pain in the arse.

But the moaning!!! What we get in this country is very small potatoes compared to other countries, and they just get on with it!

Different for you though, bandgeek - I'm assuming you're in Scotland?

As you are in London and get 2 inches of snow, you may not be best placed judge.

We have several feet of snow here, not on main roads so no gritter.

Schools are shut, why risk death to get to school, cars are abandoned at the side of the road

I am not moaning though we will dress well and go sleighing.

Yeah I'm in Fife aka Lapland

I do agree with you though, this country is completely unprepared for snow. Every year it seems to come as a massive surprise to the councils

But surely you know that London is the Centre of the Universe?
Ryoko, the reason we don't cope here is funding priorities are different.

If it was the Centre of the Universe Goblin the gritters would have been out. An inch and a half of snow and had to turn back because 6 buses were stuck on the hill, admittedly steep) in front of us and alternative routes were impassable. Bloody ridiculous.

Why risk death to go to school?

So how do countries like Iceland and Russia manage to function for all so many hundreds of years?.

This country is a joke, in Canada people are regularly snowed in, they climb out 2nd floor windows and start shoveling, they get there snow shoes on and start walking, the power goes as well, they just go stay round the few houses that have power, 16 relatives in a 2 bed flat, do they moan? do they hell they just get on with it, life goes on.

This country moans and gives up because people are lazy, the teachers don't want to bother trying to get to school so they don't moan about the pupils, same thing goes for the bosses and we just put up with paying over priced fares for a third world transport service and being over taxed for rubbish council services because we are a bunch of lazy moaning saps, we can't be arsed changing anything we prefer to just moan about it

the thing that gets me is that it's been snowing like this in scotland and up north for the past week, and they genuinely have feet of it. And yet it only becomes news-worthy once it hits London - why?

Here we have about an inch of snow. The roads are fine if icy, there has been some issues on a couple of the a-roads afaik. All schools are open.

It is a pita to have to go out in terms of that it's not fun having to walk on snow that has basically fallen on sheet ice, and freshly fallen snow means that there are no distinctions between the pavements/the curb/the road/the grass so admittedly my guide dog (who has only been qualified since feb and has never worked in snow before) does find this difficult.

However, it's only an inch of snow.

But I heard parents in the playground complaining that school wasn't closed - wtf?

i'm in a country where there is loads of snow nearly every year and i agree with you - its winter and its snowing in the UK - not a surprise anymore! its snowed the last few years so people need to make some attempt to have ways to deal with it! and moaning about it isnt making it go away!

but i saw a woman on the local news last night with the right attitude - she said we should never moan about it cause it is such a magical part of childrens childhood and you can probably remember loads of fun you had as a child in the snow so let your kids have that fun too!

(and i've got a foot of snow and its -10 degrees so i could be moaning but i'm not! and i live in a country where you are legally obliged to clear the snow off your drive and the pavement after every snowfall!!!! but i'm just getting on with it and trying to find the fun side - sledging!!))

oh and dd toddled off to get the school bus at 7.20am this morning - it came and school is open!! i'm sure she wishes it was closed tho!!

We live in the southeast and commute to London for work. I think that most of us are moaning not because of the snow but because of the inability of our national infrastructure to cope with it.

I'm not fussed about walking (or playing...) for an hour or two in the snow etc.. but I am pissed off that the rail connections broke down within a couple of hours of the first light snowfall. I was also annoyed that none of the railway staff or transport police were able to tell people what was going on or if/when trains would be running again.

DH, our au pair and her friends (all Scandinavian) are also appalled at the buses and trucks travelling on the roads without winter tyres which are a legal requirement in snowy/icy weather their home country.

A couple of inches is nothing really, so in fairness I can absolutely understand the frustration if thigns grind to a halt!
I live in a rural bit of Stirlingshire and have well over a foot of snow; BUT the council are great at gritting/snow ploughing and have been able to get to work (in Edinburgh) using my elderly Nissan Micra and the train every day, though admittedly after a 2 or 3 hour journey.

It does seem daft that with well over a foot of snow I can travel nearly 50 miles to and from work, but with a couple inches London grinds to a halt.... but is it worth investing in winter tyres for buses/cars/lorries etc where snow is so infrequent?

We are knee deep in snow and dp has now lost two days wages,just before Christmas this is not good.
I am fucking pissed off.

My kids have been off school for a week now, my local shop cant get deliveries and no-one can drive on most of our roads. I think I can moan if I want to!

It's not the snow i hate, it's the ice when the snow freezes on the road. It's leathal!

Ryoko - - I found several news articles yesterday talking of snow issues in Canada and Washington (and a few other US places too) schools shut etc.

And the reason those other countries don't have to "risk death" is because it is a normal regular occurrence. Roads are gritted and ploughed, infrastructure is set up to deal with it - which makes it easier for Joe Bloggs on the street to cope.

I don't drive - but it's hardly my fault the road outside my house is an ice rink because it snowed.

I bet the people in Iceland and Russia would be moaning about the heat if they had temperatures of 35-40 degrees on a daily basis.......because it's not a normal regular occurrence. Yet people in the Middle East, and Equatorial Africa would probably say the same thing to them....."stop bloody moaning we cope with it so should you".

Northern Europe counts cost of big freeze

fgs we are allowed to moan that our effing councils have not been able to sort out gritting the roads, they have had years of this sort of weather and should sort it out

my mil phoned up pertified to go out in case she falls, if the roads and pavements were gritted she would be safer

blaming jo public for the lack of foresight from councils isn't on

and what should we do about the lack of upkeep on the rails?

though i do blame thatcher for that

and as for "not wanting to fork out" on anything other than "normal" winter gear.

I would if I had the money. I'm lucky I managed to pick up a fab pair of North Face boots (brand new with tag still, just some fool obviously decided they didn't want them) for £20 and they're bloody awesome. But "proper" winter stuff costs money - which many people don't have.

I have every right to be annoyed because I'm supposed to be having my first foreign holiday in years on Saturday and finally getting to spend some time with DP who has been working 60 hour weeks for the last few months but it's looking very unlikely as Gatwick is closed. I've been in tears for the last 24 hours.

Very annoyed with the authorities - we're getting snow every year now and they really should have been more prepared this time round. Yes it costs money to buy snow ploughs but the cost to the economy of everything shutting down for a week is surely a hell of a lot greater.

My grandmother grew up in rural Switzerland and would ski to school with snow piled up on the side of the roads 6 feet high.

The OP was talking about moaners in London though! I'm in Cheshire, we only have a couple of inches and it's ok, just a pain. People with feet of the stuff deserve to moan all they like.

It's the councils at fault - every year we get plenty of warning of impending snowfall, and every year, the councils sit on their fat arses NOT gritting.

oooo thankyou OYBK - I had a look yesterday for news from Europe on the weather and because all our weather is caused by "Russian" or "Scandanavian" or "European" freezing winds blown in from there was coming up with nothing.

"An official of the main opposition Law and Justice Party, Jacek Sasin, criticized local councils for not being better prepared to deal with the harsh winter conditions.

"Are we not able to predict that there will be wintry conditions in December?" he said on TOK FM radio." (and that's talking about Poland!)

With the North/South divide thing, I think it is more rare for a heavier snowfall in London, whereas, ok, we know it snows a lot heavier in the North but this year it has been horrendous and persistant.

I agree though, just because it's London, it shouldn't be more newsworthy. (Oh and I am a Southerner).