SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Got a few days off before xmas, so myself and ms swiss went off to the westfields shopping centre in Shephards Bush yesterday morning. Dropped the little one off with her nan and off we went for a fun filled day of xmas shopping

Little did we know what we let ourselves in for. Did all the shopping and then I was starving so suggested we stop for some grub before heading off home. Ms swiss rubbished that idea and suggested we get all the shopping done and then just eat at home
Anyway grab a quick coffee before we leave and then exit the shopping centre car park to be confronted by what has obviously been a'bit of a snow storm' !!

That followed a mind numbing tedious and downright dangerous journey home, with nothing to eat or drink in the car for.................7 1/2 bloody hours !!
Everything on the M40 was gridlocked and eventually when we did get home in the small hours of the morning, we found out that our area had a power cut and so no hot water or heating or lights

Bugger

Sat there with a few candles wondering if it was all worth it

The only bonus was when we got in and I needed a vodka to cheer myself up, I had plenty of ice to hand

Luckily we went in the scoob, most other people were not so lucky.
Next year, all xmas shopping will be done by t'internet.

Bloody global warming

TelBoy

You were lucky to make it. Yesterday a friend of mine had to abandon his car on the M40 for the night upon Police instruction and walk home (about 7 miles).

We're crap at winter. Always have been, probably always will be.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Bugger. that sounds like a mammoth journey

We are just not that used to cold weather, and modern cars just get worse in the snow as each year passes. Larger and wider wheels with daft tyres that only work in the dry.

We have also forgotten the old fashion rules of being prepared. Warm clothes, drinks, food, shovel, fuel tank of fuel, torch etc all to be in the car during winter.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

The M40 was a car park so I dont doubt it. We even saw people walking back from our local Asda's with pillows to sleep in their cars

This country cant handle snow, rain or extreme heat but we are fab at a touch of mist and a dash of drizzle..not too much mind

CloudySky

Beggars belief when a few flakes of snow grind huge areas of this country to a halt. Canada, America and the likes all seem to cope and they get greater snowfalls in shorter periods of time than we do.

The Dogs B******s

You Southeners

RA Dunk

Moral of the story, Always eat out and always eat as much as you can

dpb

Still, i guess you went to bed early

jjones

Adrian F

May be it is that the Americans wouldnt put up with the roads being blocked by 2" of snow?

The local councils just seem to have invested the money into PR people to appear on tv to explain why they had done everything possable and therefore we should just accept that 2" of snow would bring whole roads to a grinding holt for hours.

All this rubbish on BBC london tonight from the north london councils PR departments about it not being possible to grit most of let alone all the pavements in a london borough with in 4 days of snow, (why the interviewers let the PR people trot out excuses with out challenging them?) when last year Kensington and Chelsea had done all pavements with in 48 hours because they organise the contracts correctly and failure isnt looked upon as acceptable.

If the train drivers go on strike the BBC quotes how many billions companies lose because of disuption to transport but no figures to the cost of the last 4 days disruption to roads caused by the local autthorities lack of desire to deal with the ice and snow because we are all just expected to swallow the cost and not complain.

I wonder if you could get a group action and sue the council for failure to keep the road open?

The problem is they would just put up next years council tax to pay the claim out

And what about all the people who have lost wages because they couldnt get into work because the roads were covered in ice and grid locked?

Leslie

Not the best of days out then.

I read today that they are having trouble delivering orders off t'internet as well!

Les

Steve vRS

The reason we are crap at snow is that over the past x number of years, the amount of disruption has not warranted the level of investment needed to treat the roads in the same way as say Canada or Finland.

However, the fact that the last two years have witnessed this sort of "travel chaos" leads me to think that these cost benefit studies need to be revised. If they were somehow titled "Climate change Mitigation Measures", suddenly all the funding needed would become available!

Steve

Leslie

In the earlier times when we used to get snow like this every winter, the country used to keep going much better. The roads seemed to get cleared more effectively and people used to manage to drive those older cars pretty well. They had skinny tyres of course which helped in the snow, and people were more capable of coping with slippery conditions. They knew how to drive to avoid lurid slides and knew how to cope with one if it did happen.

As Steve says above, the sort of investment needed to cope has reduced considerably and there is also a suspicion that councils are saving cash as far as sorting the roads is concerned.

With all this Global Warming we may well have to get used to this all over again!

Les

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Just come back from a 3 hour food shopping trip at Sainbury's
I went with our little one and struggled through all the other desperate people fighting for the last parsnip

(and when the hell did brussel sprouts come on a tree )

Then sat in a queue for ages only to have my wallet lightened by over £200 , fight my way back through the icy roads to collect the turkey and be lifted of more money and finally get all the shopping back in the house.

And Ms Swiss..where was she during all this you may ask ??

Only blooming swanning around at the beauticians been waxed and nails done

I shall now sit down and be a right grumpy git for the rest of xmas

Lee247

We did the food shop yesterday. It was bloody awful. 9:30am and the supermarket was packed with folks standing in the aisles gassing

Had to use D's Audi as the ABS light has come on in my Scoob and the rotten thing wouldn't stop (was fun though)

Audi was all over the place. I was full of hell by the time we got back. That's it, indoors now to just drink and eat

hodgy0_2

and on the bright side she got waxed and had her nails done

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Well I better get to see the results later