A Canadian gal living in Britain with 3 men and a dog. Wine helps.

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Wednesday, December 08, 2010

I know we have to take the bad with the good, but I'm so over it now

As you know, last Wednesday we woke up to this:

Beautiful, isn't it?

I couldn’t be more ecstatic. Exactly one week later I’m not feeling so joyful about the snow that has hit Britain with a vengeance.

This country is not prepared for it; I try not to get annoyed and make comparisons to my native land as we always get weather like this, often much worse. Whole areas don’t grind to a halt for a week and all roads and sidewalks are normally ploughed within a few days. Salt/grit is adequately laid before and after the snow and walkways to shops, businesses, etc. are often shovelled.
The sense of community & camaraderie has been has been great for the most part, yet I wish the powers that be in this country would spend the money that would ensure it was better prepared for this weather. It’s time to face facts: the climate in Britain has changed and after two years running, no more excuses.

A few issues that have been occurring that I’m struggling to comprehend:

Why someone would struggle to ride a bike in this weather, and lots of people have. No one in Canada would actually be moronic enough to ride a bicycle with this much snow on the ground.

Why we have to pay a council tax in this country for services that are less than adequate, especially never more so than now. Essential services such as the bin and recycling trucks haven’t been around in well over a week. When my husband rang our council office to ask if they would be gritting the roads on our estate due to the massive amount of thick ice, he was told that they were waiting for the thaw. I think they will see Santa on his sled being guided by Rudolph before this happens. I’m happy to take our own rubbish to the tip if necessary yet I still don’t think we will receive a rebate from the council for the period of disruption.

I don’t remember the last time our post was delivered. Apparently our side roads are too treacherous for the post deliverers. Oh. Yet we are all supposed to drive/walk around our estate. I get it. Postal workers are in league of their own. (I think that is the situation in whatever country you reside in.)
Why people don’t heed advice when told not to drive past a certain point in the car park. Yesterday I spent more time going out and sorting out the car situation because apparently word spread that I was an expert on getting cars unstuck and off ice. I suppose I will begrudgingly concede to this – it is true after all. Besides, I do like playing the hero and it was kind of fun to be outside in the bright, cold fresh air. Although I think it did annoy the men to have a woman come to the rescue. However these situations would not have occurred if people had listened in the first place.

Taxi Drivers. Why do they think its ok to stop wherever they like to do a pick up, yet when one can plainly see me helping an elderly person down the walkway to my waiting vehicle its perfectly fine to yell at me for stopping on the side of the road. That was asking for trouble and the driver did well enough to hop out of his car and leave. Even my passenger (Beryl) was ready to yell obscenities at the obnoxious ass.

Teenagers that think they know everything:  I think this one is self explanatory.  It has  been a tough week of answering 'why not's' when it comes to safe/unsafe driving conditions.
Aside from all of this, getting to work has been a nightmare. Once I’m eventually off our estate (there is always a car spinning out and some point during the journey, whatever direction I take) traffic is clogged up and what is normally a fifteen minute drive is often trebled, or worse.

The heating has gone down in our offices and although we have small electric heaters plugged in it takes an eternity for our office to warm up. I don’t think I wore this many layers when I used to go sledding or skating back in Nova Scotia.

These, however have been my saving grace:
When I’m out walking Molly, or digging people out of snow drifts, I couldn’t ask for better insulation.

I’ve decided today that I need to tell myself that It Is What It Is. Complaining or losing my cool won’t help anything.

I do need to get back to the gym though and burn off some of this frustration.

1 comment:

Laraf123 said...

I hear your frustration and would feel exactly the same way if I were transplanted. Here in Chicago we had 5 inches on Saturday. It was the first snow and a Saturday so things stopped for about 1/2 day. It's still on the ground and today we got another inch. Most people didn't even bother to clean off their cars--bring it on, Mother Nature. You'll probably get more snow this Winter--sure hope people get a little more sensible--
Be Safe on the roads!