The Breitling Watch Source Forums

This country amazes me. Sure, in the north of the UK there's been some horrendous weather so the chaos up there is a bit more understandable, but where I live we've had about 6 inches of snow....... and yet everything is at a total stand still. Zero gritting has gone on by the council, so even if I bothered to clear the drive I wouldn't be able to go anywhere as the roads are pathetically unprepared. It just astonishes me how the UK can't cope with anything even vaguely out of the norm. For example Gatwick airport has been closed for 2 days. How the hell do countries like Norway or you guys in Canada cope? Does no-one fly for the entire duration of the winter?? Of course not : it's just this pathetic country that can't cope. And it's not like we NEVER have snow here or anything! If this was California and we suddenly had some snow, then I could understand not being prepared. But no, it's not even 12 months since we last ground to a halt because of some snow, and have the authorities learnt anything in the interim? Of course not. They appear to have spent the last 12 months with their feet up, drinking tea and scratching their heads, and despite have at least 48 hours notice of the impending snowfall, they actually managed to mobilise jack sh*t!!!!

Fortunately I had a day's holiday to take today, but when the snow's still here tomorrow and I STILL can't drive anywhere, I will have a 3 mile walk to the nearest bus stop and then a god knows how long journey to work. What FANTASTIC country to live in!

I was speaking to a mate of mine this morning on the phone (he works at a school, and considering they all seem to shut if someone even leaves the fridge door open too long, it's OBVIOUSLY shut today ), and he said that if anyone wanted to invade the UK, they wouldn't have to worry about dropping bombs here - all they'd need to do is rig up a few snow-making machines and the whole place would be paralysed in a matter of hours. What a dump this place is.

(Rant over)

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

Tell us how you REALLY feel

No snow here yet

As an English expat I have seen both sides of it, and it really does just come down to preparation. I live in a very small community with a very small tax base but we still have our own township plow / salter combinations and plans to prioritise the roads and get them open. Worst case for me is that I have to drive for about 1km on unplowed roads until I reach one that has been cleared, and even then unplowed only means unplowed since the night before. If I didn't leave home until 6am then my Concession would have been cleared as well.

We also have a bunch of farmers with pickup trucks who need to get to their animals so have plows on the front and help clear the roads on a township retainer. Of course a lot of people also have snow blowers so shovelling is a lot easier.

In the UK there just isn't the frequency of snow to justify a heavy investment in plows and salting will only work up to a certain snow depth.

The other issue that I have noticed is people's comfort with driving - we still get the people who drive at 20km/h in the middle of the road and the ones who drive 120km/h passing everything, but generally people know how to drive in the bad weather and have their cars equipped to deal with it - snow tires are becoming the norm. In the UK there are more rear wheel drive cars on the road in the winter and less familiarity with driving in the conditions.

I feel for you Driver8, we're getting to that time of year where it stays below freezing for 3 months so the snow is on its way.

Oh I completely agree Roff that because there isn't the frequency of snow in the UK there's little justification for a heavy investment in plows etc, BUT a few days of snow each year IS the norm for the UK so a little investment wouldn't be unreasonable, and yet here I am stuck at home wasting a day's holiday on the very first day of snow in this area. Apparently there's talk of a government enquiry into why the country has been caught with it's pants down yet again. I've used the word a lot, but it really is PATHETIC.

And just to add an example from the other end of the spectrum - an Aussie ex-girlfriend of mine used to ride motorbikes and she told me how the tarmac in the UK can't cope very well with hot weather. The tarmac here melts if it's too hot and is pretty dangerous for bikers as they tend to slip more. OBVIOUSLY that doesn't happen in Australia. So....... the UK infrastructure can't cope with snow in winter, it can't cope with heat in summer, it can't cope with rain in spring if the now annual flooding is anything to go by. Hell, the other year the railway network ground to a halt one autumn because there were (and I quote) "the wrong type of leaves on the line". Honestly, that was an official reason. The leaves shed by trees overhanging the tracks meant the wheels couldn't grip.

If it wasn't so pathetic, it'd be funny. So there we are - it's official, the UK can't cope with anything. We just can't cope. Full stop.

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

A while back we had to close the airport "due to heat!" Whe it hit 120, they had to go back to the plane manufacturers to get inro on wind direction, take off speed, flaps settings, etc...

_________________
SHARKMAN

Hilarious....the invading UK comment is classic. I don't know much about the UK but I must say that Prince William's fiance is HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As much as I would love to experience living somewhere else, the North East Cooridor in the US is a great place to live. We get the full effect of all 4 seasons, warm summers, cold winters, and an absolutely gorgeous spring & fall..not to mention some of the greatest cities just a few hours away, Philly, NYC, Boston, Baltimore, Washington DC.



