Written by 
We are still in the midst of our unprecedented cold snap, and people all over the country are taking ‘snow days’ off from work and we are being told by the motoring organisations, the police and politicians, not to make a journey unless it is essential.
Well that’s all fine and dandy, but we all have different ideas of what is essential, don’t we.
I for one have always worked from home where possible, or taken the day as holiday when I don’t want to drive in snowy/icy conditions because I am lucky enough to have a job that I can do from home. I have however struggled to London on the trains in snow back when I was 18 and in my first job. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that it might even be a possibility that I could take the day off.
Consider a call centre for a breakdown company. In this weather they are already working over capacity, but with half their call centre workers not in, you will have to wait twice as long to get through to an already overworked and underappreciated worker who will then have to deal with you moaning because you have had to wait so long for your call to be answered. And you should be at work anyway!
If shops can’t open because there are no staff members to run the shop, we will soon have trouble with food shortages and the like.
Of course, a lot of people can’t get into work because public transport shuts down. I can’t count the amount of people I’ve heard who have been delayed by broken down trains during this cold snap. If trains are delayed and buses don’t run, it makes people less inclined to go to work. If you can’t rely on your transport home, why risk going in?
And what about other things? A trip to panto rehearsal probably wouldn’t be classified as urgent, yet with curtain up in less than 2 weeks, I would disagree!
Now I am no lover of driving in snow, slush and ice, but too often we are told to only go out if it is essential. We cannot and should not put our lives on hold everytime we get extreme weather. If this weather can be attributed to global warming then it is only going to get worse for us. We will get more and more extreme weather events and it is up to our councils to start thinking of alternative ways of dealing with things like this without spending money on snow ploughs and the like which will essentially be overkill.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Nice post.
When it snows a lot is beautiful to see, but as a reverse side there are sometimes delay and problems with the traffic. I always hope to be lucky enough to be at home warm and enjoying the snow falling down.
I agree to a certain extent. I’m 31. Until recently I’d have quite happily driven through this snow to get to work. As I get older though I find I’m less reluctant to do it, especially when so many others I work with clearly aren’t making the effort.
Perhaps it’s laziness, but although the snow has been bad in some parts of the UK, I don’t think it’s been as crippling as everyone has made out in Essex. Maybe I’m just cynical though?
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I am very glad to see such great information being shared freely out there.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading.