Here comes the su - u-uuuuuu.... snow????
Monday, 2. February 2009, 23:38:26
And as the nation grinds to a standstill the populace queues up to stand in front of a TV camera and ask why bad weather always catches us out when other countries just deal with it.
You think they could have worked it out for themselves but hey, I'm willing to have a go.
Firstly, other countries don't just deal with it. If they know what's coming because it comes every year at around the same time they deal with it, otherwise they're as unprepared as us; and secondly, we're not prepared to pay for it. Perhaps no one else has spotted this, but we don't seem to like paying taxes, we actually pay less than the USA yet still all three of the major parties are talking about tax cuts. Obviously they sense tax cuts would be popular...
Me, I'd rather pay for necessities via tax because it's far more cost effective, but I've done this rant all ready so I won't duplicate it.
This time....
Meanwhile I find my self wondering. What exactly do these people mean by 'Do something'? What precisely can you do about snow? The first thing you can do is salt the roads, but when? Put it down too soon and it'll be swept away before the snow falls, so the best time is just as the snow starts falling. That means having the people and equipment on standby from the very first moment that it's even remotely possible that the snow may start to fall. Someone needs to buy that equipment, even if it may never be used, and those ungrateful bounders the workforce are going to want paying even if they are sitting around idle, as the working classes are wont to do. Anyone want to volunteer to pay for that?
So then there's the grit. There's no point putting that down until the snow has fallen so it's a whole lot more cost effective, but it becomes useless if more snow then falls on top of it, that requires another coating of grit. More investment, more overtime, more tax...
Anyone like to estimate the cost of clearing a county of snow via snowploughs?
When I were a lad back in Hazel Grove we used to get regular snowstorms far more ferocious then today's offerings (Good old climate change) so motorists had snow chains in their boots, most would also carry a large packet of salt and a spade, the really prepared would also have a length of carpet or matting, all of it very handy self-help; no one bothers with that stuff these days, and yet they expect some mysterious 'them' to be ready to at least clear all the roads which they themselves want to access of snow, instantly.
Personally I support the principle of a holiday whenever it snows. It doesn't do it that often.
Firstly, other countries don't just deal with it. If they know what's coming because it comes every year at around the same time they deal with it, otherwise they're as unprepared as us; and secondly, we're not prepared to pay for it. Perhaps no one else has spotted this, but we don't seem to like paying taxes, we actually pay less than the USA yet still all three of the major parties are talking about tax cuts. Obviously they sense tax cuts would be popular...
Me, I'd rather pay for necessities via tax because it's far more cost effective, but I've done this rant all ready so I won't duplicate it.
This time....
Meanwhile I find my self wondering. What exactly do these people mean by 'Do something'? What precisely can you do about snow? The first thing you can do is salt the roads, but when? Put it down too soon and it'll be swept away before the snow falls, so the best time is just as the snow starts falling. That means having the people and equipment on standby from the very first moment that it's even remotely possible that the snow may start to fall. Someone needs to buy that equipment, even if it may never be used, and the workforce are going to want paying even if they are sitting around idle. Anyone want to volunteer to pay for that?
So then there's the grit. There's no point putting that down until the snow has fallen so it's a whole lot more cost effectve, but it becomes useless if more snow then falls on top of it, that requires another coating of grit. More investment, more overtime, more tax...
Anyoe like to estimate the cost of clearing a county of snow via snowploughs?
When I were a lad back in Hazel Grove we used to get regular snowstorms far more ferocious then today's offerings (Good old climate change) so motorists had snow chains in their boots, most would also carry a large packet of salt and a spade, the really prepared would also have a length of carpet or matting, all of it very handy self-help; no one bothers with that stuff these days, and yet they expect some mysterious 'them' to be ready to at least clear all the roads which they themselves want to access of snow, instantly.
Personally I support the principle of a holiday whenever it snows. It doesn't do it that often.
You think they could have worked it out for themselves but hey, I'm willing to have a go.
Firstly, other countries don't just deal with it. If they know what's coming because it comes every year at around the same time they deal with it, otherwise they're as unprepared as us; and secondly, we're not prepared to pay for it. Perhaps no one else has spotted this, but we don't seem to like paying taxes, we actually pay less than the USA yet still all three of the major parties are talking about tax cuts. Obviously they sense tax cuts would be popular...
Me, I'd rather pay for necessities via tax because it's far more cost effective, but I've done this rant all ready so I won't duplicate it.
This time....
Meanwhile I find my self wondering. What exactly do these people mean by 'Do something'? What precisely can you do about snow? The first thing you can do is salt the roads, but when? Put it down too soon and it'll be swept away before the snow falls, so the best time is just as the snow starts falling. That means having the people and equipment on standby from the very first moment that it's even remotely possible that the snow may start to fall. Someone needs to buy that equipment, even if it may never be used, and those ungrateful bounders the workforce are going to want paying even if they are sitting around idle, as the working classes are wont to do. Anyone want to volunteer to pay for that?
So then there's the grit. There's no point putting that down until the snow has fallen so it's a whole lot more cost effective, but it becomes useless if more snow then falls on top of it, that requires another coating of grit. More investment, more overtime, more tax...
Anyone like to estimate the cost of clearing a county of snow via snowploughs?
When I were a lad back in Hazel Grove we used to get regular snowstorms far more ferocious then today's offerings (Good old climate change) so motorists had snow chains in their boots, most would also carry a large packet of salt and a spade, the really prepared would also have a length of carpet or matting, all of it very handy self-help; no one bothers with that stuff these days, and yet they expect some mysterious 'them' to be ready to at least clear all the roads which they themselves want to access of snow, instantly.
Personally I support the principle of a holiday whenever it snows. It doesn't do it that often.
Firstly, other countries don't just deal with it. If they know what's coming because it comes every year at around the same time they deal with it, otherwise they're as unprepared as us; and secondly, we're not prepared to pay for it. Perhaps no one else has spotted this, but we don't seem to like paying taxes, we actually pay less than the USA yet still all three of the major parties are talking about tax cuts. Obviously they sense tax cuts would be popular...
Me, I'd rather pay for necessities via tax because it's far more cost effective, but I've done this rant all ready so I won't duplicate it.
This time....
Meanwhile I find my self wondering. What exactly do these people mean by 'Do something'? What precisely can you do about snow? The first thing you can do is salt the roads, but when? Put it down too soon and it'll be swept away before the snow falls, so the best time is just as the snow starts falling. That means having the people and equipment on standby from the very first moment that it's even remotely possible that the snow may start to fall. Someone needs to buy that equipment, even if it may never be used, and the workforce are going to want paying even if they are sitting around idle. Anyone want to volunteer to pay for that?
So then there's the grit. There's no point putting that down until the snow has fallen so it's a whole lot more cost effectve, but it becomes useless if more snow then falls on top of it, that requires another coating of grit. More investment, more overtime, more tax...
Anyoe like to estimate the cost of clearing a county of snow via snowploughs?
When I were a lad back in Hazel Grove we used to get regular snowstorms far more ferocious then today's offerings (Good old climate change) so motorists had snow chains in their boots, most would also carry a large packet of salt and a spade, the really prepared would also have a length of carpet or matting, all of it very handy self-help; no one bothers with that stuff these days, and yet they expect some mysterious 'them' to be ready to at least clear all the roads which they themselves want to access of snow, instantly.
Personally I support the principle of a holiday whenever it snows. It doesn't do it that often.
WIDGETIZE