Interestingly, although the major roads round here have been gritted and salted by various respective local authorities, and the traffic is running reasonably well on them, none of the side or smaller country roads have been touched, and what's perhaps even more surprising is that I haven't seen a single pavement being cleared by any council. Some of the country lanes have been partially cleared by the local farmers with snow plough attachments on their tractors and all the others are now passable because constant use by 4X4s up and down them, but the only pavements without snow are those which have been cleared by shopkeepers in front of their own premises. Now I do understand there's a legal liability issue here - if you don't touch snow, everyone can see it and knows it's a natural and slippery hazard, but if you try to clear it, you can be lulling people into a false sense of security, so if anyone does subsequently slip, you can be held at least partly to blame - but being of an age when I remember winters like this time after time, local authority workmen used to be out day and night after such weather, clearing miles of pavements as well as roads.

It certainly is time those shovels were handed out to the unemployed to do their bit towards trying to get the country back running - or even walking - again.

Doesn't every household have a shovel?
Get them out there, using their own.
It's all about a community.

Originally Posted by Barry

Doesn't every household have a shovel?
Get them out there, using their own.
It's all about a community.

Which of course we would all do if we weren't living in this mad litigation obsessed country of ours!

Originally Posted by Opinionated

Which of course we would all do if we weren't living in this mad litigation obsessed country of ours!

Our country isn't litigation obsessed as yet, although we are showing signs of moving in that direction! It's stupid health and safety regulation that allows the culture of litigation to first rise then fester and causes people concern in clearing their paths and driveways.

I'd also argue that a far greater percentage of the country wouldn't clear their paths and driveways of snow, community spirit is dead - we're in the age of entitlement in which some person or organisation exists to do or provide everything we need or want! When it doesn't happen the country comes to a standstill and people complain bitterly! Although I would say I am disappointed that the councils do not clear the pavements - do those who walk not contribute to the salt and grit purchase through the taxes (both central and local) they pay?

Originally Posted by Opinionated

Which of course we would all do if we weren't living in this mad litigation obsessed country of ours!

Whos running this madhouse ? The insurance companies ? Claims4U ?
Where has the common sense gone. Years ago everyone would clear the front of their house and the Old blokes down the road,chuck a bit of Saxa down and job done.
While Im walking 4 miles to work and 4 miles home in a foot of snow earning a wage and paying taxes so some lazy good for nothing can sit at home using up all the gas reserves. The least they can do is clear the roads so the bus can get through.

Originally Posted by Streetwalker

Whos running this madhouse ? The insurance companies ? Claims4U ?
Where has the common sense gone. Years ago everyone would clear the front of their house and the Old blokes down the road,chuck a bit of Saxa down and job done.
While Im walking 4 miles to work and 4 miles home in a foot of snow earning a wage and paying taxes so some lazy good for nothing can sit at home using up all the gas reserves. The least they can do is clear the roads so the bus can get through.

Yep, I'm with you streetwalker.
Clear the paths, a bit of salt, (no-one ever runs out of salt, apparently), then clear your neighbour's drive cause she's 85 years old.
H&S go to hell you nitpicking tosspots.

Originally Posted by Streetwalker

Whos running this madhouse ? The insurance companies ? Claims4U ?
Where has the common sense gone. Years ago everyone would clear the front of their house and the Old blokes down the road,chuck a bit of Saxa down and job done.
While Im walking 4 miles to work and 4 miles home in a foot of snow earning a wage and paying taxes so some lazy good for nothing can sit at home using up all the gas reserves. The least they can do is clear the roads so the bus can get through.

they?
That would be other bus users? Grab a shovel and get digging you arse!

Originally Posted by uncon

they?
That would be other bus users? Grab a shovel and get digging you arse!

No "they" being the spongers and good for nothing dossers that cost this country zillions. Any able bodied person that is on the social should be made to "earn" their handouts with community work. If that means clearing snow at times of bad weather then so be it. I think if such policies were in place you would see a drastic fall in unemployment

Originally Posted by Streetwalker

No "they" being the spongers and good for nothing dossers that cost this country zillions. Any able bodied person that is on the social should be made to "earn" their handouts with community work. If that means clearing snow at times of bad weather then so be it. I think if such policies were in place you would see a drastic fall in unemployment

I took the brats and we gritted and cleared all the old peoples bungalows down the road...we had to force them NOT to pay us. We don't get handouts obviously, this was about the people who live near us and need some help who are a little bit more vulnerable and could get hurt on the ice.

You can't force that. Any able bodied person on the social would rather earn a bloody wage. They are not going to get out of bed for no reward when they are given the bare minimum anyway and those who don't want to earn are not likely to help others.

Originally Posted by uncon

I took the brats and we gritted and cleared all the old peoples bungalows down the road...we had to force them NOT to pay us. We don't get handouts obviously, this was about the people who live near us and need some help who are a little bit more vulnerable and could get hurt on the ice.

Too bad that more people don't take the time to know their neighbors and follow this sort of example, it's sorely lacking in today's world.

Originally Posted by Don

Too bad that more people don't take the time to know their neighbors and follow this sort of example, it's sorely lacking in today's world.

I think that a significant part of the problem is the way we live, both work-wise and physically. So many people are up and away from home for most of the day, using their cars from door to door so they don't have any chance to see, let alone speak to their neighbours, and even when they are at home, the way many of our communities are laid out precludes easy contact with many of our neighbours. You generally find that in communities where residential roads are laid out in a very regular pattern - just rows of houses side by side with little or no open community space or facilities - people are very much more isolated and often don't even know their immediate neighbours well. By contrast where you get small communities of just a couple of hundred people or so which have grown far more organically and are centred round a focal point - a 'village green' with a couple of shops or a pub for example - the sense of community and the way that people interact and help each other is far higher.

It's about time that far more planners realised this and organised the way we live and work accordingly, but trying to convince officialdom to do anything other than the way they want is like talking to a brick wall People in a few countries are at least starting to see the light though, the Netherlands and Sweden in particular seem to be taking heed of this, resulting in far happier and more contented communities with much lower crime rates and seemingly less health problems amongst the elderly.

Originally Posted by Don

Too bad that more people don't take the time to know their neighbors and follow this sort of example, it's sorely lacking in today's world.

No its not.

Getting the lazy off their arses and motivating them to work is sorely lacking.