Oh for goodness sake !!!!!

[Deleted]

It's Winter and.....shock, horror....the temperature has dipped below freezing and we've all had some snow. Anyone would think world war 3 had broken out, the amount of time the news channels are devoting to it.

I know we've had some milder Winters in recent years but this is just the kind of weather I remember we had most years when I was young. We just seemed to accept it and get on with it.

Take a look around Northern Europe and North America - it's a damn sight colder and they have a lot more snow than we're having. I just think we've gone bloody soft. We never had school closed when I was a kid. We just walked to school and anyone lucky enough to live more than a few miles away got the day off.

And "panic buying" of bread and milk.........?

Why is it such a big bloody deal when we have a bit of "Winter weather" in the middle of bloody Winter ?

FA x

Ps - Sorry, I needed to get that off me chest ;D

[Plocket]

I think it's a good rant though FA - it's bloody (am I allowed to say that?) crazy that the entire country collapses in a heap whenever we get some snow. Scotland get snow every year, and worse than the rest of the country, but they seem to carry on going.

BTW did you know that sales of cat litter go up in snowy weather? Apparently it's excellent for gritting roads ;D

[Tig]

OH and I had a similar conversation watching the news tonight!

The kids of today who are off school at the first sign of snow will have a poor work attendance record in later life if they expect the same. I lived in Lancashire as a child and every winter was a snowy one - I don't remember the school closed once!

My Dad had snow chains for the car which came out every year, we just carried on doing what had to be done.

x Tig

[Dr Bill]

Well said FA

I was 30 years in general practice and never once failed to get to surgery or do a visit because of bad weather - and far worse than what we have now. It took me all day sometimes but I did it!

[Jasmine]

It wasn't so long ago though that we weren't completely driven by health and safety policies and risk assessments.
In my first year of teaching a child fell off a piece of apparatus and broke his arm. His parents came and scooped him up and took him to A&E. I dread to think what would happen now. Years ago we took children on trips without filling in pages and pages of risk assessment, now some schools won't even take children out. If you have a car accident one party is bound to be pursued for injury claims. After my accident I spoke to a policeman who was quite rude to be frank but he was weary of bogus whiplash claims.
Life has changed - folk work miles from home, kids don't always go to their local school, our emergency services are stretched to their absolute limit.

[Ruthie]

It is a sign of the times though isn't it. Schools today have central heating which tends to break down in cold weather for some reason! We had a big fire in each classroom when I was at primary. That would never be allowed now of course. Also if the approach/playground is slippery they close the school in case a child falls over and breaks something and their parents sue! If our playground wasn't slippery the boys used to make it so by creating slides!
I have had times, last one in 1987 I believe, where I simply could not get to work....even the Civil service would not expect you to walk 8 miles! But when I lived within 4 miles of an office I had to walk there, if I couldn't get to my own office, and offer my services. Franking envelopes was real fun
I have to say I'd rather stay in when it's like this but there are things we have to do and these days they all involve driving!

[Jasmine]

It is a sign of the times Ruthie.
They used to say that if you couldn't get to your own school to work you had to go to the closest one and offer your services - I don't know how true this was but can you imagine any old bod turning up at a school now and saying, 'I've come to help' without half a hundred weight of CRB checks under their arm.

[Plocket]

I have to say that I'm quite pleased with LP's school. Because it's the local primary, within a small-ish community, most of the teachers live locally and some walk to school. The children weren't allowed to play out on Monday because it was too icy, but those who had wellies today were allowed to play on the field in the snow, and some were even out during morning lessons. I felt reassured that things could still run "normally"

[Spruance]

Yes I think the nanny state culture and the no win, no fee brigade have a lot to answer for.

Ok the school milk froze in the bottles but the school didn't close down at all. Not only that but on more than one occasion the heating system broke down at both my primary school and later at the grammar school - in winter - and we just had to wear our coats in class and get on with it.

I started school aged four and three quarters in September 1963 but always walked to and from school simply because that was the only way of getting there as my Dad didn't have a car at the time. Indeed most kids walked to school in those days.

Fast forwarding to January 1987, Boston was virtually cut off by snow drifts for three days and it was strange to be walking down the dual carriageway to get into work this being the only clear surface and of course utterly devoid of traffic.

Of course what doesn't help matters is due to the fear of being sued if anyone goes A over E, no-one bothers to clear the footpaths outside their homes any more. I did clear the outer drive in Christmas week but that was only because the car was in danger of sliding into the garden wall. If the counciil could indemnify residents against litigation it might persuade people back to the old self help ways.

Tha don't know tha born today!

[Auricula]

When I ran my school, we were told by the County Council to close for fear of them being sued if anyone had an accident on the ice. I blame the "Compensation culture" we seem to have inherited from our lords and masters across the Atlantic

[JennyWrenn]

Goodness all these comments are so right

I remember when at primary school there was a MASSIVE slide made in the playground

Only the brave went down it - if you fell and hurt yourself then your own fault

The School NEVER closed and the winters were harder than this

I can just hear my Mum now saying "Come on Girl, get up, get out and walk to work - its only a bit of snow and it wont kill you"

I thought Plocket that the sales of cat litter had gone up cos people were keeping their cats indoors -

[Ladygardener]

Well did you hear on the news this morning about the Amazonian warrior woman who lives in County Durham and walked almost 15 miles yesterday to get into her work. She was up at the crack of dawn and it took her over 4 hours to get there.

