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AIBU?

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Original poster

To feel this country should be able to cope with snow fgs?

197 replies

QueenEagle · 02/02/2009 08:14

Why does everything come to a standstill in this country when we have a bit of snow?

We don't even have half of what we had when I was a kid when we just got on with it even when we got snowed in for days on end.

Are we soft or what?

OP posts:
wheresthehamster · 02/02/2009 15:30

Yippee! Dp just got in. The coach company ran their last bus home at 2.00 so he had to get it. Feel better now and so going to do the wifey thing and put on a chicken casserole and make him a cup of hot chocolate

Blondeshavemorefun · 02/02/2009 16:19

snow is a nightmare

got well over 6inches - snowing heavily still

we are now snowed in

cant get up or down the hill

wishingchair · 02/02/2009 16:33

I grew up in the north and the schools only really closed if water pipes burst, or (secondary school) if the school buses couldn't get through. Now in south east and got a foot overnight and all schools are closed. That said, our teachers used to live in the village so would walk to school like us ... now they all have a drive in and the major roads are closed due to accidents. Think the trouble is that even though the roads are gritted, people down here don't know how to drive in snowy weather.

We're loving it though ... sky's dark so fingers crossed for more! (I work from home though so no excuses for me)

PaulaMummyKnowsBest · 02/02/2009 16:43

I too am in Herts and it has snowed pretty much all day.

It's a good job we had lot of milk in as I have been making copious amounts of hot chocolate for the 14 children (only 3 are mine) that are busy making an igloo in the garden with DH. . I have used 10 pints of milk!

They are all having a fab time

kayspace · 02/02/2009 16:59

What pee's ME off is the fact I can't get this snow to stick together to make a snow man! It's the WRONG KIND OF SNOW.!

As luck would have it, we have an INSET day today so we've been out in the field (in Hants) chucking snow around and discovering the properties of snow on ice- highly educational!

I recall the stiff upper lip that saw me, aged 13ish being packed off to my school 11 miles away (noting the neighbour's DD didn't go!) across rural Wiltshire in -was it 1978?- getting to school finding only a third of the girls and a fifth of the teachers there, then the Head releasing us year group by year group (why?!) til the bus station called at 1pm and said it was about to send its last bus over Pepperbox Hill so if any of us lived that way... I ran down to the bus station but too late! Missed it! This was a) before all mums could drive, b) before satellite weather forecasting and c) before mobiles by decades!

I ended up HITCHHIKING home, via a lift from a Belgian lorry driver (in very treacherous conditions) who had snow chains and was heading for Southampton Docks.

Mother was livid. But I reminded her she should not have sent a 13 year old off to school 11 miles away to MAKE A POINT.

As it was it snowed for 4 days and the school was resolutely closed from there on in!

Cloudhopper · 02/02/2009 17:06

Well I grew up in the North too and I can tell you that the place came to a standstill with less snow than we have had in Surrey so far.

Local shops have all sold out of milk, bread, and............

.........beer.

Tee hee, looks like an unofficial holiday here. Glad other people are getting into the spirit of it.

WorzselMummage · 02/02/2009 17:11

I cant get my car off the drive and have a baby in scbu

sob sob.

I HATE snow.

pumpkinsoup · 02/02/2009 17:23

I agree with OP - We are soft! (haven't read the reast of the post)

But I do remember some snow 'adventures' from previous years that to me justify not taking the risk of going to school or work occasionally - especially when we can stay at home and play in the snow.

Travelling home on the schoolbus when it began sliding rapidly towards a BIG drop in the middle of nowhere- we all got out to cheer while the sixth form boys pushed the bus up the (very steep) hill and around the corner. Those were the days.... (Does snow make anyone else nostalgic?) More recently, getting stranded alone and 6 months pregnant trying to get the 10 miles home from work, finally hitching a lift along one of Englands most perilous roads just before the police managed to shut it - scary.

pumpkinsoup · 02/02/2009 17:31

That is horrible worzselM. I HATE your snow too!

purpleduck · 02/02/2009 17:52

Kayspace....I live in hants too, and we built the HOOGEST snowman

Have you tried the "rolling a snowball around the field" method?

