With grit for the roads rapidly running out (if you believe the news and distrust Gordon Brown) it’s funny to note the excuses put out by local authorities accused of not gritting the roads properly.
1> Grit needs a flow of traffic over it shortly after being laid down for it to work.
Funnily enough, when I got back from Austrailia, the first thing I did was grit the area outside my garage (it’s not funny when the car starts to slide just as you enter an enclosed space), following day, that gritted area was snow free despite only having one car drive over it.
2> Grit suplies are low because the weather was unexpected and you can’t store it for a long time.
The grit I used was some I liberated from a grit bin last year when it snowed (and stored in my garage ready for the next time it was needed), not sure how long it had been in the bin, but it has certainly not degraded over the 12 months that it has been in my possession.
The true cause of the situation we are in however is the budgets and the hype about global warming.
In the first case, councils are being hit with ever tighter budgets for the essentials because their money is hoovered up protecting the pensions of council workers and funding strange minority projects like “Gay Lithuanian Pensioners against Apple Blossom*” when all they really should be doing is the essentials like emptying the bins and keeping the roads clear.
Secondly, with their unerring political belief in global warming how could it ever snow again, surely a cold-snap is impossible, so why bother to prepare for it – Boris Johnson’s London Transport Strategy (all 354 pages of it) bleats on about responding to climate change but not once covers what will be done in the case of freezing conditions.
* Please note that I have nothing against Gays, Lithuanians or indeed Pensioners, Apple Blossom however, is only fine whilst it’s on the tree, I hate it when it falls off and starts littering the streets 😀
