Yes, I agree with you WeatherWatcher. Of course we should get a better service for the amount of money we pay. But it isn't going to happen. Gone are the days when Councils actually cared for people. Now they care for profit margins and targets.

All I was saying was that some years back people helped one another, but now, and it could be because we have a more migratory population, so we do not know our neighbours like we used to, it seems to be everyone for themselves.

But I do most emphatically agree that we seem to get very little for the Tax we pay.

Edited by user 05 January 2010 15:18:30(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Nige

I don't think that you were included in the "nobody".

I dont feel that we should give up- I noticed today that a number of shop keepers had cleared their fronts and all it takes is one or two in each street to clear their bit and that of an elderly person to pehaps shame others into activity and to expend a few of those surplus calories recently stored.

I think that it would be prudent (for all residents that can afford it) to have a bag of salt in the shed as soon as stocks become readily available and for those that claim they cant afford a couple of pounds a year perhaps some  could spend a little less on flat screen TV width and expensive trainers for their offspring. 

Maybe someone like a local builders merchants could purchase a large stock of salt at a favourable (cost even!) price for local people to use on their side roads and paths which are never in our lifetimes going to receive  Local Authority attention

I do hope also that we have all been looking in on our old and less able folk to make sure they have coal and food.

Here's to a less selfish decade

Cheers

Edited by user 05 January 2010 18:54:06(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

This strange creature was spotted going down Whaley lane this morning. Note its yellow plumage not the usual orange. This is because it was a migratory creature all the way from Cheshire......one wonders why Here?

Edited by user 05 January 2010 21:18:53(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

tyke attached the following image(s):

Well done NCE for clearing up the snow at the top of the hill, even if the local council will not/can not place a grit bin. I have to work away a lot and without helpful neighbours like yourself my better half would not be able to make the commute to the hospital where she works.

This summer ,bar b que at my house! (The mastiff owner).

On another issue, does anybody have an inside as to why the footpath on Chapel Road has no recognised surface treatment ? Is the councils handy work, or should it have been rectified by the developer? 

And its just started snowing on Blackfriars Bridge in London, world comes to a halt.

Edited by user 05 January 2010 23:56:48(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Ah. The penny drops! BBQ great for me!

Nige.

They have reported temperature of -18 in Woodford today....correct me if I am wrong but salt water freezes at about -21C or -6F we are getting very close to salt being useless! ( at least for early morning!)

According to my inside/outside thermometer, the minimum temperature here last night was -13.1°C.

With regard to the point at which salt water freezes, I am sure I have heard "experts" on the TV news say that when the temperature drops below -6°C, spreading salt on the roads becomes ineffective.

I have pleasure to report that my dustbin has just been emptied!!! Yipee!!!!!!

Thank you to the polite and helpful men who were doing the work - they too my extra bags and did not complain that the bin was behind the massive hump of snow created by the snow plough.

Edited by user 07 January 2010 15:37:44(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I had a great time walking around the village this afternoon, seeing the sights and sounds of a Whaley Bridge covered in a winter Snowfall.

However upon coming across the reservoir it came to my concern that theres footprints upon the outer banks of the water, luckily this has already been addressed and 2 police officers were at the scene when I was there. I cant stress the dangers of fresh-water ice in winter, especially when such bodies of water may seem walkable on but a mere 3 inches is all thats stopping a child from falling into sub-zero water and drowning.

Trying to claw your way out the ice wont help either as theres no grip and your body goes into automatic shut-down mode, you have to thrash like a seal would in order to propel yourself out the water. Unfortunately the human body isnt designed to do this in frozen water and unless someone else is in the vicinity who has a long rope (or scarf) to try and haul the person out the ice, there effectively doomed.

I hope anyone reading this with kids, or if your a child yourself reading this could warn others about the dangers. Just use common sense and lets remember this snow-event for the good times were all having, not a possible tragedy we could face.