Why Don’t People Think?

So, this morning I had to drive a short distance which in everyday normal experience is only mildly frustrating. I’ve chilled quite a bit as a driver since I got the Prius and I would say I’m calm. However, today was not normal. There was a lot of snow over night and so the roads were covered in ice and snow. The car took about ten minutes to clear of snow and to make sure it was road worthy. I spent time making sure it was safe for me to drive. I tested the roads at the start of my journey, steering response and braking. This seems sensible to me.

As I drove home I could see other cars not really aware of safety or even other users on the road. Plenty of people were driving what I thought was too fast for the conditions. While they not have had a crash the issue is their ability to react to dangers and then being able to control the vehicle and be safe generally. I let this type of driver past me, who wants that kins of twat to hit you from behind?

Then there was the couple of cars covered in snow with only small viewing areas through the windscreen. These are the sort of people who should be banned from driving. Your whole car should be clear of snow and ice. You shouldn’t shed massive lumps of snow as you are going at speed. You should be able to see out of the whole windscreen and side windows. These people are a danger to others and that’s the thing that bothers me. I generally don’t care if you are a danger to yourself, what bothers me is if you could endanger others. /rant.

Broken Met

I just wanted to see how the rain/snow fall was going to be over the next few hours, to see the general direction the weather system was moving. But, no, we broke the Met Office.

Not Working
Not Working

It’s No Collapse

“Oh it all falls apart when it snows”

“An inch of snow and Britain can’t cope”.

Bullshit.

Firstly: We’ve had plenty of warning that there was going to be snow. It wasn’t a surprise.

Secondly: People should have been prepared for the roads to become bad and for transport to be cancelled. BECAUSE WE HAD WARNING.

But, why doesn’t anything work when it snows?

Because you don’t spend LOADS of money on services that are going to sit idle for 360/365 days of the year. If you want everything to work “just fine” when there’s a lot of snow then bloody well pay for it. It will cost a lot of money. It just doesn’t make economical sense.

Hopefully, many services have plans for getting through the snow. Hospitals and emergency services are important and I somewhat suspect that they HAVE plans. Being forewarned about the snow means those plans can be enacted.

Simple really.

Winter Views

The weather over the last few days has been stunning. There’s a load of snow around and the whole of the county looks stunning. It has rather messed with my professional plans but, hey ho, I’m sure I’ll figure it out. The opportunity of being at home in daylight has meant that I have been for a couple of tentative runs since fucking my right Achilles. I am still walking and the Achilles seems intact. Not sure when I’ll next have a run but I’m pleased with the results so far.

So, these are the details of one of my runs. While I have been out I’ve taken many photos. I think they are gorgeous:

Frozen
Frozen

Cold Day
Cold Day

Lense Flare
Lense Flare

The countryside is stunning and I think that a couple of sub-zero temperature runs is just the way to celebrate the gloriousness of the whole thing. Ever wanted to know what snow does to trainers? The trainers are old, but waterproof and actually reasonably warm. I did notice today though that the sole is coming away so once they are dry I am going to glue them (again)!

Cold Trainers
Cold Trainers

I’m not too happy with having the heating on full time but it is the only way to keep my house warm. I guess I’ll have to pay for it over the rest of the year.

I also took some photos with the DSLR. This morning there was mist over the valley and it all looked just bloody gorgeous.

Mist and Snow
Mist and Snow

There was a dog walker out in the chill.

Winter Dog Walker
Winter Dog Walker

This concludes my winter pictures, until next time!

A Smattering

This morning I went for a run through some of the Kent countryside. I would embed a map of the route from my running app but it crashed after about two miles. So, here’s a map from Google Earth.

It was a good run through a gentle fluttering of snow. I enjoyed it and listened to the Cognitive Dissonance podcast from Chicago. The paths were particularly pretty at times and I took two photos.

 

Hopefully, Everyone Is Safe

I know we moan about the weather all the time in this country. It’s what we do. It’s a way of forming conversation. Something we can talk about. We love headlines that ultimately just say:

Weather cold this winter.

Weather hot this summer.

Yesterday, after about a week or forecasting the snow came to the UK. It hit Maidstone at 18:00. The town ground to a slow crawl. It probably doubled the length of time for me to get home. But, I got home and there were no exciting events for me. Rather than the UK moan about:

Why aren’t we prepared for this? Why does everything go to shit when it snows, it doesn’t in Finland.

We need to accept that nowadays snow is a reasonably rare event, definitely in the south east. It’s a few days a year. We should EXPECT disruption and things to go to shit. It’s essentially a rare event.

Here’s the traffic from 18:30 last night:

A larger view of the SE.

Now on this map, apart from my favourite places, you can see the disruption. Here’s a larger view:

Lots of red roads which is indicative of severe disruption.

Now, the traffic an hour later:

And finally about 21:30.

Let’s hope everyone is safe.

 

April weather in Scotland

I swear on this day we had sun, snow, hail, rain and high winds. Talk about four seasons in one day! It probably does happen down south but it was just right for my second visit to bonny Scotland.

Weather Happens

So, the snow that had been forecast for about a week has arrived. There’s about 8cm in the garden but it’s not good for snowballs. Looking forward to taking number one son out later. Probably do some sledging.
First thing on the news was the chaos that the snow brought! Now, we generally have about 2 or 3 days of snow a year. There’s no reason for us to be used to it and no reason for everything to work once it does snow. Other countries are more organised because they have weeks or months with snow on the ground and have to live with it. We don’t, so there!

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