Branduff, Sophie, and My Soap Box Message

On Monday and Tuesday, the snow and ice were so bad in our Surrey area that it was too dangerous for children to go to school. Lucky for them, they had two snow days and stayed home to sledge, build snowmen, throw snowballs, and generally goof-off.

While Branduff was thrilled to have some time off school, he seemed less enthusiastic about playing in the snow. You would think that he would find it all a novelty and would be playing in the snow all day. Well, uhm, no . . . Sophie showed more excitement about the snow than Branduff.

He did manage to go out a few times. This little film clip taken on Tuesday shows him shaking snow from the trees. Dad told him that it helps to keep the branches from breaking. I think it was just an excuse for some fun.

Today, it's Wednesday, and the kids have gone back to school. Driving was still treacherous, and there were queues of cars along our road, gently maneuvering in the big round-about in front of our home.

Bran's morning school bus was cancelled, so Niall used his front-wheel drive car to take him to school, as well as go into his office. Yesterday, the snow and ice was so bad that he had to walk into work. The road up to Branduff's school in Ashtead was still frozen and not gritted, so Niall had to park the car in the village and walk Branduff up the road. Many of the kids will just not make it to school.

I shop for groceries online and have them delivered to my home each week; however, I received a call from Tesco this morning to say they weren't sending their trucks out today because the conditions were still too unpredictable. There are a lot more cars out today since more people are going to work and school.

I haven't received mail in two days. Our postmen are on bikes, and the conditions are seriously dangerous for bike riding. The pavement/sidewalks are like icy glass in most places.

The rubbish collection is cancelled for today, too, so my green bin will be overflowing by the time the guys come in a FORTNIGHT!@ I understand why they can't come today, but you would think they would make an effort to collect the stuff before two weeks.

There's been lots of talk in the media about whether the country could have handled this snow event better. There are two schools of thought: one says that we're a modern country, and we should be able to cope. The other side says this is a freak act of nature that only comes every 15 years or so, and we can't be expected to have the snow plows, supplies and other infrastructure to cope with rare natural events. Personally, we don't want to have to pay MORE taxes to ensure that such things are available for the next freak storm.

Having been through some bad episodes of flash flooding and hurricanes while living in Texas, I know that 'stuff happens.' Sometimes you just have to sit things out and wait for them to return to normal.

However, the government and media could have done a lot better about communication. In Texas, during bad weather events, the media are on 24/7 with news and weather updates, school closures, traffic notices, and other advisories. If you're lucky enough to keep your power in such instances, you can watch developments on television; if not, you listen to the radio. Here, the television stations carried on with regular programming. The news reports were more interested in placing blame for the uncontrollable events of the day instead of providing useful information to viewers.

On the first day of the snow-in, I was amazed that some people were desperate to go into work, no matter what. At one point, there was a 50-mile jam on the M25 motorway. Some official should have been on the news Sunday saying in very specific terms that only essential emergency personnel (such as nurses, doctors, police, firemen, planners, and others critical to the running of the city) go into work or school.

Communication is key.

And for the parents who were angry that schools were closed for two days, I say, "take a chill pill, dears." I find it incredible that some parents felt that allowing our kids to be off school for two days was teaching them to make excuses and be lazy. Oh, give me a break! Perhaps this event was reminding our children that we can't control everything and that things don't always go to plan, and that life is tough and difficult some time, and we have to all pitch in together.