Absolutely Pathetic, but proves the point.

Originally posted by detachedindividual
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

People are still driving the few hundred yards to a local shop!

Power out for a few days? Candles and torches. Yes it's frustrating but come on! Get out and go for a walk, find other ways to entertain yourself.

Seriously, anyone would think we have life difficult in this country. We don't!

It's true about driving 100 yards to the shop. It's a culture really isn't it. Stupid bloody culture.

When I was a kid, you walked to the bus shelter and got the bus to school, along with all your chums. (in the wintertime, you would sometimes walk in 3ft of snow) Nowadays, moms and dads have their kids wrapped up in soooo much cotton wool, they are taken everywhere in the car (automobile). I jest not, ALL the moms in their big 4x4 are obese.

Dump the car for the short journey, get your wellies on and get out there and do it. It's actually quite fun. Remember that?

More snow please, it's bringing a bit of community spirit into the equation.

reply to post by Northern Raider


Hey guys,having fun ?

I actually just thought I'd try and get a weather report as I'm headed toward 'Northern Raider territory' (well Crook anyway) later and wondered if I needed snow shoes for the van up there... B.O.B prepped for that white stuff that seems to be all over at the moment.

Originally posted by AGENT_T
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

Hey guys,having fun ?

I actually just thought I'd try and get a weather report as I'm headed toward 'Northern Raider territory' (well Crook anyway) later and wondered if I needed snow shoes for the van up there... B.O.B prepped for that white stuff that seems to be all over at the moment.

Yup is snowing like hell tonight from here right up through Crook and up the dale, the temp is dropping like a stone and the wind is getting up, A68 is like a skid pan in places ( just come back from Wolsingham via Crook)

Unfortunately, I think you'll find this sort of behavior the world over.

There's currently floods up in the top end of Australia in Queensland, and bush fires raging in the southern states.

Shops shelves emptied, jammed traffic, all the usual business, and total panic.

What annoys me is the many people that have been interviewed on TV that say things like "we don't have any batteries for the radio!" or the ones that don't even own a portable radio...

Defies belief.

I just don't understand this, and i really have tried. Why are these motorists in need of rescue? For gods sake are they that stupid? They heard the weather reports so why didn't they pack some stuff in their cars? In summer i car 2xtwo liter bottles of water, some spare food and an empty bottle for, erm well you get the point. In winter i carry food, water, blankets, a shovel and a candle or two. I also carry some instant coffee, hot chocolate and a small boiling cup that can be used with the candle.

This seems common sense to me when you hear such weather reports. The sensitive side says rescue them but the callous side of me says to leave them a long time in that car, to get very cold and learn a damn lesson. Luckily the nice side of me tends to overrule the callous side.

As for the other things. Well i honestly believe we should send some peopel to places like Sweden or Canada and learn from them how to deal with snow on our roads. They deal with vast amounts every year and we get messed up by less than 4 inches in some areas.

Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984
I just don't understand this, and i really have tried. Why are these motorists in need of rescue? For gods sake are they that stupid? They heard the weather reports so why didn't they pack some stuff in their cars? In summer i car 2xtwo liter bottles of water, some spare food and an empty bottle for, erm well you get the point. In winter i carry food, water, blankets, a shovel and a candle or two. I also carry some instant coffee, hot chocolate and a small boiling cup that can be used with the candle.

Socialism encourages apathty and the social state mentailty whereby the ciitizens stop thinking for themselves, The UK is a perfect example of the " Government should do something " mentality . The net end result is we breed a race of benefit dwelling village idiots who can not fend for themselves.

reply to post by Northern Raider
Sounds like people in Seattle. They get a half an inch of snow and everything shuts down. It's really pathetic. They would never survive where i live.

Originally posted by Anuubis
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

Sounds like people in Seattle. They get a half an inch of snow and everything shuts down. It's really pathetic. They would never survive where i live.

We have lots and lots of people who drive cars with ABS and Anti skid and 4 wheel drive and traction control, these gadgets make them believe the laws of physics not longer apply, especially the ones pertaining to friction, traction, direction and speed. Its totally unbelievable people driving Porsche, BMWs, Range Rovers, Jeeps etc who believe the best way to travel on black ice is to go as fast as possible.

