London has come to a standstill!!

if you happen to pass by manila just buzz me . it is better to enjoy the weather here with a friend! stray warm!

Yes, not much chance of snow for you! I am a bit jealous of the hot summer that you're expecting next month, but I know that very hot weather has its own problems. I hope it's not too unmanageable, and that you manage to stay cool! Thanks for your answer.

It's still better than what happens to us here, we got flood when it's rainy days. And believe me, I would prefer to stuck in my home by snow than surrounded by flood water that came from errrrr, toilet maybe...

Wow, you must have a noisy house today! I'm not surprised that they're all pleased about it, I remember being pleased too when it happened to us. My daughter, on the other hand, was sad! She likes her preschool. But we did go for a walk before and we made a snowman and she threw lots of snowballs at me, which was fun! I hope you all have a fun day.

Yes, I agree with everything that you've said! Your side of the country seems much more organised in this situation. I was told recently that they didn't grit because the government service that used to be responsible for gritting (in the olden days!!), and also storing the grit has been privatised. And they have other things to spend their money on. It's a very sad state of affairs!

Oh, and well done for getting to walk. More people should brave the snow and walk. (Myself included probably - although I dread the thought of doing such a walk with a three-year old. )

Hope they are better now and things are getting back to normal.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, snow is very beautiful and nice to play in, but it causes problems as we're not really used to it any more, and so there is no funding to stop the problems. Thanks for your advice. Things are going back to normal again now.

Thanks dpk (can I call you that?) Yes, the snow has all gone for now, and now we have some nice spring-like weather. Things change so quickly here, lol!

I used to live in Leyton. Magical? That's an interesting term for that place. LOL. Maybe you are in North Chingford where I can imagine that the snow in the trees must be beautiful.

Thanks derry. Yes, sadly I can believe it! I agree that we should be thankful for the internet. At least that way we know which tube lines, trains, buses (hmm, none!) are working. Enjoy your games etc.. And have fun in magical walthamforest

And I'm sure that Leyton was magical too.

Hi Carl, sorry I missed your discussion earlier. Yes, I suppose it does make sense that the countries with much more frequent snow would have a bigger budget for this. It just gets me how we're always so unprepared, even though we usually get at least some snow each year. And when I was at school (in the 'olden days', ha ha!) we always used to get snow like this, so it isn't outside the realms of possibility that it might have happened again some time.. Maybe councils should have some kind of contingency plans for when this happens, but I do get that limited resources means that money is also needed everywhere else. Ho hum. Thanks for your answer.

Thanks sweetpeasmom, I know that many in America are in a similar position, and in many cases have it a lot worse than we have it. No mail for a week would be annoying. We had no mail today, and it's likely to not be the only day. It's meant to be a bit warmer tomorrow with some sun, but then the snow's coming back, so I think we might have a similar situation. I can't wait until spring either. It's my favourite season, and this is making me long for it even more. (Wow, I am moaning a lot today! Sorry!)

Yes, we were not at all prepared, although if you saw how much (or rather how little) we had compared to you, you'd probably see how ridiculous it is that we couldn't cope with it! I'm glad that you haven't had it so bad this year, and that you're always prepared. Sounds harsh as well with the heavy winds. I hope you have some good weather to come. :p)

Thanks for your answer. It was a pain at the time, but now the snow's gone.

Lucky you! Yes, it is amazing really. A Scottish friend told me recently that in Scotland they have a different type of tyres that can cope better with the snow. I'm sure that they also grit the roads, which didn't happen much here, and was a major problem.

Thanks Sarah! Yes, London can be mad. It was nice for people to have the odd snow-day or two away from work, but a bit crazy that they had to. Luckily we're not in the centre. It's a bit quieter in the 'burbs!

Yes, we had a small taster of what it must be like in the Canadian snows . It was very pretty and nice to see for a little while. The bad thing was lack of transport links and slippery, snowy roads. It's all gone for now though, and we are now having some very welcome, almost spring-like weather!

Hello fellow daffodil! Must be very cold on the East coast I imagine. Yes, I suppose that people commute a lot more these days. When we were at school I also don't remember schools closing when we had snow like this. We used to all walk in, the children and teachers alike. Thanks for your reply. Is it still snowing there? Hope you thaw out soon. :)

Thanks for your answer, and the reminder. It's weird to think that global warming can make it snow more than normal - you'd expect it to make it warmer, not colder. But I know that it has many complicated effects.

Yes, you're right, you'd think that the forecasts would allow for some preparation, but I suppose it's more complicated than that. When I lived in France everyone had chains for their wheels, but I've never heard of anyone having them here. I hope that you don't get it too badly. It is really beautiful, but it's annoying if you have people you want/need to see. I think it's probably also the case the the teachers couldn't get to our preschool, as most of the children live very locally like us. Hope you enjoy the snow and have fun! And thanks for your reply.

Yes, it really is P1key. Well, I suppose it's good that the congestion charge was lifted as it might've encouraged a few less people to not just stay at home. My m.i.l. drove to work on major roads and had no problems, and my husband got into work fine using the tube, but I know there are problems with lots of train lines. The most annoying thing for me is that there are no buses, and the roads round here are quite dangerous to get through. We had many scary moments last night on just a short drive, and at one point thought we would have to abandon our car in the middle of the road! It's good that you were able to get to your course. I think that walking is probably the best option at the moment, although I know that some of the major roads have been gritted. Maybe the media need to try to give us some handy hints (like leaving early, and that some of the big roads are fine, etc..), rather than telling us not to leave the house! Hmm, so, what am I saying exactly? Well, I agree that the media is blowing it out of a proportion to a certain extent ("stay in your homes!", "barricade yourselves in!" - ok, I made that last bit up..), but I think that to the rest of the extent , things are quite bad in some areas, and it is hard to get around if you don't want to walk for hours, and some people can't. And this is all because there are no measures in place for snow. Ok, (current) rant over!