Snow madness!


I have posted this to throw my two cents into the snow storm that was whipped up this morning after the chaos that has left commuters stranded this evening and struggling to get to work if at all today.

Firstly the chaos actually started last night and I was caught up in it. I went to the Liverpool v Chelsea game at Anfield. That should have been enough misery for one night but oh no! Last night was going for last tube around midnight to Wimbledon from Fulham after getting back on the coach!. Gates closed, I was turned away tubes finished cos of weather so go to bus stop, first one that stops driver gets out-no buses we are going straight for depot no pickups.

Absolutely stark raving annoying, a bit of snow and the country goes to pot, Boris Johnson now blaming the quantities-erm, well, gritting may have ended up being overwhelmed but it might have helped it from starting to settle thereby mitigating some of the worst of it. I saw no evidence of gritting already done or in progress.

Taxis wouldn't go anywhere really outside London, I live outside London. Besides, did not have the money for a taxi and by extension a room for the night. In addition, correctly as it turned out, I surmised holing up for the night still would not solve anything as nothing would move today and so I would still be stuck in London. Only one thing to do WALK! In the snow flurries. I walked along part of the A3 in places and I did not see any gritters till six this morning, so much for doing all they can, ice and snow already taken hold by then.

Eventually I get a train at Surbiton quarter to ten 14 miles away from where I started and get to a station 5 miles from home. That means I walked a total of 19 miles in the snow, much of it overnight in the coldest and most heavy flurries. So, while I sympathise with commuters, they really only caught the middle of it :-) Even on the last four miles one council has gritted but the other one failed to (my walk crosses two boroughs), the road up the hill to Brooklands College was like an ice rink and hardly any grit, some guys had stopped and were helping to marshal traffic and put down sand. Who these guys were god knows, two had Hi-Vis jackets but the other three looked like civvies so no idea if council approved or some good Samaritans doing what the council should have.

Also throughout my walk home saw lots of people in cars skidding under the slowest of speeds. It was a case of being safer walking. Also the usual mix of ace drivers-going slow with hazards on and idiots going too fast, beeping those going cautiously, one woman attempting to overtake a slow lorry up the aforementioned ice rink, I mean, what was she thinking the lorry was going slow for? Not to mention the bottle neck at the top of the hill where two or three cars had slid into each other which meant traffic could only go through on one side. She semi skidded and she went to pull out, saw the carnage further up the road and suddenly saw sense and pulled in. Behind her another car stuck in the traffic was honking his horn, wtf? Why?!!! Where the hell does he think people are going to go?

I was glad to get home and go to sleep.