# Snow: are pedestrians Darwin award candidates?



## Eric The Viking (18 Jan 2013)

So I've got the Land Rover in low ratio on the transfer box, and front-back diff lock, and I'm going at about 5mph in 2nd (normal box) gear. I'm leaving a sensible distance between me and the vehicle in front, and I have my lights on dip beam. The conditions are "interesting", to put it mildly. We don't have a lot of snow. A lot of snow would help, probably. What we have is a little, pretty slippery snow. And a bunch of idiots on the road.

Every time I touch the brakes, even very gently, I'm risking a full 4-wheel slide on granular, compacted thin snow. Gotta love Bristol's Victorian streets. One wrong move and I've done thousands of pounds of damage to the lines of parked cars either side. Inches to spare. Complete concentration essential. 

Beside me, the Domestic Controller is muttering that she'll be the only GP that didn't get into the health centre this morning. Apparently this is even worse shame than being Lance Armstrong. They don't do lunch, apparently, just have arm wrestling contests with the security staff or do 20mins of push-ups on one hand. She's dressed the part - short-ish skirt, pretty, expensive, non-waterproof coat, no hat nor scarf. Wellies were the only thing I mentioned beforehand, and yes, she has those, but not even a spiked walking stick (oddly, they're still in the umbrella stand right by the front door). But she's gonna get out and walk. I'm an silly person, apparently, as I couldn't foresee which of Bristol's ski-ramp major roads is going to be the least clogged with unsuitable vehicles. And wanting to get going early was idiotic, too.

It's still snowing, harder, in fact, than earlier. The wind is getting up and the traffic is slowing to a standstill as the BMW 3-series rep's coupes can't climb the hill in front of us.

But still they step out in front of me, RIGHT off the pavement, straight in front of me, with less care than on a normal day. They don't even look up, nor remove the mobile from the ear.

Lady, it's a two tonne bluntly sledge!

I passed an artic going t'other way up the Gloucester Road. What do those things weigh? And they jack-knife at the slightest provocation in this weather. They're not giving him any quarter, either. 

It's no wonder professional drivers have heart and blood pressure problems - ordinary road users now seem to be, in the main, complete morons.

I feel a bit better now, but I'm not checking my own blood pressure for at least two hours. She can walk home, too.

E.


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## marcros (18 Jan 2013)

Eric The Viking":3gwc6s4i said:


> So I've got the Land Rover in low ratio on the transfer box, and front-back diff lock, and I'm going at about 5mph in 2nd (normal box) gear. I'm leaving a sensible distance between me and the vehicle in front, and I have my lights on dip beam. The conditions are "interesting", to put it mildly. We don't have a lot of snow. A lot of snow would help, probably. What we have is a little, pretty slippery snow. And a bunch of idiots on the road.
> 
> Every time I touch the brakes, even very gently, I'm risking a full 4-wheel slide on granular, compacted thin snow. Gotta love Bristol's Victorian streets. One wrong move and I've done thousands of pounds of damage to the lines of parked cars either side. Inches to spare. Complete concentration essential.
> 
> ...



should you be typing this whilst driving?


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## Eric The Viking (18 Jan 2013)

marcros":1otsyuav said:


> should you be typing this whilst driving?



Outstanding =D> =D> =D> 


Wondrous things these smart 'phones...


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## AndyT (18 Jan 2013)

That made me smile!

Eric, I do sympathise with you as I look out of the window with the heating on. (The house window that is.) Very nicely put.

But do please keep your eyes on the road! :lol:


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## Waka (18 Jan 2013)

We've got a little slush on the roads, and I mean a little, but would you believe it, all the schools are closed.

Traffic as normal.


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## thomvic (18 Jan 2013)

Waka":bxauplfw said:


> We've got a little slush on the roads, and I mean a little, but would you believe it, all the schools are closed.
> 
> Traffic as normal.



Yes, I'd believe it. The closures are for the benefit of the head and staff - they're wimps! What do they care, they still get paid. How many self employed and employed people have that comfort?
Where I live they decided to close some of the schools at 08:45 this morning would you believe. Many kids already at school and parents gone to work after dropping them off. Apparently automated text messages are sent to parents requesting that they go to collect their kids! I wonder what their bosses think when they ask permission to go?

Richard


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## johngraves (18 Jan 2013)

As an ex deputy head of a large comprehensive I do have sympathy with the schools that close. 
I remember vividly our school having to pay £50,000 when a boy broke his arm whilst sliding on the yard in the snow and a 'no win - no fee' company picked it up. Apparently we didn't have the well being of our pupils at heart when we decided to stay 'open' in spite of 95% of the children living on the doorstep. It apparently disadvantaged him in class although I never heard the pupil complain, just his parents.
Unfortunately in this age of litigation it isn't always easy to make what would seem sensible decisions to those of us in our dotage.


