It's Winter. Fucking Deal With It.

This last weekend, I visited the lovely cities of Ieper in Belgium, and Lille in France. This is an annual trip where I take my dear mum and auntie along with me, enabling them each to purchase 6 months' worth of booze and whatever other old shite they can find.

I was rather worried about having to drive to Folkestone for the Euro Tunnel shuttle to Calais and beyond, but putting my concerns aside, I diligently drove around the M25 and then the M20. Yes, it was a bit hairy on the black ice and whatnot, but we made it all the same.

Upon reaching the Calais it became apparent that our lovely French cousins had seen a bit of snow, too. Well, a lot of snow, actually. I also noticed that their roads appeared to be clear despite the snow and the sub-zero temperatures. I was absolutely fucking astounded. For Christ knows how long now, we've had various meteorologists telling us that it's going to be 'very cold' and that we're going to have 'snow'.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it not fucking winter? Just what excuse can we have in this country for allowing a bit of snow to bring the entire country to a fucking standstill? I had to laugh at Herts Highways Twitter feed which stated that: 'Gritters on standby, road temperatures below zero, snow expected later, but we don't think it will settle'. WHAT IF IT DOES SETTLE?! What that feed should have read was 'Gritters on standby, we don't think. Ever.'.

We're all aware that the cost to the economy when the country is 'snowed in' under a few centimetres of snow is massive, so why the fuck don't they grit the bloody roads JUST IN FUCKING CASE? Surely they'd be better off having too much salt and grit rather than not enough? All this bollocks about how severe weather 'can't be predicted' and is 'unusual' just doesn't fly any more.  These twats are full of pathetic excuses.

On Saturday, I drove from Ieper to Lille, not a massively long journey, about a 45 minute drive.  It BUCKETED down with the white stuff. All the way. Chaos? No. Road closures? No. People sitting in cars on the hard shoulder? No. So what's the bloody difference? Everything! 

So the country becomes a bloody disaster zone because we are buried under a few centimetres of snow.  Jesus, ring the Pope. Call in the Army!

It's WINTER. Fucking deal with it!