The Natural Philosopher
wibbled on Wednesday 06 January 2010 10:59

Tim Streater wrote:
On 06/01/2010 10:38, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Neil wrote:
de-lurk

Oh come on guys

Whilst I realise you lot in the UK think you have more snow than I
have in this bit of Switzerland, it really isn't too hard to get
about-ever!

M&S (No, not the shop, just Mud + Snow tyres) will get an ordinary car
most places, add snow chains and everywhere is possible without
recourse to a Chelsea Tractor with the penalties of VED/MPG/CO2 and
guilt...


they will, IF you can afford to get a set of winter wheels.

In continental Europe, such things are commonly available.

Here they are not.

This is not an annual event for us. In fact I've not seen it like this
since 1963.

And I may say that the 1963 conditions didn't stop me delivering
newspapers (I had a long round from Crawley up to near Gatwick on the
A23) *or* getting to school (which didn't close). Mind you, to be fair
we had something like 8" on New Year's Day which then took until March
to melt. And it was the wrong type of snow for snowballs as it didn't
stick when you squeezed it.

Things I remember are

- EVERYBODY in our little suburban cul de sac got out the shovels and
started digging their cars out, and the bit of road in front. No moaning
to the guvmint or council.

- all the cars on narrow crossplys worked.More or less.

- there was no law against snow chains, and some people had them.

There's no law now either that I'm aware of (Halford's sell them). The law
simply states that you shouldn't be damaging the road surface which is fine
as snow chains are easily removed.

But you're right in that no one has them...


- every shop cleared the pavements in front of it.

- lots of coal ash got laid as well.


In fact things worked BETTER because people did NOT expect the
government to be in control of the weather, and accepted that if YOUR
car was stuck, it was YOUR job to pull it out, with the help of a
neighbour or two, who had chains, or a tractor.

the railways HAD snow ploughs, and used them. electrics were pretty
badly ****ed for a few days - we were on a third rail system, and they
took a couple of days to get going. Steam and diesel were OK, though a
lot of lorries waxed up and needed attention.

But people just accepted that the whole country needed to get off its
arse and get itself moving, so we did.

Today, they just sit at the end of 100 meters of snow covered road and
complain they cant get to Tescos.

I agree with all that.

Get shovelling you lazy *******s!

--
Tim Watts

You know you need more insulation when the snow blanket on the roof makes
the house 3 degrees warmer...