Britain never seems to be prepared for the British weather... How can that be? The problem is though that when I was about 10 we had a huge snowfall which went above our waist... after that nothing really major, well not enough to cause worry as it usually melted the minute it fell. Then about 4 years ago ice started making an appearance and then snow. We definitely weren't prepared for those as we ran out of grit, each year they order more then before but suddenly last year we had nothing! How could that be, we were merrily going along expecting another year snow free... last year we had 2-3 different days of black ice... oh how nasty it was trying to get my niece to school on those days as I make a point of walking. Its only 2 streets away and I laugh at those parents at work who live a few steps away from the school building but have to get the car out to collect their children... why! oh why! The only days I will take my car is when I finish work late and go straight to collect my niece.
Well anyway last Sunday we were expecting a huge snowfall... 10cm of snow they said, imagine us all laying in bed Monday morning expecting to be snowed in when pulling back the curtains you have to really adjust your eyes to see those few specks of snow... really is that 10cm! We had a week of the maybe we'll get sent home early or maybe we just won't get out of bed that day... it never came. Imagine my surprise when my husband gets up, disappears for some time... I'm all comfortable in my spot only he returns to sit on me... The most annoying response for him is why I aren't you at work? Its snowing a lot outside and your brother said not to bother coming as the roads aren't seriously slippery. For 2 hours I couldn't sleep, not for the excitement of snow but I just couldn't. I text my sister who got up to check, who then text her work people to find out what they were doing.... only to actually alert some of them to get out of bed and make their way. She decided not to go after speaking to my older brother also. Now she's seriously worried because everyone else managed to make their way in after spending 2-3 hours travelling. As for me I got a message saying stay in bed we don't expect you to travel... why thank you, I'll do just that! No matter what my work place is like, one thing I'll give them is that they do close to seriously poor weather like this. As for our 10cm of snow I think we may have got it and a bit more.... but still not the amount as the last time it snowed as a child.... I then fell asleep...
All day its been snowing, the children have been screeching, having snowball fights and the couple opposite too as well as building a snowman. I really want to go out and take a photo of it... cheeky I know! I actually feel sorry for them that they don't have more privacy to enjoy themselves freely as all the neighbours at my end can see them.
By the way my friends have often said to me they don't understand why England close their schools when it snows as its so unheard of in their country. I find it weird that they don't, it is so nerve shattering to drive in it especially as many of the workers don't live locally or for that matter in this city. Most of England is one mass set of hills, even I live in a valley (so hills all around) so for us to get this amount of snow its a lot worse for those that live higher up.... vehicles struggle, wellies are made out of plastic instead of rubber so you are slipping instead of making progress but no shoes/boots are good... it doesn't actually help that only main roads are gritted but not side streets or pavements. If today school had been opened I would have had to walk, I could have made it with the soft snow but coming back would have been lethal, I just hate the idea of walking down the icy hill. I don't think its fair to have to force people to risk their lives in an un-necessary way. I am all for schools starting later, like on one of the black ice days many schools opened at 10am allowing staff time to get in and by the time the children came the sun had risen and the ice melted... ours didn't do that and I lost count of the amount of people complaining that they'd fallen. It actually reminds me of a lady I worked with once years ago, who'd gone to drop her daughter off at school and slipped in the playground losing her front teeth, she went to the hospital and on returning to collect her daughter the school pretended nothing had happened. They didn't even ask how she was etc... instead they'd just gritted the playground and carried on like it was a normal day. By the way a lot of council jobs also advice their staff to stay home whether a cleaner on the street/buildings, a librarian or in an office you will often get the day off. At the end of the day how can you have weather warnings for people to travel out only if necessary yet have everyone out full force due to children being at schools etc... The less people on the road, the easier the travel for those that have to make it to work because they have no choice.
Do schools ever close where you live?
