Whats the weather like in your area

[T.C.]

Fortunately working from home it hasn't really affected me other than the fact that I have had to cancel a couple of appointments.

I went out to clear our path of snow this morning and the wife measured at least 8 inches and at 2 this afternoon it started snowing heavily again with local radio saying that we can expect a further 4 - 6 inches between now and 11 tonight. Oh Joy

[Jadaris]

oooh the wife is lucky measuring all those inches

Lots of snow here but unfortunately it didn't stop me from getting to work although it did make me awfully late this morning, for some silly reason it made me turn off my alarm

Bring on the snowball fights

[joecrx]

getting colder up here in scotland forecast -20 by the end of the week

[Samray]

Almost like a real winter across here. It may be before long I suppose.

Incidentally I'm told there is no snow in the midsummer Falkland Islands, so the penguins probably smell worse than ever.

[fastasfcuk]

not good here,we've had about 6 or 7 inch's. no parts delivery mon and tues so two days off.

[Falcopops]

Nah, I won't depress you any further

[Falco9]

Nah, I won't depress you any further

Fair comment but I haven't had to look under the toilet seat for any venomous spiders lately!

Haven't seen a bug, fly or even a hibernating ladybird for weeks now

F9

[Samray]

No sharks around these parts either.

[Nooj]

six inches of snow in Newbury. Makes my cross country commute difficult, didn't even attempt it today.

[D-Rider]

six inches of snow in Newbury. Makes my cross country commute difficult, didn't even attempt it today.

Apparently my folks and the inlaws have a foot of the stuff in and around Reading.
About an inch and a half here in Cov.

[HowardQ]

Was only 3 degrees when I left Frigiliana this mornong, with snow on all the coastal peaks and quite a lot as we flew over the Bilbao area, too much cloud to see all the central area.
Evidently we had 6 or 8 inches back South Yorks and this had thawed down to about 5 or 6 when I got home, but snowing again now and already laid another inch.
On a different subject, whatever happened to snow shifting, as it seems that hardly anybody does it these days. I live at the end of a cul-de-sac at the bottom of a very steep hill, so if I don't clear it I can't get out, and as my house is right at the end, if anything loses it down the hill, (as two did B4 Xmas), they ultimately stop when they get to my house!
I regularly go out snow shifting or fetching salt from the bin up the road to spread around the road, but it seems that hardly anybody else does.
Best I get is somebody coming to the window to see what's going off, then closing the curtains.
Then again, we do occasionally get the types who empty nearly all of the salt bin over a few of square metres right outside their house about 3 inches thick.
Nearly all the roads on our estate haven't been touched by anybody.

[FlyingKiwi]

Nah, I won't depress you any further

You won't depress me.
I had 15years of it.
Give me 6 inches of snow over 36 c any day

[Tweaker]

On a different subject, whatever happened to snow shifting, as it seems that hardly anybody does it these days.

Hi Howard. One of the reasons may well be a general unease with the 'Blame n claim' culture that has evolved, aided greatly by the greed and avarice of the great british public and ambulance chasing claims firms.

Council's are, by and large, (and correctly IMHO) protected from spurious claims provided they have made 'reasonable' efforts' to keep roads clear.

However, the same conditions don't apply to individuals or even businesses.

"If you clear the snow in a less than satisfactory manner from the highway and this leaves ice – which is potentially more dangerous than a covering of snow – then you may be liable to passers-by who fall and injure themselves.

"This is because you owe a common law duty of care to others. You should not do anything that makes an area unsafe.

"The same principle applies to any business where customers are expected."

The above is a quote in our local newspaper from a Solicitor. No wonder concern for fellow humanity is dwindling!

[T.C.]

Hi Howard. One of the reasons may well be a general unease with the 'Blame n claim' culture that has evolved, aided greatly by the greed and avarice of the great british public and ambulance chasing claims firms.

Council's are, by and large, (and correctly IMHO) protected from spurious claims provided they have made 'reasonable' efforts' to keep roads clear.

However, the same conditions don't apply to individuals or even businesses.

"If you clear the snow in a less than satisfactory manner from the highway and this leaves ice – which is potentially more dangerous than a covering of snow – then you may be liable to passers-by who fall and injure themselves.

"This is because you owe a common law duty of care to others. You should not do anything that makes an area unsafe.

"The same principle applies to any business where customers are expected."

The above is a quote in our local newspaper from a Solicitor. No wonder concern for fellow humanity is dwindling!

Unfortunately there is a lot of scaremongering, and in these cases the press tend to over dramatise the situation.

To get a claim moving, the law firm representing the claimant have to carry out a risk assessment before they can proceed, in other words the case has to be screened to determine the merits of the case as well as the chances of success.

As part of the screening process, one of the questions that has to be asked is "were the actions of the potential defendant reasonable for the circumstances?"

If the answer is yes, then the claim immmidiately collapses.

So what would be an example of where a claim could proceed? Well, lets say that someone washed down their driveway to clear away the snow and ice with boiling water and that water then froze. Given the conditions, using boiling water which could reasonably be expected to escape onto a public pathway and then would be likely to freeze might not be considered reasonable, so the chances of a claim succeeding would be greater than if it was simply shovelled up.

When it comes to the roads, it is slightly different as Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 imposes a statutory duty of care on the local authority to maintain the roads, where section 50 of the same act provides a statutory defence if it can be shown that the local authority did everything reasonable in its power to maintain a level of safety.

Section 39 of the 1988 Road Traffic Act then supports the Highways act in requiring the local authority to carry out appropriate measures to promote road safety, hence why it is often difficult to make successful claims against the Highways authority.

But going back to the original subject, if the actions of the individual or the business was reasonable for the circumstances, then they have nothing to fear, it is really aimed at those individuals who are reckless in their actions that it would affect, but that having been said the UK does not have a claim culture anything like they have in the USA, and in fact on the world stage, the UK is down in something like 30th place withthe likes of Germany, France and even Japan well ahead of us.

[Kwackerz]

Its quite nice here. Been in the 20's and with the thin ozone layer where I am it's sunburn central..
It has been quite blustery with force 8 gales and the like at times and the odd squally shower, but ive yet to see any snow.
Oh and Ive yet to see any Penguins this time.