How lovely to have such a "seasonal" snowfall in the weeks leading up to Christmas!
That of course would be fine were we living in a country with a decent transport infrastructure, and well managed central and local government services. However, in Nanny's Britain the state (despite being remarkably good at telling us how to run our lives) is incapable of managing basic services.
As usual the UK ground to halt within hours of the first snowflakes appearing; roads were not gritted, trains were stuck and airports closed.
For why?
Those who are responsible for managing the transport infrastructure are simply not up to the job, and trot out all the usual complacent excuses about the weather being unpredictable and it being the worst since 989BC etc etc.
Bollocks!
Countries such as Russia and Poland (who are not meant to be as well off as the UK) manage to keep their trains, buses and airports running.
What does Nanny do?
She bleats out the same tired old line "do not travel unless your journey is absolutely necessary".
Lovely advice if you live in Lah Lah Land. However, the majority of people have to travel to get to work, go to school and shop etc.
Here's what needs to be done:
1 Gritters, snow ploughs and track de-icers should be working during the night, not just during daylight hours.
2 School kids should be advised to walk to school, rather than rely on their parents driving them.
3 Individuals should be responsible for clearing their own pathways (and those of their elderly infirm neighbours) of snow (this is the law in other countries, eg Poland).
4 The Meteorological Office should be fined when they screw up their forecasts.
5 It should be mandatory for everyone (on cold days such as this) to have a bowl of porridge fortified with a tot of whisky or rum for breakfast.
Sorted!
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Ken,
ReplyDeleteIn general terms I agree with your post however, Number three I cannot agree with, I am a house bound disabled person and I would not be able to clear my own path etc but, I would not expect my neighbour to do so neither.....We pay a fortune in rip off tax(council tax) in this country and would expect the local authority to clear pathways etc....After all, those employed to cut grass and sweep leaves and pick up litter can't be too active at the moment can they? I also feel we have an army of offenders on community service, perhaps they could do something useful and clear snow......The countries you mentioned don't pay the same high level local taxes that we have to pay; let's have something useful for our tax pound and let's have value for money.
To be fair to Wokingham Borough Council, they had gritters out during the night, one went past my road, which is a bus route, at about 23-00hrs. Our road is clear, as are our local roads however, the M4 has problems but, that is down to that great organisation known as the highways agency.
Regarding number four, I can see no reason why the Met Office should be fined when they screw up; they are a publically funded body and we would be fining ourselves....A new stealth tax I would classify it as.
Perhaps sacking the incompetent or fining/sacking the boss may well have some support.
Number five sounds like a good proposal and I support that.
Ken, surely you are asking for trouble - "989BC" indeed! Although it grates every time I hear it, you have to use BCE (before Common Era) now.
ReplyDeleteAnd then you (and Tonk) want to put children at risk of contaminated porridge. Do you realise that Goldilocks would never be able to run away from the bears if she had scoffed a bowl of booze-laden porridge? Or is that why she had to lie down for a sleep?
PORRIDGE WITH A HOT TODDY ( TOTTY)
ReplyDelete-POST OF THE 'KIN YEAR;)
Yes, Ken, a couple of snowflakes, and the country grinds to a halt, as though a new ice age had just arrived! In general, I agree with your suggestions, but with the ammendments proposed by Tonk. From a personal point of view, I must decline the last point, as I am a teetotaller, although I am more than happy to have the bowl of porridge, WITH sugar, I may add!
ReplyDeleteIt were bloody cold in 989BC
ReplyDeleteKen, you are corr4ect here.
ReplyDeleteCouncils do what they always do - blame others for the problem and try to maintain their stance of doing nothing about anything. It is in their nature, incestuous almost, to not offer help of any sort. That way the only thing they maintain is their budgets and particularly staff budgets. It is in theiir interest to have enough money in the bank to pay themselves.
Cameron wants to give these useless bastards even more power - close the lot of them down I say and I'll find my own solutions..!!
Apparently no one in public service, oxymoron alert, knows how to spell "resign", ain't it odd?
ReplyDelete