Re: SNOW - 10PM Finishes on Sunday ...

[WarBwastardo]

Got to admit that the way this country appears to fall apart when 6 inches of snow falls is rather pathetic.

If I were you I"d forget about the snow and concentrate on getting to day 2 - my own personal record on that score is zero from 8 attempts  

Good luck.

Bit off topic but what should we do? Spend millions and millions on snow equipment so when it does snow for a week every 19 years we"re prepared? Yes snow brings us to a standstill but I"d rather that for a few days than spend £££"s of money on equipment that"ll hardly be used

Besides I wouldn"t have been snowed in today!

+1

It"s not millions of pounds worth of new equipment needed, it"s a bit of common sense from the people who run this country.  It"s not just unexpected snow fall that renders the country inoperable.  It"s any weather more turbulent than how it feels in Debenhams. It rains here pretty much every day for example and yet we all nearly drowned a couple of years ago because all our towns are built on floodplains.

We"re just sh*t as a nation at dealing with things.

How is common sense going to clear snow from our roads?

Having spent most of my career involved with winter events I can assure you that millions would be needed to deal with this level of snowfall.

If you think we are bad then you need to travel more.

It"s not just this level of snow that grinds the country to a halt and I have traveled.  

[HaworthBantam]

With apologies to the original poster for the obvious hijacking of this thread, I have to ask a question.

I live in the South Pennines, I"ve lived here for 42 years, I grew up here, I went to school here, we have things called hills.

When I was younger we had proper winters, snow such as we"ve had lately were not every 18 or 19 year events, they were pretty much yearly events. Since the onset of global warming the amount of snow has tailed off somewhat, all I seem to remember in the last 10 years is more rain.

Anyway, during my school days and all the snow we experienced, not once were any of the schools I went to shut. Yet this week, every school in this area was shut - Why ? What"s changed since I was at school ?

[WarBwastardo]

With apologies to the original poster for the obvious hijacking of this thread, I have to ask a question.

I live in the South Pennines, I"ve lived here for 42 years, I grew up here, I went to school here, we have things called hills.

When I was younger we had proper winters, snow such as we"ve had lately were not every 18 or 19 year events, they were pretty much yearly events. Since the onset of global warming the amount of snow has tailed off somewhat, all I seem to remember in the last 10 years is more rain.

Anyway, during my school days and all the snow we experienced, not once were any of the schools I went to shut. Yet this week, every school in this area was shut - Why ? What"s changed since I was at school ?

The Health and Safety Executive is a much bigger department now.

[George2Loose]

I don"t know how much had changed but people who are comparing our coping mechanisms with those who have a lot more snowfall than us are just plain ignorent. Im sure if we were prepared adequately with snow mobiles and trains which blow snow off the track that those same people would be complaining about the cost to the tax payer!

[Mikeyboy9361]

I was North of Boston in the good old US of A about 3 years ago, and we must have had about 3 feet of snow overnight, by 10am all the main roads were clear, and all schools and businesses were open. And a great days skiing was had by all. As George said they were prepared and had mechanisms in place, but we are really c**p at anything out of the ordinary in this country.

Conversley I was in Sarasota this summer, when there was a hurricane alert, and we were actually on voluntary evacuation, okay it was a bit breezy, but talk about over reaction! The next day the whole area closed down, and honestly it was no worse than a windy day in Yorkshire!

[Jon MW]

I was North of Boston in the good old US of A about 3 years ago, and we must have had about 3 feet of snow overnight, by 10am all the main roads were clear, and all schools and businesses were open. And a great days skiing was had by all. As George said they were prepared and had mechanisms in place, but we are really c**p at anything out of the ordinary in this country.
...

The point is Boston regularly has a lot of snow, so it"s cost effective for them to invest in the technology and manpower to clear it quick. It just wouldn"t be worth the money for us to spend that much.

The very fact that they got 3 feet of snow to start with highlights the difference.

