Well done, my local council...
Discussion
Despite the headline news yesterday concening Arctic conditions hitting northerly regions of the UK, it seems weather monitoring, unlike motorist bashing, ranks as a lowly option for our beloved council elders.
Obviously, the thick end of £2k/year is insufficient a council tax contribution for primary infrastructural support, if not the development of amphibious disability workshops and traffic jamming road blocking deviance.
I'm sure my neighbour would agree, as his brand new Volvo careered down our hill, somehow swerving to avoid rear ending my 1mph, brake juddering creep, only to then skid without any hope of control into a neighbouring wall which after deconstruction, appeared to have written off the nearside of his vehicle.
As he staggered out of the car, airbags dispatched, I asked him if he thought it possible to tick the Tory box more than once during electoral ballots and wasn't it great to live under the spawn of Stalin?
Not one gritter had been out last night, not one.
Useless, profligate, socialist gits.
Obviously, the thick end of £2k/year is insufficient a council tax contribution for primary infrastructural support, if not the development of amphibious disability workshops and traffic jamming road blocking deviance.
I'm sure my neighbour would agree, as his brand new Volvo careered down our hill, somehow swerving to avoid rear ending my 1mph, brake juddering creep, only to then skid without any hope of control into a neighbouring wall which after deconstruction, appeared to have written off the nearside of his vehicle.
As he staggered out of the car, airbags dispatched, I asked him if he thought it possible to tick the Tory box more than once during electoral ballots and wasn't it great to live under the spawn of Stalin?
Not one gritter had been out last night, not one.
Useless, profligate, socialist gits.
Looking at the thread title I thought this one would concern double yellow lines and the obstruction of local wealth creation. Try and be positive, at least your neighbour had the good sense to take out someone elses wall rather than one of your motors. 
On the subject of gritting the roads, I've spotted a few gritters out and about around Bristol when even near zero temps, let alone sub zero are not even expected. I put it down to the "better use this grit or they'll cut back next years supply!" mentality.
DAZ
On the subject of gritting the roads, I've spotted a few gritters out and about around Bristol when even near zero temps, let alone sub zero are not even expected. I put it down to the "better use this grit or they'll cut back next years supply!" mentality.
DAZ
Simon
Our local council is as blue as blue can be and they are still an unmitigated disaster, profligate with our money and a jobs for life zone for all the slackers that work there. Plus we have a huge district council, with palatial headquarters in Northallerton and 1/4 mile away, in even more palatial headquarters, we have a county council.
The waste is beyond belief.
I have a solution for local government and it involves extermination.
Our local council is as blue as blue can be and they are still an unmitigated disaster, profligate with our money and a jobs for life zone for all the slackers that work there. Plus we have a huge district council, with palatial headquarters in Northallerton and 1/4 mile away, in even more palatial headquarters, we have a county council.
The waste is beyond belief.
I have a solution for local government and it involves extermination.
You can get up to the boarders of derbyshire no problem at all. The Staffs and cheshire council have an army of gritters to keep the roads open. Derbyshire however appear to one old guy with a hand cart and a shovel. I've said it before; storm the local coucil offices and put the bastards to the sword, its the only way!
unrepentant said:
Simon
Our local council is as blue as blue can be and they are still an unmitigated disaster, profligate with our money and a jobs for life zone for all the slackers that work there. Plus we have a huge district council, with palatial headquarters in Northallerton and 1/4 mile away, in even more palatial headquarters, we have a county council.
The waste is beyond belief.
I have a solution for local government and it involves extermination.
Why limit this to local government?
Mr E said:
Now hang on here a sec.
We're always bleating on about people taking responsability for ones actions.
You get up. It's snow and ice out there. You get into and then crash your car.
How is that anybody elses fault?
I suppose the bloke could have stayed in bed and wimped out of tax raising but when you live on a hill, it a kind of occupational hazard.
Plus, his Volvo was an X90 - shouldn't have been an issue.
The council often do grit at least the main roads (a part of my rant) which I would have thought stupendously bleedin' obvious given the weather warnings all yesterday (they managed it a few days ago, so why not now, so spectacularly?)
At the end of the day, ice can get any of us and I don't see how a 1mph crawl down a hill which I somehow negotiated with rwd steamroller rubber could be deemed definitively avoidable and therefore irresponsible to negotiate?
It was a simple case of a council responsibility being horrendously neglected.
I am of course, grossly biased and pathologically unreasonable when it comes to councils per se but I refuse to apologise for that, wealth sapping toe rags.
derestrictor said:
Plus, his Volvo was an X90 - shouldn't have been an issue.
