To think that the TV and newspapers wouldn't give a shit about this storm if it hadn't happened in the South East?

[CiderBomb]

All morning I've been hearing on the news about the terrible storm that has apparently hit " Britain" in the early hours of this morning, however here we've had absolutely nothing apart from a bit of heavy rain. Seems like it was just the South East, but no surprises there because for a lot of people in the media that's where the British Isles apparently begins and ends....

I've just watched This Morning and they are talking about it like the whole country is affected, then Eamonn makes a snotty comment along the lines of "people on Twitter are saying that just because they are not affected we shouldn't be talking about it". Maybe they are just thinking the same way as I am, that a small part of the country was affected by bad weather, but the majority of us got off scot free?

I can't help but wonder how this would have been reported had the storm come in from the North Sea and devastated Scotland and the North East?......

Flip - as a northerner began a thread moaning about their perception of the south east, which was eagerly supported by other northerners I think I made a fair point. You don't see many threads begun in the opposite direction.

You - do you think that despite being warned of potential flooding, fallen trees and power disruption the trains should have carried on regardless? Then rescued hundreds of people from stranded trains?

The op said that only a small part of the country was affected but that area was about 300 miles wide and 200 miles tall. About the same as the the area between Dublin & Hull and Manchester & Glasgow. The south of Britain is a bit bigger than London.

You, then I'm not sure what your point is. As others have pointed out, cancelling transport in anticipation almost certainly saved distress/time/money. If the transport companies hadn't done so, and chaos had ensued, they'd have got a hard time for that too.

My point was that I have only once known Newcastle's public transport to be cancelled - for one afternoon 3 years ago when we had 18 inches of snow fall.

Obviously I don't think everyone should carry on regardless.

I do think there is a definite bias in reporting, especially over very similar weather issues.

It's the volume of transport and the numbers of people using it that I assume is the issue. The more people, the more the potential problems scale up. It reminded me of the the Olympics; people were told to stay away and they did. So everything ran to plan. It must take longer to sort out delays etc that have been allowed to snarl up by themselves than to start up transport after an event in an organised, pre planned way.

There are just more people living in a much smaller space in London, making moving them around more tricky. It wasn't just London things shut in anticipation; bridges were closed, ferries didn't run as one poster mentioned earlier.

The contractors who are working to get things clear and up and running again have been drafted in from all parts of the country; just one mark of how widespread the problems were.

They didn't cancel public transport for fun or because they're softies!

Talk about chips on shoulders.

Where have I said anyone is a 'softie'? Don't think it's me with the chip.

I didn't say you said the actual word, it was implied. 'Look how tough Newcastle is, we've only cancelled public transport once since 1642.........'

I'm not even in the South, I just think the thread is ridiculous.

Oh give over OP. Stop trying to create intra-country competition

I didn't say that either.

Care to completely rewrite all my posts?

No thanks, just think the competitive North/South thing is tedious beyond words.

Not competitive really.

I've seen it from both sides and weather disruption in the South does get more coverage at a national level, on the news, than issues in the North or Scotland.

just think the competitive North/South thing is tedious beyond words.

Yeah but us Southerners are winning, though

'I've seen it from both sides and weather disruption in the South does get more coverage at a national level, on the news, than issues in the North or Scotland.'

Fine. But why start on the south of England cancelling transport in anticipation of bad weather, and how many times Newcastle has cancelled transport versus how many times London has? Totally different from the point/question of the thread.

Sorry OP but I think you are wrong. I've lived all over and everywhere gets their 5 minutes of weather fame. Stop being so moody.

Well, YoutheCat, there's a strong Scottish presence in this southern home that disagrees with you.

viperslast please can you expand on your comment on page 5 of this thread. Are you seriously saying that there were actually 5 people killed in the UK by this storm, and not 4 as has been reported in the media? If so, who was the fifth person and how and where did it happen?

I've been feeling a bit weepy tonight about Bethany Freeman, the lovely 17 year old girl near here who was crushed to death in her bed by a tree during the storm. The report that I was watching was on the local news, so hopefully you lot up North won't have been irritated by it.

Oh, and incidentally, poor little Bethany didn't die immediately when the tree came down and crushed her. It took a while for her to die, and her poor mother was there trying to comfort her.

You should be ashamed of yourself op, and also all you stupid childish haggis joking people.

I think it's five including the teenage boy swept out to sea on Sunday evening. The gentleman in Watford, a couple in Hounslow and the teenage girl you name Tamzin.

Hugely tragic - and yes news.

Tragic though it was, I don't think that the poor boy who was swept out to sea has been counted officially as a death caused by the storm, as it happened the day before.

Viperslast said in her post that there had been a fifth death that had not been reported at all, apparently because the person who had died was a northerner. I need to know more about this.

30+ tree's down on tracks for south West trains. south East, southern, Chiltern, London Overground etc also encountered many tree's fallen onto train lines,that was why the trains were cancelled in advance, service didn't resume until late afternoon as that's how long it took to get the tree's moved. Cancelling services in anticipation the right way to go? I would say so.

London is the capital... It will always feature highly in news stories. Was the case when I lived in Spain with Madrid, Portugal with Lisbon and France with Paris!

Competitive misery/suffering/stoicism is so very mumsnet though. I'd sit in your shoes thinking "thank god I'm not the parent of one of those poor children who died" or thank god I still have my house, my car, my family", rather than gloat about being a tough northerner.

Sorry Tamzin why should I or any other poster be ashamed for making a joke about haggis?

Op yanbu. Southerners are all nesh. (Just kidding, the damage and injuries caused are NOT funny in any way shape or form)
We've had very little rain and no wind worth remarking on up here in West Yorkshire.
Forecasting wise, I've seen howling gales up here that have ripped road signs half off their posts with lorries blowing all over the place and it wouldn't even get a mention on the national news. While it is true that London and the south are more heavily populated than the north, it is also true that more people live north of Watford gap than south of it!