The UK and Snow

Every year it snows[1], and every year the UK falls to pieces.

Now, if snow only happened twice a century there would be an excuse. But EVERY YEAR without fail, the country grinds to a halt and looks surprised...."oh, what's all this white stuff???". No trains, cars or planes.

What IS this shite about????????

I suppose Canada, Sweden, Alaska, Siberia, all those places just what????? go to sleep in Sept and get up in Apr?

Frankly it's just EMBARASSING!!!!!

trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

[1]I should point out that it barely snows in NI, and NEVER more than a dusting in Bangor cos we're beside Belfast and surrounded by sea I suppose. It pisses me off no end cos I LOVE snow, and I never get any. Last time there was enough to even slide a teatray down was 6 years ago, last time there was more than 3 inches was in the fucking 60's.

I bet BT (and whoever) are making a mint out of a day like today.................

People in this Country just LOVE to talk about the weather!

(I admit I have too!)

We were PLAGUED in work with folks wanting to know if they should still come in for their appointments at the passport offices today. I'm just glad I got the hell out by 7am before most folks started thinking the same thing.

Terry Jones, is right you know..... there is no such thing as progress, only change, for everything we gain, we lose something else that leaves us no bettter off.

Oh dear.

There's me PLAGUED with guilt for not battling in to work.

Ha, the UK and snow. I was over there for Christmas in 2004 for about five weeks and did it snow? Noooooooooooo. I've never seen snow so was looking forward to seeing some of the white stuff. About a week after we came back to Oz they were making fucking snowmen!!

Doctor? wrote: trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

LOL - sometimes if it's extremely hot here the train tracks buckle so the trains can't run or have to go really slow.

Barnette wrote:

Doctor? wrote: trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

LOL - sometimes if it's extremely hot here the train tracks buckle so the trains can't run or have to go really slow.

You've obviously got the 'wrong kind of sun then - just as we have the wrong kind of snow.

I kid you not.

Kath wrote:

Barnette wrote:

Doctor? wrote: trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

LOL - sometimes if it's extremely hot here the train tracks buckle so the trains can't run or have to go really slow.

You've obviously got the 'wrong kind of sun then - just as we have the wrong kind of snow.

I kid you not.

By the way - I LOVE YOUR SNOWMAN......... :D

Barnette wrote:

Kath wrote:

Barnette wrote:

Doctor? wrote: trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

LOL - sometimes if it's extremely hot here the train tracks buckle so the trains can't run or have to go really slow.

You've obviously got the 'wrong kind of sun then - just as we have the wrong kind of snow.

I kid you not.

By the way - I LOVE YOUR SNOWMAN......... :D

I think I could love Adelaide - any chance of putting me up whislt I make up my mind?

Barnette wrote:

Doctor? wrote: trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

LOL - sometimes if it's extremely hot here the train tracks buckle so the trains can't run or have to go really slow.

It's something that baffles me, maybe NOOL's resident engineers can explain. In the old days, rails were in 50M or so lenghts, which were joined by "fish plates" which allow the rails to stretch and contract without buckling. But now, rails are thermite welded into one single continuous piece of metal, so where the hell does the expansion go?????

I had a simillar experience to yours in Chicago, a week after we left the palce a tornado swept straight accross the freeway just outside our hotel LOL.

Kath wrote:

Barnette wrote:

Kath wrote:

Barnette wrote:

Doctor? wrote: trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

LOL - sometimes if it's extremely hot here the train tracks buckle so the trains can't run or have to go really slow.

You've obviously got the 'wrong kind of sun then - just as we have the wrong kind of snow.

I kid you not.

By the way - I LOVE YOUR SNOWMAN......... :D

I think I could love Adelaide - any chance of putting me up whislt I make up my mind?

I'll put you up any day - as long as you don't complain when the weather hits 40 degrees C!!

Barnette wrote:

Kath wrote:

Barnette wrote:

Kath wrote:

Barnette wrote:

Doctor? wrote: trains not running in SNOW, ROFLMAO.....steamers could do it 100 years ago....I thought technology had moved FORWARD, not back. Over here last year, about 2mm of snow fell...no trains, because......their onboard computers had never seen it before (they were built in spain....no one in the UK or ireland apprently can make a train anymore, we're an archipelego of call centres and H+S droids ) and went mad, and wouldn't let them move the trains.

LOL - sometimes if it's extremely hot here the train tracks buckle so the trains can't run or have to go really slow.

You've obviously got the 'wrong kind of sun then - just as we have the wrong kind of snow.

I kid you not.

