Here we go again.
If there’s one thing worse than being unprepared for the recent bad weather in the UK it’s the sound of everybody having the same perennial conversation; you know the one,
“Why weren’t we prepared for it? 6 inches of snow and everything comes to a full stop, my road’s impassable Boss, I can’t…”
As you can see, some of the head office staff weren’t too keen on getting on regardless
(despite the fact that because of the breaking news more people read the Handy Shipping Guide news than any other day).
Well this time the effects of a few inches of the cold white stuff, was enough to stop the entire Eurostar service for several days. At least it wasn’t the old British Rail “wrong type of snow” argument this year.
Nope this time it’s too warm in the channel tunnel.
Now everyone who ever bought a DVD for their Gran in the deep midwinter knows you can’t walk straight in the house and open it up.
If you do the condensation will be running around its internal organs the moment the cellophane comes off.
It has the same effect as dropping a fish in boiling water – it stops working.
Now even though we all know this, apparently the blokes who designed the Eurostar didn’t, and in a way, I have some sympathy.
No one probably ever thought that a sudden cold snap could turn the outside world into a frozen hell whilst the tunnel remained as snug as a polar bears cave, in fact a good deal warmer.
One dose of that heat and Thomas the Tank Engine’s electrics started to look like a fat man in a sauna, with unsurprising results.
Unfortunately the “severe” weather we’re having gives us no credibility with those in the outside world. Our Thai office delight in telling us how this is the “best time of year, it hovers around 26 degrees” whilst in explaining to a contact in Canada that “it really is jolly cold old boy” (have to maintain the colonial image, they expect it) merely results in a stony silence which is actually the sound of his hand over the phone whilst he snorts in derision.
So if I may I’ll use this brief piece to explain and excuse us British for our ambivalent attitude toward snow and weather in general.
We get a lot of weather.
That basically is that. It changes day to day and often hour to hour and that’s why it is an Englishman’s favourite source of conversation.
A Frenchman or Italian will discuss his love life, or possibly his dinner, an American his Church or his vacation or how big something is, but, first and foremost, the English talk weather. Snow, it has to be said, rarely figures on our radar. It represents a tiny percentage of the vast morass of changing meteorological conditions we endure and enjoy and so, frankly, we generally pay it no mind.
Until it arrives. Now if you own a hill farm somewhere north of Invergarry you will sneer at the southern ponces (about 98% of the British population in your case). You will have your Land Rover and snow chains and shovel as you tour the hills after October.
Even the midges wear Barbour jackets.
But for the average, town dwelling, man in the street the only time he puts a shovel in the boot of his car is when he is burying his cat
(or more likely next doors cat)
in the woods (or possibly on the beach).
So on behalf of my fellow countrymen may I apologise for the fact that every time it snows South of Dundee the population staggers round muttering under its collective breath with a glazed look like they’ve just been given an eviction notice.
And may I also point out that, at some point leading up to and during the weekend, the ferries stopped running.
Because of bad weather in France.
Five years after the opening of the tunnel, there were few and small impacts on the wider economy, and it was difficult to identify major developments associated with the tunnel.
Posted by: cheap viagra | 04/26/2010 at 07:00 PM
Please don't use pseudonyms like that. I just permanently blocked you as spam before opening what is a sensible comment! Sorry Captain P.
Posted by: Sprog3 | 04/26/2010 at 08:52 PM