We had a light deluge and Kent came to a standstill! M20 stuffed, M2 stuffed, A249 Stuffed, A299 stuffed, well, you get the picture. All of our major transport links stuffed; what a day. No postal deliveries or collections, nothing! na-da! zero! Why does this happen e-v-e-r-y single time it snows??? I know I go on about north Wales and I need to again, because the roads up there are properly gritted with the results that the roads are open and safe to use. Yes, ok, sometimes the weather is SO bad the gritters fight a losing battle but the snow has to be constantly falling and building up to almost unmanageable levels NOT the measly 4 inches we had in Kent, I mean come on!!! All those concerned with gritting in Kent say the roads were gritted 'properly' but in my own experience properly gritted roads do not contribute to the total closure of the main roads and infrastructures of an entire county. Even on the main A2 just outside of Bapchild near Sittingbourne a lorry jack-knifed and rather selfishly straddled the carriageway, crossing it's arms and snubbing attempts to cajole it out of the way so other vehicles could pass!
We have more of the same predicted for tonight so Saturday will be another day of nothing moving I guess. Obviously people have to be safe and stay at home where they can, but watching some people driving like it's a balmy 70 degrees and wall to wall sunshine is a joke; THAT'S why there are so many accidents, well, that and the fact that the roads do not appear to be gritted properly to start with. Cars and lorries do have purchase when the road is gritted, they do not slip and slide all over the show. But no matter what the prevailing driving conditions some drivers carry on regardless; if they paid attention to the conditions they would learn to drive slowly; they'd have no choice, they'd not use their brakes but instead use their gears to control the car, and in automatics they'd use their lower gears. When I lived in north Wales I had no choice but to learn the hard way as north Wales snowfalls do teach you how to drive in winter if nothing else. Perhaps that's why there are so many accidents and shunts, ice skating with cars (4x4's on Ice anyone?) here, because the only time you do get to learn (or practice if you will) is when the snow hits but it's not a good way to learn if you end up on your roof because you've hit a patch of black ice.
Pity the snow didn't hold off for one more week when most people would have been at home for Christmas, with the obvious exceptions of the men and women of our unfailing emergency services who do a wonderful job, and all the other unsung heroes who work over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Mostly the roads would have been clear, all presents and cards awaiting delivery would have been delivered and would not now be sitting crying in a darkened post room waiting for some poor soul to take pity on them and get them to where they need to be. Next week, you can bet the sun will be cracking the flags and it will be a balmy 70 degrees, only joking, but you never know eh? I do know though that this global warming con is worrying isn't it, all this snow and ice!!!
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