Our snowman was about 4 feet tall
{boast]
{preen}

MrsFreud · 02/02/2009 17:55

How fantastic to have a day so different from all the others.

Shame there are so many whingers on the news complaining that the councils haven't got expensive snowploughs rusting in their sheds waiting for a 1 in a 20 year event!!

All the neighbours were toboganning and I spoke to more of them today than in the whole of last year.

KatieScarlett2833 · 02/02/2009 17:56

All our schools were open today (Fife, Scotland)and got to work with only one major skid at the bottom of my road. However, on my way home (2pm) it was coming down in sheets, the main roads were covered and I was nearly killed by a skidding van. I'm still shaking and I won't be driving tomorrow.

There's a lot to be said for staying at home.

blueshoes · 02/02/2009 18:03

Dh and I were snowed in and spent a lovely day with the children at Greenwich Park. It was a hoot on the steep hill outside the Royal Observatory. People were going down in anything they could bring - there were the toboggans, but also makeshift plastic trays, cardboard, plastic bags, dinghys, even a table top ... Brits are deliciously unprepared for snow but so innovative at improvising!

marmitegirly · 02/02/2009 18:06

In Banstead, Surrey we have had 13" of snow. All the schools are shut because lots of the teachers can't get in even if we could wade to get there with the kids. Employers (schools ) have a duty of care to employees (teachers and other staff) so have to think about whether they can get home later too. Seeing as snow was still falling till 4pm and all the buses and trains are cancelled and cars are getting stuck, we didn't have much choice!

In my road 9 cars were abandoned and an articulated truck buckled. The only thing that was getting through earlier were the the tractors - it's quite hilly here. Kids have loved it of course.

twinsetandpearls · 02/02/2009 18:15

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twinsetandpearls · 02/02/2009 18:16

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mm22bys · 02/02/2009 18:46

Couldn't believe London's w*nker of a Lord Mayor saying the snow is no use for people to bunk off work.

Try telling that to all the commuters who spent hours getting to work, and even longer getting home.

It's one thing getting TO work, completely another getting home.

DS1's school has sent us an email saying to stay away for as long as it takes for public transport to get back to normal :-).

mm22bys · 02/02/2009 18:47

no excuse, not use, obviously!

posieflump · 02/02/2009 18:48

I agree
it's ok to keep going on about how much money has been lost today in business but it's not Londoners fault that they transport system can't cope with the snow

sarah293 · 02/02/2009 18:49

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pamelat · 02/02/2009 18:52

Daisy - me too!!

My maternity leave (14 months) finished on Friday. Today was my first day back, got up ultra early, braved the snow (was not too bad), got there ...... hardly anyone else in the building!

I was sent home 4 hours later , was missing DD so it was lovely to get back to her.

PaulaMummyKnowsBest · 02/02/2009 19:18

our school is shut tomorrow too so I will need to go to the shops for more milk.

I'm sure we'll have a garden full of children again

Kimi · 02/02/2009 19:32

I spent a wonderful week in Finish Lapland a few Christmases ago, -23 and 4 feet of snow. EVERYTHING was open up and running.

Today no one could get to wok DH1 gave up after and hour and a half in the car and DP worked from home, both boys were home from school and both schools are closed tomorrow.
I love it...we had a fab day building snowmen and throwing snowballs.
Only down side is today is the day DH1s boiler packed up and British Gas are twats....

nkf · 02/02/2009 19:34

I don't know what you mean by soft? I think we just know that an unexpected day off is a high old treat and one to be treasured. If we could fix the problem, we would. But waking up, seeing the snow, ringing in, hearing that the place will be closed....marvellous.
What's not to like?

woollyjo · 02/02/2009 19:43

I'd like to see how to drive in snow/icy conditions on the driving test.

We get at least some snow/ice each year and as someone who was fortunate enough to learn winter driving in Canada (where they didn't plough or grit until there was about 3" of snow on country roads) I am amazed at the incompetance of drivers which does far more to block roads than the actual weather conditions.

I am also amazed at folk who don't dress for the weather (do they like being cold and wet?).

Funny how busses and schools in rural sussex managed to function in snowy weather when I was a kid.

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