When the weather gets really bad I am always suprised at the number of 4x4s in the ditch. I think it is because their owners think these vehicles give them God like capabilities and so suspend the laws of physics. In bad weather tyre choice is more important than all wheel drive.
Certainly most people recognise that a 4WD system will get the power down and allow you to blast through the snow, but when it comes to braking we're all in the same boat.........
Totally agree about the tyre comment. Many of the performance 4WDs sold in the UK, eg Cayenne, ML55, X5 4.8i etc come with road focused tyres.
DAZ
>> Edited by dazren on Tuesday 18th January 10:53
Totally agree about the tyre comment. Many of the performance 4WDs sold in the UK, eg Cayenne, ML55, X5 4.8i etc come with road focused tyres.
DAZ
>> Edited by dazren on Tuesday 18th January 10:53
bruciebabe said:
Plus, his Volvo was an X90 - shouldn't have been an issue.
When the weather gets really bad I am always suprised at the number of 4x4s in the ditch. I think it is because their owners think these vehicles give them God like capabilities and so suspend the laws of physics. In bad weather tyre choice is more important than all wheel drive.
I spent some time in Ontario where they have much more extreme winter weather. Despite this 4x4s are not that prevalent. A heavy front wheel drive car with properly chosen tyres appears to be the preferred weapon of choice
Wolf,
The connecting road is one of the locale's primary arterial routes and the hill down which our skid balletique transpired, also supports a local medical centre, albeit private but despite the ethical dilemma that such provisions might ordinarily represent for our council commies, they normally cave in and at least provide safety yielding quanitities of grit for the medical crews.
However, not even the main route, festooned as it is with cycle lanes, bus stops and baby orang-u-tan changing shelters had benefitted from the tiniest fragment of fossilised beach stone.
It is now snowing quyite heavily.
Gritters be damned since...hark - what commotion yonder?
Why, it be the celebratory float commemorating lederhosen shod gaiety with our Swiss twin town, come to cheer us up as we search for digging equipment.
The Principality of Madness.
The connecting road is one of the locale's primary arterial routes and the hill down which our skid balletique transpired, also supports a local medical centre, albeit private but despite the ethical dilemma that such provisions might ordinarily represent for our council commies, they normally cave in and at least provide safety yielding quanitities of grit for the medical crews.
However, not even the main route, festooned as it is with cycle lanes, bus stops and baby orang-u-tan changing shelters had benefitted from the tiniest fragment of fossilised beach stone.
It is now snowing quyite heavily.
Gritters be damned since...hark - what commotion yonder?
Why, it be the celebratory float commemorating lederhosen shod gaiety with our Swiss twin town, come to cheer us up as we search for digging equipment.
The Principality of Madness.
Mr E said:
Now hang on here a sec.
We're always bleating on about people taking responsability for ones actions.
You get up. It's snow and ice out there. You get into and then crash your car.
How is that anybody elses fault?
A reasonable point, except that we pay for the roads to be gritted in such conditions.
derestrictor said:
Now hang on here a sec.
We're always bleating on about people taking responsability for ones actions.
You get up. It's snow and ice out there. You get into and then crash your car.
How is that anybody elses fault?
I suppose the bloke could have stayed in bed and wimped out of tax raising but when you live on a hill, it a kind of occupational hazard.
Plus, his Volvo was an X90 - shouldn't have been an issue.
Does he not have legs then? Or live anywhere near a bus route. Or indeed work from home. Or wait an hour for the snow to melt a bit and work an hour later?
As pointed out, all the technical gubbins in the world will not make a car slow down if there's no grip.
lanciachris said:
A reasonable point, except that we pay for the roads to be gritted in such conditions.
Oh agreed. But it doesn't make you less responsible for what you do, simply because others haven't done their jobs.
I hate the local council with a passion, but when the cats tear my bin bags to bits because the bin men havn't picked the rubbish up I don't shrug and say "someone elses problem".
Sorry, I'm coming over all defensive here.
The councils are a waste of good oxygen.
But, while I usually agree with the fabled Ders rants whole hartedly, I fail to see how a single car going into a wall can be anybodies fault apart from the drivers.
We want to be trusted as drivers to exercise judgement and choose appropriate speed to suit conditions. It works both ways.
I recall a thread about a scottish lawyer who tried to sue the city when he slipped and fell on an icy hill. He was laughed at.
How is this different?
The councils are a waste of good oxygen.
But, while I usually agree with the fabled Ders rants whole hartedly, I fail to see how a single car going into a wall can be anybodies fault apart from the drivers.
We want to be trusted as drivers to exercise judgement and choose appropriate speed to suit conditions. It works both ways.
I recall a thread about a scottish lawyer who tried to sue the city when he slipped and fell on an icy hill. He was laughed at.
How is this different?
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