Originally posted by Northern Raider
Socialism encourages apathty and the social state mentailty whereby the ciitizens stop thinking for themselves, The UK is a perfect example of the " Government should do something " mentality . The net end result is we breed a race of benefit dwelling village idiots who can not fend for themselves.

Not sure about this. You may consider me one of these benefit swelling idiots as i'm currently very ill and unable to work. In fact if trapped, shovelling out the snow around my car may make me so ill i would be unable to drive for very long. Not all people on benefits stop thinking for themselves.

People are lazy not because of the government but because life in general is easy. They can go to the supermarket and pick up their food, go to the petrol station and pick up fuel, go to the cashpoint and pick up currency.

It's not the government it's our entire society that is based around a service industry. Everything here is easy and that isn't the governments fault, and i usually love to blame the government. This is something that has gone on for the last 20 years, slowly but surely we've become reliant upon our service industry.

How many people still grow their own food? Even in gardens? Not very many. How many people hunt their own food, even on a weekend? A very small percentage. This is something that has grown slowly, it's not the government it is society as a whole that chose the easy route.

Not sure about this. You may consider me one of these benefit swelling idiots as i'm currently very ill and unable to work.

No I dont put you into that category,
(A) you dont find benefit dwelling idiots rationally debating on preparedness forums, they are too busy watching Big Brother On Ice to try and find ways to help themselves.
(B) Anyone can lose their good health and become ill, its how you adress your condition that matters.

I hope you return to full fitness soon
NR

Originally posted by Northern Raider
No I dont put you into that category,
(A) you dont find benefit dwelling idiots rationally debating on preparedness forums, they are too busy watching Big Brother On Ice to try and find ways to help themselves.
(B) Anyone can lose their good health and become ill, its how you adress your condition that matters.

I hope you return to full fitness soon
NR

Fair enough and don't get me started on big brother, dancing on ice, celebrity X because i tend to get very angry and give up on humanity

This thread was a very good one. The reason i say this is that so many people consider those who prepare to be nuts, they say they're alarmists, paranoid and other such things. Yet when bad things happen, when it all breaks down even in small areas it is the careful people who will be warm in their car, drinking hot chocolate and able to clear the snow and ice around their tires.

Yet before next winter i promise you that again we will be called paranoid, stupid, pathetic etc.

[edit on 8-2-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

reply to post by Northern Raider
We have people like that here as well. Where i live i have to drive over a mountain pass to get to work and i have a four wheel drive. I drive a sensible speed depending on road conditions, but i still get passed by dumbasses who think they can drive 80 miles an hour in a foot of snow because they have four wheel drives.

Originally posted by Anuubis
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

We have people like that here as well. Where i live i have to drive over a mountain pass to get to work and i have a four wheel drive. I drive a sensible speed depending on road conditions, but i still get passed by dumbasses who think they can drive 80 miles an hour in a foot of snow because they have four wheel drives.

I build submarines and aircraft carriers for a living. Ive been around enough technology to be impressed with alot of it but at the same time be very careful about how much of it on which I will bet my life and safety. I dont care how much technology is in a car or anyother device..we often are held up by weather..no matter how carefully we plan. One has to be educated in public schools...to not know this factor as a definite truth.

We have the same caliber of idiots and race car wannabees here in Chesapaeke Bay, Virginia. It does not snow that much here..and as a rule people can hardly drive in the rain..much less snow. Front wheel drive, ABS Braking, or even four wheel drive, is not a gaurantee for which I would stake my life and safety verses very defensive driving and or just staying home.

It is my way to keep a pantry stocked up with goods and also my freezers/refrigerators for just such bad weather or other calamities. It just seems the prudent thing to do. Interesting to me the number of people around me who do not think this way.

Hang in there you folks in the UK. You may have to stiffen up till springtime but hang in there.

