It's snow joke?

[cee-dee]

How is it that when a bit of snow falls it cases massive disruption? I've seen reports of schools closing, buses not running and firms being shut for the day all because staff can't get to work.

I remember walking to school in the tracks of the milk lorry through snow a foot deep. School was a mile away in the next village and for those who don't know what the "milk lorry" was, it was when farms put their milk in to churns. A churn was a tall, steel cylindrical container with two handles at the neck with a lid and contained around ten gallons of milk. Either outside the farm or at the end of the farm lane (to save the lorry going down the lane) was a milk stand where the farmers placed the churns ready for the (flat bed) milk lorry to pick them up. The lorry used to be picking up early in the morning. I also remember the mail van speeding along on the snowy road with tye snow chains clattering. Do the mail still use them? Never seen any here.

Village schools used to have a school-house next to it when the teacher lived. Our teacher was Miss Winall and she used to have a Black Morris Minor, she was a fearsome lady! There was never a day when the school was closed. Also, I remember getting a prize for not missing a school day all term.

I've said many, many times on here that before Christmas, you only have to whisper frost and the gritters are around two or three times a day but when we have snow in the New Year, they're hardly ever seen except going back and to plastering the main roads with sand and salt.

I live two miles outside the town city on a hill and the difference between here and the town city is amazing even without any gritting. Left alone, the roads lower down could clear quite quickly whereas here there's lumpy slush which will now be freezing so that's gonna be great fun?

[litp*records]

Because in the UK people use any excuse not to work, or if they are working then any excuse to not do their job properly. No-one likes to take responsibility, either. Always someone else's fault.  This attitude seems to come from the very top - and trickles down (dare I say it)

[bidicus*maximus]

It's not just the UK.  The same goes for the US these days.  When I was a boy, if there was several inches of snow on the ground in the morning,  they closed the schools.  Now, if snow is predicted for the next day the schools are closed... even if it snows very little or doesn't actually snow at all.  They also close the schools if it is, "too cold", because they don't want the children to freeze while waiting for the bus.  When I was a boy, we wore hats, coats, gloves, scarves and boots if it was, "too  cold", and they certainly didn't close the schools for this reason.  

[margaret*e]

BM beat me to it, I was going to say the school never shut when it snowed and we were never sent home, if the heating was off and it was freezing we had to sit in class with our coats on.😡

[cee-dee]

The heating at our school was a coke-fired boiler which heated the water for large pipes that ran round the classroom which was very high to the ceiling/roof. The boiler was down some steps in the boy's cloakroom. The coke was kept in a large brick enclosure with no roof and that was in the "boy's" part of the playground round the back of the school. The "front" playground was mixed (boys & girls), the girl's area was the other end of the building.

[1956glyn]

When i went to school they never shut due to adverse weather conditions.

Our classroom had a huge open real fire and i remember the teacher putting our bottles of milk on the shelves above it to defrost the milk lol

Also i remember my father actually digging himself out of the house and all the few feet of snow away from the front door so he could go to work.  Mounds of snow were piled up both sides of pavements.....often taller than me......as i walked about 2 miles to school.

Also from memory ......years ago were the roads actually gritted like nowadays?    I do not think so.

[1956glyn]

My previous post relates to my primary school.........after that everything was very modern although in historic buildings.

Oh the good old days..........the days of Nitty Nora and an actual truancy officer 😂

[cee-dee]

I think you're right, the roads out in the country were not gritted. I remember them being covered in compacted snow, we used to slide on it. I don't remember any vehicles "no getting through", if there were drifts, they did use a snowplough. Also, people drove vehicles to suit the conditions, ie, they didn't drive like lunatics! All cars then were rear-wheel drive (until the Mini arrived), ie, no 4-wheel drive or traction control. I mentioned the mail van using snow chains and others who needed vehicles for business used them too. Are they still available?

The school I mentioned was my primary school too, when I went to Grammar school there were radiators but again it was a coke-fired boiler and that was situated down some steps accessed from the rear of the school. Again, I don't remember anyone not turning up in snowy weather, even the "bus boys" who were bussed in from the outlying areas.

It seems to me that closing all the old village schools is a daft idea as kids then have to travel miles to school increasing the traffic on the school run or requiring buses and also lengthening the school day!

[cee-dee]

Over the last  couple of days we've had a slow, cold thaw, the snow's gone off the roads and what do we find? = The roads are plastered with sand/salt. Where were they when the roads were covered in snow, ice and slush? A few minutes ago at ten to four the gritter went past here going like a lunatic spraying grit all over the place. Like I've said many times, whisper frost and they're here, when there's snow, they're missing! Why?

[1956glyn]

I think its a Duvet Day today.   Very frosty and icy road that has not been gritted........although it usually is.    From the looks of it ice skates may be applicable footwear !😁

I am not sure but i think the grit is effective against frost and ice but not a few inches of snow?

[cee-dee]

There was a very hard frost here last night. The gritted road is clear but the footpaths are still covered in snow. I'm off for a walk round but I'll have my spiked shoes on!

Sand/salt does work on snow but depending on the amount of snow, it's slow going but better than none at all. If the gritter comes round when there's snow, they have a blade on the front to shove most of the snow to the side. The salt then stops the remaining bit freezing.

[*knight-rider*]

i was watching a short video a few weeks back, about how people live and cope with living in the coldest place on earth. i can`t remember where it was, probably Russia/Siberia, but it focused alot on this one family, in particular the young son who has to walk to school everyday in the cold temperatures. At it`s coldest, it was minus 70 degrees and the kids don`t have to go to school if the temperature is lower than -40. i couldn`t help thinking at the time that we must be a laughing stock sometimes, when we close schools at -5 or there`s 2cm of snow on the ground and traffic comes to a halt, but then you watch news clips of Americans getting 3ft of the stuff and car`s are still running up and down the highways!

i just think we`ve become very soft as human beings and i`m no different, i use an electric blanket on my bed and if the temperature falls below 70 degrees, my heating goes on 😋

[iew-signed-books]

Having worked in Switzerland many moons ago, they laugh at us. The UK really is beyond help - if a Swiss train driver was just a few seconds late getting to his station (regardless of the weather), he'd be fined.

[1956glyn]

I agree and our Americans friends do indeed laugh at us relating to snow and the cold.    I guess they have to be a lot tougher in Minnesota 😂.      In the summer the mozzies try and eat you and in winter one can freeze to death.  

[silber6406]

I've read stories in the comments about how you went to schools where it was cold, and it's hard for me to imagine. I realized that we have much better conditions for learning. Especially now, when everything can happen online. I'm already so used to studying that I can't imagine what it's like to go to school in a blizzard and sit in classes in clothes. In such situations, the courses are transferred to the distance form. So I can listen to a lecture online and quickly complete my tasks. If I have difficulties with this, I use the site https://assignmentbro.com/us/do-my-assignments  and do not need an additional explanation from the teacher. Everything is so simple that no weather conditions, no snow, and frost can affect my educational process. I continue to do my assignments calmly and not worry about possible problems.

[jesve-6467]

Agree with you that modern technologies and online learning make  studying at school or college convenient and easier.