Snow laughing matter
I'm blaming Boris. For eight years while Ken Livingstone was Mayor I had to listen to anyone who didn't like him say "I blame Ken" every time something they didn't like happened, and I reserve the right to do the same to his gibbering successor. And since Boris became Mayor the buses have been fucked (not surprising when his main public transport policy is "I don't like bendy buses, I don't think they're safe even though statistically they're safer than the alternatives but never mind about that let's get rid of them!") Last night I mentioned the snow; 24 hours later it's still snowing and London has responded by lying down and playing dead. No public transport. No buses, which is frankly batshit 'cause cars and trucks are happily using the roads, but not a single bus could get going this morning? If I had any sense I'd have said fuck it and stayed at home. Apparently I don't have any sense because I walked into work - over an hour and a half what with having to tread carefully on the ice.
Once there Karen and I suggested to Fearless Leader that we run tomorrow's labels in case we can't get in at all tomorrow, but he said he'd risk it because he was confident it'll get better by the morning (presumably he got this from all the weather reports saying it'll get worse by the morning.) So fuck it, if there's no buses tomorrow I'm staying in bed, on his own head be it. We got the most urgent stuff done as soon as possible, and most people left early. FL asked me and Karen to stay until 2:30 in case the phones rang because we're the people who live the nearest. We ended up leaving before then because the snow was coming down very heavily and the last thing we wanted was to be stuck there. FL had said he'd pay for us to get cabs home, which is all very well except by 1ish all the cab drivers had fucked off home - we phoned every cab company we could think of and the best offer we got was a 2-hour wait on time and a half. So back on foot it was, another hour and a half through the snow...
So it turns out the snow was even less fun than I'd predicted - I was ankle-deep in sludge at times and my legs are sore from having to tread oh-so-carefully for over three hours (I had some nasty slips but managed not to actually fall over.) Anyway, I hope things are back to normal-ish tomorrow - not 'cause of work, but I've got theatre - A Midsummer Night's Dream, oh the irony.
Once there Karen and I suggested to Fearless Leader that we run tomorrow's labels in case we can't get in at all tomorrow, but he said he'd risk it because he was confident it'll get better by the morning (presumably he got this from all the weather reports saying it'll get worse by the morning.) So fuck it, if there's no buses tomorrow I'm staying in bed, on his own head be it. We got the most urgent stuff done as soon as possible, and most people left early. FL asked me and Karen to stay until 2:30 in case the phones rang because we're the people who live the nearest. We ended up leaving before then because the snow was coming down very heavily and the last thing we wanted was to be stuck there. FL had said he'd pay for us to get cabs home, which is all very well except by 1ish all the cab drivers had fucked off home - we phoned every cab company we could think of and the best offer we got was a 2-hour wait on time and a half. So back on foot it was, another hour and a half through the snow...
So it turns out the snow was even less fun than I'd predicted - I was ankle-deep in sludge at times and my legs are sore from having to tread oh-so-carefully for over three hours (I had some nasty slips but managed not to actually fall over.) Anyway, I hope things are back to normal-ish tomorrow - not 'cause of work, but I've got theatre - A Midsummer Night's Dream, oh the irony.