Agree with the posters who said that their parents and grandparents did not panic in such weather. Well said ..well said.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Being from the UK , and in the thick of the snow in London, on that monday, I couldn't get into work either, luckily for me, I actually heard the weather reports and took steps to not only stock up on food and drinks in the days before but also warned my family to the same.
It must've been the one time they actually listened to me ,as they did stock up and they couldn't get out either.
My main concern was my Nan, but my Mum went over the saturday before and stocked her up, I was quite surprised to hear that the weather people actually got it right for a change.
Mind you it was nice going out in the snow, saying hello to strangers and laughing when they fell over and getting laughed at when I fell over. It made the whole community come together, the only miserable ones were the ones trying to drive to work. mugs.

I think you guys are being rather unnecessary calling people who can't handle snow 'idiots'. For most people, it is just plain impractical to prepare for a 'situation x' that is unlikely to happen. People can do whatever they want, no one is criticising you guys for being prepared. Let them live how they want to live. They're still 'surviving', just in a different way from you.

You guys are survival snobs.

Originally posted by PeaceUk
I think you guys are being rather unnecessary calling people who can't handle snow 'idiots'. For most people, it is just plain impractical to prepare for a 'situation x' that is unlikely to happen. People can do whatever they want, no one is criticising you guys for being prepared. Let them live how they want to live. They're still 'surviving', just in a different way from you.

You guys are survival snobs.

No they are not surviving, they were barely existing and almost totally reliant of the state to come and bale them out.

NR speaks harsh words but true ones. The past ten years have seen the apathy factor become cranked up.
It almost seems like the cogs and wheels of infrastructure in hardship is running on fumes at the best of times.
Money isn't being spent where it needs to be, along with the socialistic minded masses that are everywhere these days.

Originally posted by PeaceUk
I think you guys are being rather unnecessary calling people who can't handle snow 'idiots'. For most people, it is just plain impractical to prepare for a 'situation x' that is unlikely to happen. People can do whatever they want, no one is criticising you guys for being prepared. Let them live how they want to live. They're still 'surviving', just in a different way from you.

You guys are survival snobs.

I dont call people idiots because they cant drive in the snow, I call them casulties. Sadly, these people who cant drive in adverse conditions commonly wipe others out in their quest to break the land speed record on black ice.

Impractical to prepare for a situation x? Is it really too much to ask someone to grab a coat, a small shovel, and a thermos before heading out on bad roads? You dont need to be the next Ray Mears or Les Stroud, but come on, use a little common sense here. Someone is not always going to be around to bail you out, gotta take some initive to take care of yourself.

Actually, Ive been criticized for being prepared for unforseen calamities. Why do you stock food? Thats a waste. Why wander into the woods for a couple of weeks when you could be at the beach? Why keep that bag full of stuff in your car that Ive never seen you use?

Its the people that ask these questions and jest who are the first to come running my way looking for help when things get bad.

Survival snob. Thats new, never heard that before, okay if I put that on a business card?

Originally posted by PeaceUk
I think you guys are being rather unnecessary calling people who can't handle snow 'idiots'. For most people, it is just plain impractical to prepare for a 'situation x' that is unlikely to happen. People can do whatever they want, no one is criticising you guys for being prepared. Let them live how they want to live. They're still 'surviving', just in a different way from you.

You guys are survival snobs.

The so-called 'experts' said that this "unlikely to happen" event happens every 10 years. Frankly it used to be more often than that but I'm splitting hairs.

If you have to travel any particular distance it is common sense to prepare for alternatives and not just rely on one mode of transport.

People can do whatever they want and that is a problem for me (but that's personal).

Did I see that Boris was withdrawing snow pay for those who did not turn up for work? If so, good.

Case Study:
Many years ago I was looking through some old daily work diaries. They dated from 1984 or some similar arcane period. Basically there had been a heavy snow fall and one guy lived in a village several miles from town and usually cycled in.

The entry read something like,

Paul arrived 3 hours late after walking in from [village X]. Paid for the whole day.

Yes, there is a fine line between effort and stupidity but I just think the majority will all too quickly hope someone else will do it for them rather than get off their respective rears.

BTW PeaceUK, thats a great Rorschach avatar!

reply to post by DrumsRfun


What did you do? J/w.

Anyways, I really hope nothing like that happens where I live. I think I would be able to handle myself, but Id rather not find out.