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## andersonec (18 Jan 2013)

Had your wife been a teacher maybe you wouldn't have had to driving about in the UK blizzards. :lol: 

Andy


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## woodaxed (18 Jan 2013)

johngraves":1g1ydjsa said:


> As an ex deputy head of a large comprehensive I do have sympathy with the schools that close.
> I remember vividly our school having to pay £50,000 when a boy broke his arm whilst sliding on the yard in the snow and a 'no win - no fee' company picked it up. Apparently we didn't have the well being of our pupils at heart when we decided to stay 'open' in spite of 95% of the children living on the doorstep. It apparently disadvantaged him in class although I never heard the pupil complain, just his parents.
> Unfortunately in this age of litigation it isn't always easy to make what would seem sensible decisions to those of us in our dotage.


 
thats ridiculous back in the sixties when i was at school we used to make iceslides in the winter a friend of mine broke his arm on one of the slides he was back at school 2 days later arm in plaster and still on the slides his parents gave him a clip around the ear for being clumsy 
i must say the school caretaker did destroy the slides but we remade them


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## Eric The Viking (18 Jan 2013)

John G.: I can but sympathize. When I was at prep school in the late 1960s and we were almost snowbound, the head cancelled the school day so that we could have an organised snowball fight on the playing fields in the afternoon. We got into games kit, and spent an hour in the morning constructing snow barricades. I can't remember if it was by houses or by forms - houses probably as that would've been fairer on the little ones. After lunch we let rip for an hour or so, with the masters refereeing.

As you can tell it was just the right thing to do at the time. The next day nobody minded being stuck in lessons as we'd worked it off the afternoon before. Nobody was hurt, nobody complained, no permission slips were sent or signed. It was just rough and tumble.

We also had school wide games in the woods in the autumn and later an assault course, with 2x4 beams between the trees about 6-7ft off the ground (nothing special underneath). Our PE teacher was an ex-RSM with the Paras. It was brilliant, and despite all these distractions, when I got to grammar school I was two years ahead of my cohort in the syllabus.

IMHO, Something's wrong with teaching nowadays.


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## James C (18 Jan 2013)

thomvic":27afn0zv said:


> Waka":27afn0zv said:
> 
> 
> > We've got a little slush on the roads, and I mean a little, but would you believe it, all the schools are closed.
> ...




My school closed today. Not for the head or the staff, but because so many parents having seen the news coverage of the weather couldn't possibly let their little darlings stay at school.

So many parents phoned the school to complain about our lack of closure, eventually they had to buckle. Most of the staff instead of going home volunteered to stay at school with pupils who couldn't leave and once the last pupil had been picked up we left.


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## SammyQ (18 Jan 2013)

Eric The Viking":3azzpehs said:


> IMHO, Something's wrong with teaching nowadays.



No, Eric. We are still as adventurous and as imaginative as we always were, but opportunistic (pound-centred) parents and lawyers have exploited and abused some quite sensible early child protection measures to the point where LEA's - and their insurance companies behind them - have had to be quite restrictive in order to avoid lining these parasites' pockets and thus being financially restricted in what they could provide for educating children. 

Sam, 33 years in education, veteran of 25 expeditions and thousands of miles by plane, train, bus, river boat, hewed out canoe, horse, tuc-tuc, Mototaxi, crampons, abseil, ice axe, dinghy, raft, Shanks Mare.


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## stevenw1963 (18 Jan 2013)

Well, it's nice n sunny up here, cold but nice n sunny !!!



For a change I may add......


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## RogerS (18 Jan 2013)

We need more teachers like SammieQ =D>


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## Eric The Viking (18 Jan 2013)

RogerS":108xkpmp said:


> We need more teachers like SammieQ =D>



+1 Definitely.

E.


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## Racers (18 Jan 2013)

Hi, Eric

Well you where driving slowly in snow so you wern't making much sound thats probbaly why they stepped off, we had some electric vans at work and I nearly got run over a few times by them, you don't hear any thing so you don't look round like you would if you heard a car. They are deadly things I beleve some have speakers fitted to make some noize at low speed to over come the problem.