OT...but North-Eastern California gets quite a bit of snow. Some of the US Olympians actually go there to do their Olympic training. You probably meant Southern Cali...and yes they probably don't know what a snow plow is...but the Govenator can take care of anything.

_________________
"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Absolutely wetting myself at that, so bloody true. I wish I was a teacher at this time of year.......well anytime of the year I suppose.

Such a valid point tho Driver, living here you learn to cope and seeing the news from the South of England on the TV the other day I was actually swearing at the TV The reporter was going on about 'the big freeze' and the chaos it was causing where she was........literally 2" of snow on the road behind her...pathetic!

Cheers

_________________

Currently:
Avenger Skyland(Black)
Super Avenger(White)

Moved on:
Montbrillant Legende(Silver)
Panerai 312
SOHC 125th Ann. LE(Silver)
Navitimer World(Pearl)
Panerai 441

Same story in Ireland, the country is at a standstill with everyone screaming with hands to their mouths about this scary white stuff.

I don't have a car right now so I usually do my weekly groceries with my mother, who's snowed in on the other side of the city. Got hungry yesterday so I decided to walk the half mile or so to the nearest shopping center-- passed people out on the roads with --I kid you not-- actual ski poles to walk with. Was downstairs in the carpark this morning putting out the recycling and noticed only one or two cars were gone, most everyone else had stayed home.

I really think a lot of people's fear is due to the media. They're constantly screeching about The Big Freeze, and how You Shouldn't Venture Out Unless It's Completely Unavoidable, and it's bringing the country to a standstill. Last year I was in London for the bad weather, and it was exactly the same (our hotel, inexplicably, only had a few English stations and Sky News was one of them. I heard more about snow in that week than I wanted to in a lifetime).

They should be telling people to get on with it carefully and sensibly instead of shaking their heads and wringing their hands, and give people sensible advice on how to drive in the bad weather, etc.

A meteorologist on the news this morning (who may or may not have been talking out of his hat, I don't know-- whatever they say will happen next, thaw or more snowfall, seems to invariably be wrong) said that due to changes in the solar cycle, we are due for bad winters for the next couple of years-- I know we're in a recession and financially strapped, but if there's any truth to that, surely some investment into a strategy and equipment to deal with snow would be a good idea? How on earth did we get caught on the hop on this one AGAIN after they swore last year's terrible Salt Shortage was a mistake that would never be repeated?

...In short, I feel and share your irritation, Driver8.

Sometimes it seems like authorities in the UK are genuinely surprised when winter arrives. (Not that the authorities here are a paragon of organisation and co-ordination, mind you.)

I was there on business 3 weeks ago and I think I timed it well, the weather was very mild.

What the hell is snow?

_________________
-RJ

Just back from a 45 minute hike out in the snow-- stayed off the road and went through fields, carparks, etc. For all my bitching, I had a really good time, got some fun exercise, and I have to say, had my spirits greatly uplifted after a really crappy night (realised I'm going to be basically snowbound alone for my birthday on Monday, since my area of the city is the least affected and we still have about a foot of snow in some places and I can't ask people to come out in that). It may be a mess and the government/media/people's responses to it might irritate me, but there's no denying how beautiful this is--

i live in the northeast and we have had the snow for about a week, its quite thick but you can still get about. The problems are the media hypes up everything and then people use it as an excuse that they cant get to work, the place my wife works at about half the people turned up on monday and when the management called and told the people that did not come in that it will come off their leave amazingly everyone was there in about 20 mins. The other problems I find are the lack of peoples driving ability which causes so many problems.

The country should be more prepared but I dont think the off bad week or two a year justifies much investment but then they recon its costing the economy 1.2billion a day so surley some investment would be a net gain

_________________
Brietling SO SF - Blue Dial

Having lived in Quebec for 10 years I take snow ploughing for granted . Huge taxes, yes. However, as soon as a single snow flake falls they are out "en force" cleaning the streets. But yeah, Canada is good for snow removal, hands down.

What you guys in the UK need is the excellent Range Rover will get you to work and back in oozing luxury in any weather

_________________
Alex
Breitling - Navitimer
Breitling - SuperOcean
Breitling - Chrono SuperOcean

Damn, I didn't realize the UK got pounded like that with snow. I piss and moan over 1 or 2 inches , maybe I should just feel grateful to get only 1' to 2'. My car is rear wheel drive ,and flat out sucks in the snow!!

_________________
One Watch At A Time.

Ya very true but try it over it here..... The whole thing is a total mess and will be for the next few years....

At less the snow will be gone in a few days but our mess will take years to sort out....

_________________
Breanach78

A Few Breitlings.