[JennyWrenn]

Thought you was talking about me then Lady

Well done her - dont think could be that brave though

15 miles <shriek>

[Jasmine]

What a brave lady LG.
Some posties in Kent have just been on the news and they said that although they have got to work they are not allowed out to do their deliveries because of Health and Safety regulations.

[JennyWrenn]

If the Conservative Party want to win the next election they will get votes by banning most of the Health and Safety rules. We are all fed up with some of the most stupid ones

No one is really interested in anyone getting hurt; just worried they wont be sued

[JennyWrenn]

Just seen on the News clips from the Winter of 1963 - people queuing for coal and water -

I dont remember anything about THAT year myself other than going to school and having our milk put on the radiators - the smell was awful I do remember that part

[Dr Bill]

Jan 7, 2010 9:02:44 GMT JennyWrenn said:

Just seen on the News clips from the Winter of 1963 - people queuing for coal and water -

I dont remember anything about THAT year myself other than going to school and having our milk put on the radiators - the smell was awful I do remember that part

We all had stand-pipes in the middle of the street to get water from! The snow must have been several feet deep that winter.

There was also a bad one in the late 70's when we had snow on the ground until May!

[farmersboy]

Jan 7, 2010 9:02:44 GMT JennyWrenn said:

Just seen on the News clips from the Winter of 1963 - people queuing for coal and water -

I dont remember anything about THAT year myself other than going to school and having our milk put on the radiators - the smell was awful I do remember that part

I remember 63,picking Brussel sprouts,in a 20 acre field,with just the tips of the stalks showing above the snow,we had to clear the snow away to find the sprouts,and the pidgeons were so hungry,it was a job to scare them off the sprouts,they would be eating on the next stalk,to where we were picking

[Auricula]

I lived and went to school in London in 1963 and it was even bad there, when we never usually saw snow.
Mind you, the snow wasn't as bad as the London Smogs of the 1950s 1960s - remember going to Infants school with handkerchiefs stuffed inside a scarf wound around your nose and mouth...ugh!!

[Tig]

We had moved to Devon by 1963 and I remember it because I had insisted we packed my sledge when we moved down from Lancashire. My Mum & Dad relented but thought it was a waste of time. I was the only child in Newton Abbot with a proper sledge with iron runners and steering - it was wonderful! The drifts were above my head when I helped my Dad get his car out. School was closed because it was such an odd occurance in Devon to have sooooo much snow and the buses couldn't get up the steep hills.

x Tig

[Auricula]

A sledge?!!!! We had to make do with offcuts of lino ( couldn't even afford trays!!) ;D ;D

[Tig]

My Dad made it for me Auricula - it had wooden slats and could seat three children! It was our mode of transport in the bad winter weather

[Auricula]

My Dad wasn't handy Cutting the squares of lino was about his limit Bless him ;D

[Spruance]

I had a Dad-made wooden sledge but in the winter of 1964/65 which was also a bad one as I recall. i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/GWDAdmin1/Smilies/Default/wink.gif

[Plocket]

My dad made us a fabulous sledge when we were little, using instructions from Blue Peter

[Deleted]

We had a proper sledge too, hand built by my dad, with metal runners that used to ice up and it was the fastest sledge in the village.

I've just seen an item on the news about school closures. Someone from the head teachers association was defending the number of schools closing by saying "if there's snow and we don't close the school and then someone gets hurt in an accident, who do you think the parents are going to sue ?". I think that says it all.

FA x

[Tig]

It's all your fault then FA ;D

I saw that report, and the one where the chap was saying that if employers insist their workers turn up for duty after there is a 'road' report that says 'essential journeys only' and they have an accident on the way in they too can sue.

Perhaps if the country grinds to a halt and we have no energy, no food, no emergency services and no communication infrastructure we can sue Health & Safety Exec for the loss of privileges? ;D

Worlds gone mad!

x Tig

[Deleted]

The stupid thing is, some of this daft health & safety rubbish is actually making it worse not better. We're not allowed to spread grit on our car park at work because by doing so, we are "accepting responsibility for the safety of car park users" so if a member of the public falls over, they can sue us. However, if we don't grit it, they can't apparently. So we don't grit it and consequently it's more bloody dangerous as a result.



FA x

[Ruthie]

I saw that report too and commented on it to OH. Why can't parents sue a school for not opening then? OK there are some who may sue if little Jimmy falls over but, surely (I hope to God) the majority of people would have more sense than that. I think the schools should open (unless there really are insufficient teachers who can make it in) and the Parents decide whether to send the children in...AT THEIR OWN RISK!!!!! I think most parents would do so.
Just a thought....if children now are mollycoddled so very much I can envisage THEIR children being kept off school if it's raining!!!

[JennyWrenn]

I was thinking about my Great Grandma today - she was French and had ELEVEN BOYS

All healthy handsome happy chaps

How did she cope? No washing machines; central heating; TV; telephones; Ambulances - I could go on

We are giving up and moaning and groaning at the first hurdle

i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/GWDAdmin1/Smilies/Default/huh.gif