to think the storm was quite bad?

[ethelb]

I am feeling a bit jaded after it took me two hours to get into work this morning and an interminable bus ride back as the TRAINS STILL AREN'T RUNNING, but I really wanted to answer some of the 'what storm?' sneerers from earlier today.

1. Maybe it was 'a bit breezy' where you are, but in SW London this morning the trees were bent double from 3am-7.30am. And we weren't the worst hit.
2. Maybe you think that it wouldn't have been reported if it had been further north, but I distinctly remember considerable national news coverage of the floods 'oop north' last year, including Hebden Bridge, which is a teeny town, compared to tens of millions affected in the south east and west today.
3. Maybe you 'just get on with it' when weather is bad near you, but when there are 30 trees across the line you usually get into work on, things are going to have to change a bit. Oh, and one of my employers offices lost its roof overnight in central london. Would you go in?
4. Maybe you think people were 'panicking' when people talked about preparing for a power cut, but 100,000s were left without power and still are.
5. Maybe you get this kind of weather every other week, but I haven't seen anything as bad since the 2007 storm myself.

Lots of people are injured, and some people lost their lives, and I just found these comments really baffling and insensitive.

Disclaimer: I am still quite cross that the Manchester-based deaths in the 2007 storms didn't get as much coverage as a death in the south.

I think if people live somewhere that experiences extreme weather often then they can be a bit shrug shoulders of it. It's not that they don't care it a just they are used to it. This also explains the 'getting on with it' attitude. Having lived down south and very north of scotland I have seen places grind to a half at a cm of snow and villages with schools open and all at work in 6ft+

@igloofornow how far, and by what means of transport did people get to school and work in 6ft of snow though? Villages in rural areas with a local infrastructure and central london which has transport networks at 100% capacity on a good day are just not comperable.

And I find people who haven't experienced London in a transport meltdown sneering at 'southern softies' a bit annoying tbh.

I don't know. We live fairly close by the sounds of it, I'm more west central London and we didn't seem to get much compared to what I thought. I kept waking up as I wanted to watch but didn't see more than usual windy night. Roads were clear to work ( admittedly I didn't use the tube I walked).
So although I can see from the news, from personal experience it looks like nothing really happened.
I went between approx hammersmith, Kensington, And down through Chelsea, then up to bayswater through the day and nothing more than a few small branches and lots of leaves

@artandco There were large branches down in Hyde Park when I went past at 9am and trees down in roads caused some bus disruption in SW London.

Local park was closed but you could see a lot of large branches had fallen across paths.

It's not sneering it's just my experience. DS's school is 3 miles by road, the difference is they are more geared towards keeping transport running as they have extreme weather frequently, they have the tools for the job.

Were you awake at 6-7am and looking outside Artandco? Cos it was pretty bloody windy in Hertfordshire at that time. We had lots of trees down here and I believe London got it worse, probably earlier.

@igloo I'm not accusing you of sneering. But you are saying they keep the roads open. Fine. But do they keep the roads, the railways and bus services running? Or not because they don't have them so their is no requirement to do this?

Plus, if the council is keeping things running, people aren't 'just getting on with it'. They have authorities ensuring that transport systems are working on their behalf.

I live in Herts, massive massive winds all night and this morning.
We've been without power now for 13 hours.
In the grand scheme of things, we got of lightly but for those who downplay it's severity because it happened down south, you're pathetic!

So sorry to hear that *Nenmo. Hope that the potentially tragic outcome does not turn into actual tragic outcome.

Back to earlier point - I do think we get lots of reporting about weather emergencies in other parts of the UK. Think it's a bit of a non-point to be honest. Some parts of the news might be South-East centred, but flood warnings and things have to be reported and it appears to me that the often are.

I think Londoners are among the least "soft" Britons - if you have ever been on London transport this becomes clear!

Yes I was at work at 7.30am so was up just after 6. It did get windy, but by the time i left house at 7am it seemed like a regular windy day.

Admittedly I didn't look in Hyde park as thought it would be kinda silly to walk through a park where potential branches might fly off if wind picked up.

The gusts werent evenly distributed so its quite possible @artandco was in one of the quieter spots. I've seen a wide variation of tree damage in my area - from not a lot to some pretty concentrated damage. Its how stroms go - its like blobs of wind iyswim.

I was on the top deck of a bus! The parks are still closed.

Bamboo - you still out?? We were out for a few hours this morning. Even my phone internet was out. I was trapped in the real world!!

nemno - I hope that it doesnt come to that. I'm very sorry for what you are going through.

Plus even if it ONLY hit London ... our capital city, our economic centre, our transport hub ... that is pretty big national news. I'm a northener who lived in London/SE for most of adult life, now back in north. The pathetic north/south hatred you get from both sides really irritates me. Both as bad as each other.

Thank you Mim and OYBBK (and also the latter for all the great info). Power cuts and relatives trying to die at home are a bad mix.

Yup, we're still out. It came back on briefly, but is still off. Just had a text from the grid telling us they've sent extra support to our area. Overhead lines badly damaged apparently.

Still, I have a gas camping fire, wind-up torches, lots of candles and a woodburner so we are ok for now

And my faithful old work blackberry is still going, my Iphone is not!

good luck bamboo! I hope you have plenty of !

nemno :( you are welcome.

Damnbamboo. Brilliant that you are so prepared :) I hope it comes on for you soon. Thank goodness you have some heating temp has sharply dropped.

I'm in N Germany & husband can't get home tonight!

One of the times he's needed the train & they stopped running this afternoon!

We've had three fire vehicles across the road cutting down tree(s) in the dark & keep hearing sirens on & off.

Luckily husband is safe in a hotel for the night.

Me too. Funny being back in the real world though isn't is, at least when the disruptions are causing too many disruptions (Ludo by candlelight anyone?)

isn't it

disruptions aren't causing too many disruptions!

Flippin' eck, typing on an old blackberry is a disruption I tell you

Thanks ethelb

To people complaining about the news coverage, does that mean when somewhere in the uk gets flooded that the rest of the country shouldn't hear about it. Ffs.

It's news because that part of the world is not used to weather like this, it's affected thousands of people today (and may well last longer in the week) people have died. A lot of people need together rid of the chip on their shoulders.