to think my mum is being very silly

[chocolaterabbit]

My mum lives in Oxfordshire and her garden is under 1 foot of snow today and it is still snowing hard.

My brother and his gf are coming back from Dublin tonight. DB is pretty helpless generally and has asked mum to fetch him from Heathrow and take his gf home to north london and then bring him back to Oxford and mum has said she'll do it.

I know she is a grown adult and theoretically capable of making her own decisions but this seems to me to be really stupid. The weather is awful and still snowing, the emergency services are going to be horribly overstretched, there is a much greater chance of an accident than normal and there are loads of public transport options from Heathrow. DB will just have to be a bit less precious about catching buses.

So AIBU to think she really shouldn't go?

No, yanbu, she shouldn't go. However, she is a grown woman and it is really her choice.

Is your brother 10 years old?

I think the real issue is that your DB is being unreasonable in asking your mum to do this. I expect he's younger than you? Basically, put yourself in her shoes. If one of your children asked you, you'd probably do it. So yes, YABU to think you're mum is silly, but YANBU to think your DB needs to grow up and take some responsibility for himself.

She shouldnt go - brother and gf should make their own way, or stay in hotel near aiport?
Foolish to make unnecessary journeys when masses of snow about

DB is in fact 24 and perfectly capable but really enjoys having mum running around after him.

He shouldn't have asked.

YANBU.

is your brother 10 ?. Very rude of him to ask her.

X posted !

YANBU

Have similar situation here with DP who is considering driving from Scotland to London tonight despite repeated warnings from all agencies not to drive in these conditions.

I can't tell him what to do. I tried emotional blackmail to no avail.

He is being v silly and so is your mum.

Are you sure the flight is even running?

God... I am undergoing a very similar scenario right now... I was just going to start a thread!

MiL, BiL and SiL are all off to Heathrow tommorrow. DH is expected to drive them there and then drive home.

We live in rural Lincolnshire which is currently under a foot of snow and still snowing.

They could easy get the train from Newark to Kings Cross, then Heathrow Express couldnt they? (I have no knowledge of southern england transport).

I just rang MiL and she laughed when I suggested I didn't want my DH to be put at risk

Does your brother know what the weather is like in Oxford? Could you call him and say you're worried about your mum doing the drive, ask him to reconsider asking her? You are right anyway, she's being silly and she would be doing your brother a favour in the long run if she stopped running around after him.

Thelunar66, could you maybe suggest to your in-laws that there's a good chance they will miss their flight if they try to drive to heathrow? Expecting your dh to do that journey by car is just ridiculous.

Actually, having made the pointed comment asking whether your brother was 10yrs old, I remembered that my dad offered to drive up to London before christmas to pick us all up and drive us back again because it was very snowy and icy and he was worried about me driving.

And he would have done it too, had I let him!

It's obviously a parent thing.

ps: I'm in my 40s, lol.

I have already said that they could miss the flight if there are accidents on the M1 or M25 (or whatever motorway it is that goes past Heathrow). She just laughs (daft bint)

I think part of the trouble is that there are so many people saying not to do the drive, mum wants to prove them wrong. She also really loves driving which I don't understand at all.

I've texted DB to say that it would be easier for him to get back if he caught the train. No answer, but I think mum would go anyway now, even if he said he didn't need it.

God Lunar, that sounds worse. What does your DH think?

YANBU
Is there any reason at all that your DBs GF can't get the tube into London?

Hi Lunar,

The Heathrow Express goes from Paddington, so they would need to get the tube (better option than bus) from Kings Cross to Paddington. It's pretty easy as tube journeys go, just a few stops round the Circle line, they don't have to change.

The M25 is the motorway that goes round London. It's a hell of a drive in bad conditions.

I know lots of people not from London are reluctant to take the tube but surely 3 adults, even with luggage, should be able to manage!

Chocolaterabbit - I would hate to do that drive even in normal weather, she must really love driving!

DH is torn... he really doesn't want to go, but feels obliged as he promised them he would drive way back in the summer when they booked the trip.

The train to Heathrow is ok isn't it? Regular service I mean.

x-post Allarm... thanks for that

DH on phone now to MiL.

thelunar ... I have to get into London tomorrow from rural Lincs too ... and I'm not going to risk it if I can't. But to better my chances, I'm opting for train and tube. Driving all the way to Heathrow is probably going to be impossible.

Any driving right now is a risk.

thelunar - the Heathrow Express leaves Paddington every 15 mins and the journey time is 15 mins. It was running as normal today so is much more reliable than driving.

Not sure about Lincolnshire but trains from Peterborough into Kings Cross are running on an emergency timetable, 2 an hour and are taking a bit longer than usual but they are running.

Good luck...

Right I think I'm sorted... DH has told MiL that he will take them to Newark and they can get train from there.

Now BiL has just phoned back and said something along the lines of...'if you are not prepared to take us to Heathrow, then don't bother at all.. we will get a taxi to Lincoln, train to Newark, change onto train to London.'

Twats.

Twats indeed.