Parts of the UK
are grinding to a halt as we speak due to snowfall. A whole 6 inches last night. Trains have been cancelled in the south east. Temperatures are expected to drop to -10 tonight. As far as I can remember, certainly back to 1982, the year I started at infant school, it has snowed/been cold/been icy in the UK every year. Maybe not in Central London, but snow has fallen to some degree somewhere every year. And yet we are still entirely unprepared/unable to deal with it. I have travelled on trains in Russia towards the end of winter with snowdrifts several feet deep either side of the tracks. Germany and the Czech Republic are both seemingly capable of dealing with harsher winters than us. Surely more could be done than simply sprinkling grit on the roads, advising drivers to carry food and blankets in case they get caught, and telling commuters to leave London before 8pm to avoid being stuck if snow starts to fall.
posted by lukeski at 9:49 pm
1 Comments:
What Network South East (or whatever they're called now. Rail Branson?) want to do is go and get that snow-plough that the Danish government kindly donated to the Iraqi war effort. Britain could give something in return, like... dunno. A nice cup of tea for every Iraqi or something we're good at.
Still, it is a bit much those Kentish wankers (or is it wankers of Kent? Can never remember) wanting to use a train after 8pm. Bloody cheek. As far as I know the transport here copes with the old white stuff pretty well. (Although, would you believe, someone in the neighbourhood died yesterday from massive internal injuries when their push-bike skidded and of course folk will now start bleating, lips pursed, that the streets should have been gritted better.)
I'd happily live in a winter-free part of the world, I sometimes think, but I'm sure I'd miss the old northern European soul. (I suppose Australia is always the compromise choice here. Everyone I know who's been tells me it's heaven, especially Melbourne.)
Post a Comment
<< Home