By the way - I LOVE YOUR SNOWMAN......... :D

I think I could love Adelaide - any chance of putting me up whislt I make up my mind?

I'll put you up any day - as long as you don't complain when the weather hits 40 degrees C!!

same here. i have the room and we are not quite as hot as Adelaide.

Of course, because we only have one (possibly two) days a year when it snows to the extent it does, then it's hardly worth the expense of upgrading our entire infrastructure, paying for more gritters, getting everyone to buy winter tyres/snow chains for their cars, etc.

If you lived in Canada, Switzerland, Iceland, Russia, wherever, then obviously it makes sense to spend money on their infrastructure such that it copes with the snow, and for everybody to buy winter tyres/snow chains for their cars, etc.

I mean, we don't buy sandbags, boats, ships, etc, just because it might rain, and hence flood the streets/houses?

Also, people are mentioning elsewhere that "in my day, the schools never closed"... Well, in "their day" didn't everybody used to live very close to the school (including the teachers), and hence they could walk if the roads/transport fell apart? I couldn't walk to work today, even if I tried!

I fookin' hate snow. Too cold. Think I must have been from the Caribbean in a previous life, as I can't function properly in weather less than about 15 degrees. I've got a weird temperature gauge, when it's 30+ here and people are flagging, I get stronger, 40 degrees are fine for me. It's times like this that I wish I lived somewhere warmer - I had a look at the weather forecast for Athens yesterday - 18 degrees today compared to zero here.

I just hate the black ice aftermath. roads are like ice rinks by me already

When I lived in Toronto, there would be a foot of snow but none of the schools ever shut

Kids love it, adults not so much.

silly me went to school in Germany back in 81 when we had a meter and a half of snow, and then i could walk all the way back.

El Jarvo wrote:

Doctor? wrote: Every year it snows[1], and every year the UK falls to pieces.

Now, if snow only happened twice a century there would be an excuse. But EVERY YEAR without fail, the country grinds to a halt and looks surprised...."oh, what's all this white stuff???". No trains, cars or planes.

What IS this shite about????????

I suppose Canada, Sweden, Alaska, Siberia, all those places just what????? go to sleep in Sept and get up in Apr?

Frankly it's just EMBARASSING!!!!!

Cambo, it's more embarrassing having someoneone whinging about the people whinging about snow and making out we're a national disgrace cos we don't cope when it happens!

Surely there were no fcuking trains running cos all the train drivers woke up and went, "Oooh, snow!" and decided to take a 'sick' day off to enjoy it.

See also: hot weather.

Everything still ran smoothly in Londinium yesterday. Mind, spirit of the Blitz and all that!

Maybe Al, just maybe, that London didn't get the conditions some other parts of the country had - yes indeed - life does exist in other parts of the country!

Brum closed all their schools yesterday - and again today - my kids went back today - only to be sent home again at lunchtime. It has fell out of the sky all day...........roads are really bad. A normal 20 minute journey home has taken 3 1/2 hours - i kid you not.

Having said that, train drivers/bus drivers etc.........especially in the nannified South.......do anything for a day off!

last time it snowed here was only about 3 weeks from summer. the strange thing is that we didn't have any snow all winter, well at least not in town.

it has been really hot all summer though.

the weather is about to turn nasty. there are dark clouds about and the interweb is already dropping in and out here.

Six feet of snow in New York State.

Three inches of snow would paralyze Portland, mind....

now it is serious. a storm is about to hit. they've issued severe storm warning for the next few hours. hail is possible. well it is a change from heat and bushfires. although there is always a possibility of new bushfires with lightning.

NOOLigan wrote: now it is serious. a storm is about to hit. they've issued severe storm warning for the next few hours. hail is possible. well it is a change from heat and bushfires. although there is always a possibility of new bushfires with lightning.

Bloody hell Ron, send some rain here :)

Weather here has been beautiful most of this week with temps in the high twenties but the long range forecast says it will be forty by next Saturday - noooooooooooo .

Barnette wrote:

NOOLigan wrote: now it is serious. a storm is about to hit. they've issued severe storm warning for the next few hours. hail is possible. well it is a change from heat and bushfires. although there is always a possibility of new bushfires with lightning.

Bloody hell Ron, send some rain here :)

Weather here has been beautiful most of this week with temps in the high twenties but the long range forecast says it will be forty by next Saturday - noooooooooooo .

it is so bad, i'm seriously considering not going out tonight. i'll give it another hour or so.

the net keeps droppping out as well.

not to worry. there's a good Monica Bellucci film on tonight. :)