Pete


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## riclepp (18 Jan 2013)

When i was at school the only time the school was closed was either in the holidays or when the heating packed up. Unlike now, teachers are to scared to do a real days work and the kids and parents are just too prescious. My kids get my boot up their buttocks to get out and play in this weather and go to school, I will and have driven them to school in recent times with the snow we have had the last few years. Society has gone to pot!!!!!!!!!!!!


Rant over!!

Oh and there has been no snow falling at all today where I live


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## SammyQ (18 Jan 2013)

Thanks to Eric and Roger - all I ever did was Carpe Diem!


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## Noel (18 Jan 2013)

Hi Sammy, slight OT, hopefully snow and flegs don't mix?


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## James C (18 Jan 2013)

riclepp":18pmexo9 said:


> When i was at school the only time the school was closed was either in the holidays or when the heating packed up. Unlike now, teachers are to scared to do a real days work and the kids and parents are just too prescious. My kids get my boot up their buttocks to get out and play in this weather and go to school, I will and have driven them to school in recent times with the snow we have had the last few years. Society has gone to pot!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Rant over!!
> ...



I like my job. I enjoy teaching. I enjoy showing pupils how to perform basic carpentry skills by hand. I enjoy teaching Painting & Decorating to my Construction Studies class. I enjoy being out in the yard laying Bricks with my Year 11's in January. I enjoy having a qualified electrician visit our school showing my pupils how mains and lighting circuits are installed.

I like being involved in helping students achieve their DofE in my free time. I like being involved in after school activities such as sailing, canoeing and archery. I like seeing students have an opportunity to do these things even though their parents can't afford to pay for their school meals.

I dislike people who tar all teachers as pansy-buttocks people happy to have an afternoon or two off because of some slightly inclement weather. I would quite happily be working still, but I was sent home.

I apologise if what I do does not count as a "real job".


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## Steve Maskery (18 Jan 2013)

I did four long, dark, miserable, years in the job, and I doubt if it is any easier now than when it was in the early 80s.
I think anyone who wants to be a teacher must be bonkers, but I'm glad that some do. Some of them are even good at it. Even better.
S
(I wasn't, but had the good grace to get out).


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## Gary Morris (19 Jan 2013)

I don't think it's down to the teachers or Head's; the councils are aware of the risks and it's down to the potential of being sued, or looking 'bad' in the public eye. Politics and pennies.

Gary


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## RogerS (19 Jan 2013)

riclepp":11wl3r77 said:


> When i was at school the only time the school was closed was either in the holidays or when the heating packed up. Unlike now,* teachers are to scared to do a real days work *and the kids and parents are just too prescious. My kids get my boot up their buttocks to get out and play in this weather and go to school, I will and have driven them to school in recent times with the snow we have had the last few years. Society has gone to pot!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Rant over!!
> ...



To be honest, I think that statement is out of order. True, there will be some bad or lazy teachers. Just as there are bad or lazy people in all walks of life.

Similarly there are some stunning teachers who always go the extra distance for the kids in their school. We shouldn't forget them.

if I was going to have a pop at anyone, it would be those fat, lazy, talentless tw*ts called professional footballers who get paid £100,000 *A WEEK* for kicking around a pigs bladder filled with air. Now that sort of salary is obscene.


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## RogerS (19 Jan 2013)

Meanwhile, back on topic, I took my car down to the garage yesterday morning for some work and walked back along the lane. The number of cretins driving at the same speed as they do in dry weather (which in many cases is too fast) was surprising. Apparently the coefficient of friction doesn't apply to them. Hopefully it is a substantial oak tree that meets their car rather than a pedestrian.


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## RogerS (19 Jan 2013)

I didn't realise that it is an offence (3 points + a fine) if you don't clear the snow off the roof of your car.


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## Losos (21 Jan 2013)

johngraves":3cf1e1y8 said:


> I remember vividly our school having to pay £50,000 when a boy broke his arm whilst sliding on the yard in the snow and a 'no win - no fee' company picked it up. Apparently we didn't have the well being of our pupils at heart when we decided to stay 'open' in spite of 95% of the children living on the doorstep. It apparently disadvantaged him in class although I never heard the pupil complain, just his parents.
> Unfortunately in this age of litigation it isn't always easy to make what would seem sensible decisions to those of us in our dotage.



It's disgusting, people are just so devious and self centred, 'no win no fee' is just *asking people to lie*, be uncaring, and aggressive. I'm *fed up with the whole lot of them*. Still maybe those parents will have an accident somewhere that has no owners or anyone who could be remotely responsible, perhaps they will use the money they got from their sons misfortune to go on a Caribbean holiday and *get biten by a shark, let them try suing that booger* :lol:


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