Nope, schools or companies don't close here because of snow. We have snow every year, sometimes for many days. How could schools or companies close for such a long time? It would be waste of money for companies and if schools closed, what would working parents do with their kids? My city is flat but we have lots of towns with hills and they don't close anything either. The city authorities are supposed to take care of the roads being cleared of snow and to sprinkle them with salt or sand though they don't always manage to do it-_- People change tires in their cars for winter ones and they walk more carefully. We just have it for long periods of time every year and are used to it and more or less can organize the traffic. But I must say I'm jelous you don't need to go to work because of snow:P
ReplyDeleteYou mention about parents needing childcare, you'll be absolutely amazed at how many of them will use it as an excuse in order not to go to work. Even if the school is open they still will claim that its not, whose going to check? Today we were open and some classes had only half the children in. It meant staff having to phone home telling parents to bring their children to school, this is considering we have a text system already telling them that school is open. I've also known people to claim their children are sick in order to take time off also. Of course for those that are geniune do have problems.
DeleteIt is completely different in my country. Stores, libraries, banks and all the other offices are open no matter what the weather is.
ReplyDeleteLast year my University was closed in February because of the snow, but mostly because of the students that don`t live in my town (where the University is), the schools were opened. The snow was about 1 m then.
So, it is a bit weird to see that is such a mess there with just 10 cm of snow.
We have ice under the snow and it is really hard to walk on it, but everybody have to go to work.
When I was a child most teacher lived local so we also never had a day off, if anything there were hardly anyone that drove in those days. My mum was saying yesterday how they would just put on their wellies and get on with things.
DeleteThe problem with needing to travel from another town/city/village, is when public transport stops as the roads are too slippery for them to travel along as they just leave grit rather then actually plough the snow to clear the roads. It is then putting unnecessary pressure on a person to find accommadation because they can't get home. I only ever had that time off when the snow was above our waists and in that time they did plough the roads and push all snow up the side and create separate path ways for people to walk.
I've probably mentioned in my letters that schools here pretty much never close. I didn't ever have a snow day until I was about half way through university. The only thing we got during the winter was indoor recesses if the windchill was really high (so temps are super low, like in the -30's. It was -42 with the windchill yesterday).
ReplyDeleteFor a lot of places in Canada, we get snow near the end of October, and it is here to stay until some time in March, so the country would kind of shut down and die if we had snow days like other places do. But on that note...since we kind of have snow/winter for almost half a year, you learn to live in it, drive in it, deal with it, I guess...you have to. And believe me, a lot of people cannot drive in the winter, but they still do!!!
But I have a friend who used to live here and she's moved to the West Coast where they don't have the constant winter like we do, and when it does snow there, it's epic panic and shut down. So I think it really just comes down to what is sort of the "norm". Getting a ton of snow, ice, freezing rain, and friggen cold temperatures for months at a time is normal here. I'm also lucky living where I do in that we don't have much for hills :)
People who have travelled to Canada have actually mentioned how great it is for maintaining the snow. They say you can see markings for where the pavement is so that they know how far to plough and the roads are always clear. They actually wished it was the same here. I don't mind driving in the snow as my mums house isn't so far from the main road and if everyone drives along the tire marks previous cars have driven along its ok as your car will easily follow them. The problem is when people treat snowy days like a normal day and will just whizz out in front of you or start turning around in the road thats a problem... I'm glad we don't get snow as often as you do.
DeleteHmmm...I'm not sure where those people travelled, but the roads in my city aren't always cleared. Most residential streets are rarely plowed. On our crescent, we live in the corner so all the snow blows into there and driving is impossible. My dad and the neighbour will often spend half a day snowblowing the road.
DeleteRoads also get really bad with ice ruts, sometimes there bad enough to make you feel the need to barf while driving. And a lot of times, even when the roads are plowed, there isn't enough room for two driving lanes when there should be. Also, plowing makes parking on the street really difficult. The mounds get waist high and people end up parking halfway into driving lanes...it's not much fun...
You sort of just learn to deal with it...and complain a lot :)