Snow & school closures etc.

[Publius Ovidius]

Am I the only one who has to work from home? I've already had two friends ask me if I'm coming down the pub and I'm thoroughly pissed off about it.

the pleasures of VPN and broadband!

 

[wellquickwoody]

My wifes School is an Infants so you think its a good idea to have 4 to 6 year olds walking miles through thick snow eh?

How deep is thick? Where in the country are you?

I am talking about Brighton, Hove and Worthing etc.. In Shoreham and Southwick this morning at 8.30 there was NO snow.

 

[The Wizard]

How deep is thick? Where in the country are you?

I am talking about Brighton, Hove and Worthing etc.. In Shoreham and Southwick this morning at 8.30 there was NO snow.

Rubbish, BN2 had snow laying on the ground overnight, the roads were already hell last night when I came home so they must be utterly horrendous now, I don't like the thought of kids walking on icy frozen pavements either.

 

[clippedgull]

Seconded, my wife is head of an Infants School and has had to ring dozens of people since 6AM to confirm the school is closed - and it will all start again around 4PM to see if the school is closed tomorrow.

Wouldn't a block email or a basic web page be more efficient?

ok, there might be a handful not on the 'net but it would be a hell of a lot less ringing around I would imagine!

 

[ATFC Seagull]

1. As in my earlier post, most people are within a couple of miles, as are most schools. Note the word 'most'.

2. Their parents obviously.


3. You possibly have a point about the kids but not the teachers.

All said and done the last really big snow in '82 lead to far less closures etc., I went to school and had a great time snowballing the teachers.

Can I make an assumption that you don't have young kids that usually use the bus to get to school?

Fair enough, you've got your point of view but I think you're living in a fantasy world if you think that its logistically possible for the many thousands of kids accross this city to get up at 6.30am, see that its snowing so immediately think of alternative arrangements, walk to their nearest train station, pay for a ticket, somehow squeeze onto the already packed morning trains, walk the potentially long distance the other side.

As for teachers - I spose getting them in would be fair enough really, but if they've thought ahead and have got work they can be doing, does it really matter if its at work or at home?

 

[Notters]

Rubbish, BN2 had snow laying on the ground overnight, the roads were already hell last night when I came home so they must be utterly horrendous now, I don't like the thought of kids walking on icy frozen pavements either.

Nope, only inland... None/very little within a few hundred metres of the seafront.

 

[JBizzleBeard]

I have just closed my school. Half the teachers can't get in and the roads are awful here in deepest Somerset. It is not a decision taken lightly and involves numerous calls around 5.30 -6.30 to see what the situation is in all the villages where the children and staff live and a sleepless night peering out of the window and monitoring weather reports. I feel I have already done a day's work!!

Site manager perchance? Same here, just got back in myself and feel shattered!

 

[SirDouglasLoft]

Quite annoyed at Newman Sixth form being closed, have an exam in just over a week, and if this snow continues it doesnt look like melting, plus i really think i need those lessons!

AS exams?

 

[wellquickwoody]

Rubbish, BN2 had snow laying on the ground overnight, the roads were already hell last night when I came home so they must be utterly horrendous now, I don't like the thought of kids walking on icy frozen pavements either.

In BN3 we had 2 or 3 inches on the ground this morning, Southwick and Shoreham had NONE. Stop arguing, I was there.

 

[jakarta]

How deep is thick? Where in the country are you?

I am talking about Brighton, Hove and Worthing etc.. In Shoreham and Southwick this morning at 8.30 there was NO snow.

West Sussex, my wife is Head of a school outside Bognor - at least 2 miles, probably more, from Bognor Station. While most of the kids are local to the school, half her teachers live in Worthing or Littlehamption and cant get in - did you see the state of the A27 around Chichester on the TV this morning?

We live in Storrington where I would say we have around 5-6 inches of snow and it is still coming down. No-one has come up or down our road all day so I would reckon everyone around here is being sensible and staying inside.

Sadly I CAN work from home so will get on with a ventilation testing report and stop messing around on a messageboard....

 

[ali jenkins]

How deep is thick? Where in the country are you?

I am talking about Brighton, Hove and Worthing etc.. In Shoreham and Southwick this morning at 8.30 there was NO snow.

I think someone had to get out of bed today and is working while everyone else is having fun in the snow!

Is someone a little bit grumpy about it?

 

[wellquickwoody]

To use language like "most people" and "80%" is something you have plucked out the air to justify your rerdiculous point. Where is your evidence?

You are quite right in that I plucked those words out of the air. It is an obsevational point based on what I have seen this morning.

 

[Ned]

10.30 Police advice to take all buses off the road.
Brighton Hove Bus and Coach Company: Latest News: Roadwork Disruptions

 

[skipper734]

The postman has just made it at his usual time, through 6" or so of the stuff. Hero. He shouldn't have bothered with what he delivered to me, I could have waited for the bill.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

I work at a well known theme here,and to access it you use A roads before turning onto B roads (which are safe to drive on) being in the private sector it is open,however on my way to work i PASS a junior school surprise surprise it is closed. You see if it is that bad why dont hospital etc close ?

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

I work at a well known theme here,and to access it you use A roads before turning onto B roads (which are safe to drive on) being in the private sector it is open,however on my way to work i PASS a junior school surprise surprise it is closed. You see if it is that bad why dont hospital etc close ?

Because it is not essential that they open and prevents accidents caused by hundreds of extra journeys being made.

 

[wellquickwoody]

I think someone had to get out of bed today and is working while everyone else is having fun in the snow!

Is someone a little bit grumpy about it?

Quite possibly. Everyone over the next few days will whinge about how the country came to a halt and how badly prepared we are. If people got off their arses perhaps they would have less to whinge about.

PS Please tell me that you had a long way to travel to work today, or you are self employed, or you are working from home or are unemployed, or even at your workplace? As there was no snow south of the A27 in Southwick this morning.

 

[beorhthelm]

Part of the reason is that there hasn't been this amount of snow for a very long time. I'm 32 and grew up in Sussex and never lost one single day to snow over my school time. Also, many more teachers now live longer distances from their schools which makes it much more difficult for them to get in in extreme weather.

well im the same age and i recall missing plenty of days to snow, both primary and secondary. not in Brighton, out in the hinterland though, the teachers is main reason and the driving was probably a bigger factor. also the fear of not getting out of school is important factor.

 

[ali jenkins]

Quite possibly. Everyone over the next few days will whinge about how the country came to a halt and how badly prepared we are. If people got off their arses perhaps they would have less to whinge about.

PS Please tell me that you had a long way to travel to work today, or you are self employed, or you are working from home or are unemployed, or even at your workplace? As there was no snow south of the A27 in Southwick this morning.

I dont start work until 3 so theres no need to worry about me slacking off!

And just to let you know, there is snow now.

And I also went to work last time it snowed and that was MUCH worse than now!

 

[Mtoto]

Like me they can walk to their local railway station, get a train and the walk at the other end. For 80% of people this is perfectly possible. Most people not going to work are lazy, workshy, wimpy arseholes who should be the first in the firing line if redudancies strike at their employer.

Fascinating how the unbounded horizons of the internet can make some people even more insular than they were in the first place. I can do something, therefore everybody else must be able to as well, and if they can't, they deserve the sack. Bizarre logic.
Sadly, though, unless the folk at Kempton Park come to their senses and abandon today's twilight meeting, it's a theory I'm going to have to put to test, since I'm five minutes from Brighton Station and there's another one alongside the course. Will probably take three or four hours each way rather than the usual 1h37, but there you go.
And will I begrudge the teachers and children their day off if I have to shlep up to Sunbury? No I won't.