[RioRodent]

[Mikeyboy9361]

As I said   "they were prepared and had mechanisms in place"

[George2Loose]

OK so should we have mechanisms in place for every weather eventuality??? Obviously they cleared the roads and had the equipment to do so cos it"s a common occurance. Snow here isn"t- and if it is it usually doesn"t settle long enough for the roads etc to be a problem

[WarBwastardo]

Since when does our Government concern itself with cost effectiveness?  They spent about a billion pounds on a Dome so we could have a millennium party...that"s a once in thousand year event. They can"t wait to get up in the morning and waste money. How much does the UK economy lose because of this sort of thing?  All the disruption costs miwyans and miwyans, so it might make sense to invest money in contingency plans to prevent an even greater losses because no one can get to work, or can"t do any work when they get there.  Bit of forward would be nice is all I"m saying.  You can guarantee that if this occurs next winter it"ll be the same chaos.  Chaos I tells ya.  Morris dancing everywhere there"ll be.

[Swinebag]

What"s changed since I was at school ?

1. better teachers....especially maths ones
2. no more free milk
3. No more corporal punishment
4. No more headmasters or headmistresses...just headteachers
5. No more jackets with patches on the elbows
6. No more blackboards
7. You dont need to take your gasmask with you to school

[SirPercival]

Since when does our Government concern itself with cost effectiveness?  They spent about a billion pounds on a Dome so we could have a millennium party...that"s a once in thousand year event. They can"t wait to get up in the morning and waste money. How much does the UK economy lose because of this sort of thing?  All the disruption costs miwyans and miwyans, so it might make sense to invest money in contingency plans to prevent an even greater losses because no one can get to work, or can"t do any work when they get there.  Bit of forward would be nice is all I"m saying.  You can guarantee that if this occurs next winter it"ll be the same chaos.  Chaos I tells ya.  Morris dancing everywhere there"ll be.

What is it exactly that you are proposing to deal with these snow events?

It"s very easy to criticise but much harder to make a difference. The longest shift I have done when dealing with an event of this nature was 26hours straight. Not once in that time did anybody say thanks but I took 1000"s of call from people wanting their street cleared NOW!

[RioRodent]

What"s changed since I was at school ?

1. better teachers....especially maths ones
2. no more free milk
3. No more corporal punishment
4. No more headmasters or headmistresses...just headteachers
5. No more jackets with patches on the elbows
6. No more blackboards
7. You dont need to take your gasmask with you to school

1. better teachers

[X] Debatable

2. no more free milk

[  ] Progress

3. No more corporal punishment

[  ] Progress

4. No more headmasters or headmistresses...just headteachers

[  ] Progress

5. No more jackets with patches on the elbows

[X] Progress

6. No more blackboards

[  ] Progress

7. You dont need to take your gasmask with you to school

[X] Depends who you sit next to!

[WarBwastardo]

Since when does our Government concern itself with cost effectiveness?  They spent about a billion pounds on a Dome so we could have a millennium party...that"s a once in thousand year event. They can"t wait to get up in the morning and waste money. How much does the UK economy lose because of this sort of thing?  All the disruption costs miwyans and miwyans, so it might make sense to invest money in contingency plans to prevent an even greater losses because no one can get to work, or can"t do any work when they get there.  Bit of forward would be nice is all I"m saying.  You can guarantee that if this occurs next winter it"ll be the same chaos.  Chaos I tells ya.  Morris dancing everywhere there"ll be.

What is it exactly that you are proposing to deal with these snow events?

It"s very easy to criticise but much harder to make a difference. The longest shift I have done when dealing with an event of this nature was 26hours straight. Not once in that time did anybody say thanks but I took 1000"s of call from people wanting their street cleared NOW!

What do you do?

[PokerDan1984]

Bit off topic but what should we do? Spend millions and millions on snow equipment so when it does snow for a week every 19 years we"re prepared? Yes snow brings us to a standstill but I"d rather that for a few days than spend £££"s of money on equipment that"ll hardly be used

Besides I wouldn"t have been snowed in today!
[/quote]

I thought that"s what this country has been doing all these years?

But not on its hard working citizen"s unlike me LOL!!!