Watching the news last night and it struck me how pathetic we have become in this country! I mean ‘pathetic’ in the sense that we can’t look after ourselves and go all mardy (look that one up) when the going is less than easy.
Admittedly London had a fair bit of snow but was it really enough for the entire transport system to freeze up? Someone somewhere isn’t doing their job properly if this can happen – especially when a few hundred miles to the east Scandinavia manages splendidly every year in much worse conditions.
No, the bit that caught my attention was the fact that the entire system shut down in places where there had been no snowfall at all. Schools were particularly ready to shut up shop for no sensible reason and there have been complaints from parents and businesses – parents were forced to stay home to look after kids, and businesses lost their workforce as a result, all at a time when they can ill-afford to lose revenue. It is estimated that up to 3,000 business already close to bankruptcy could be sent over the edge as a result of closures due to snow.
Even on the BBC News last night they had their roving reporter standing in a big empty car park telling us how health centres had shut and ‘this car park would normally be full’. There was easily less than 2 inches of level snow on that park…