The Artic Blast

The big freeze continues not just in London but for the first time in living memory, completely covers the United Kingdom

Some parts of the country hit an overnight low of minus 21.2 degrees Celcius, making it just half a degree warmer than the temperature yesterday in the South Pole. But it’s not simply the cold snap that is causing the problems but the duration of it. While in London the snow melted some time just after Christmas in the North and in particular, my friends in Leeds, the snow has never left. The fresh foot of snow they had on Wednesday left their entire housing development cut off from the world.

For some odd reason this land that once had an empire so vast that the sun never set in one of its outposts, a land that conquered so many, can’t seem to cope whenever the weather deviates from anything other than normal. The sunshine’s, the leaves drop, the rain falls, you name it, any excuse the trains stop running. What kind of an excuse is “the wrong sort of leaves on the line”? Did we not have leaves prior to the train companies privatisation? Personally I struggled to get home from the city last night. Our fair capital and daytime home to some 20 Million people was virtually cut off from the home counties as the trains decided they were stopping service at 755PM. At 635PM I faced a train so crowded at Waterloo that a good number of people could not even board it. The next service was indicated as being in 30 minutes time. Usually these trains run every 2 to 3 minutes.

Meanwhile while the majority of the main A Roads have been kept clear of ice by the councils constantly gritting the roads, the side roads and pavements that many of us have to chance our lives on in order to attempt to get to or from work, remain completely covered in what is now compacted ice & snow meaning that even with the firmest of walking boots you slide and slip like an episode of Dancing on ice.
It wouldn’t seem so bad if we hadn’t had a warning just last February when snowfall closed virtually the whole of London for a day. We were warned we need more road clearing equipment. But naturally the local councils didn’t listen. Apparently they would usually borrow gritting equipment from a neighbouring council whenever a cold snap hit. Unfortunately, with the entire country covered in a blanket of snow there was no equipment to spare. We hear on the news of grit supplies running out and the only two places it comes from in the UK being virtually cut off by the conditions.

My boss has been cut off with his local train service not running since Tuesday. They say the cost of missed work is costing the country in excess of 600 Million pounds a day. Meanwhile the Met Office are saying the icy conditions look set to continue for the forthcoming 10 days. With people cut off and supplies diminishing the Salt Gate Saga continues at supermarkets up and down the land. Bread, Milk, Eggs and Salt completely out of stock and shelves empty looking like a scene from Zimbabwe during its worst of times a few years ago. Quite simply the farmers are so snowed in they can’t get their supplies to the lorries to in turn deliver to the nations shops. People at work may have made fun of my supply of canned foods in the larder, but at the end of the day my canned goods stay good no matter the condition of the roads, but as I open my last 4 pints of milk for my morning coffee I had to but wonder, will I be drinking white coffee come Monday? Meanwhile, we battle down the hatches, add extra layers, nudge up the thermostat to keep warm and most of all relish in the fact the weather is so unusual it gives the whole land an excuse to enjoy its favourite obsession, no not Celebrity Big Brother but its obsession with talking about the weather.