Random thoughts from a five hour homeward journey...

The snow arrived - or more to point, the really big snow arrived - in Yorkshire. And the result of this is both good and bad. A five hour journey home is part of the bad and the sight of the front door at the end of those five hours is definitely good!

The white blanket covers up all the sharp edges of Yorkshire and heightens the beauty of the place. People go a little slower - sometimes with a little grumble but just as often with a smile as they enjoy the snow. Kids throw snowballs around, build snowmen, sledge and show the excitement we all remember from our own childhood that comes from the sight of snow. No sane 10 year old will be able to stay in the house with the snow around! And because the children are loving the snow....

....we love the snow!

But with this wonder goes 'snowcopolypse' - grid lock on all the roads, a spate of accidents large and small. Every emergency siren in the land seems to be going off as cops and paramedics scuttle across the whitened landscape. People get cold, wet, irritated and angry as the snow disrupts their plans - even plans as mundane as getting home at a reasonable time for once. Trips to the pictures are cancelled, the meal out with the parents-in-law is postponed and the Christmas shopping will have to wait for another day (although heaven knows when that will be given all the other stuff we've to do before the day). It's inconvenient, annoying, cold, disrupting and because those around us are grumbling, griping and moaning about the snow....

....we hate the snow!

But wait one further moment, there's another little bit of this tale to tell. Picture the scenes - real scenes...

Cemetery Road, Bradford with traffic struggling up the hill towards Lidget Green. Sliding around the road, some struggling to get any purchase at all. And folk come to push the cars - first it's people from behind in the queue who, I guess, have an interest in getting the traffic moving! But then people come out of the houses - there's half-a-dozen teenage Asian lads (the sort we more normally associate with less thoughtful acts) all be-hoodied. There are women wielding shovels and scattering salt. I didn't see carpet pieces but it wouldn't surprise me to see those as well.

These people didn't have to do this. They could have stayed snug and warm in their houses with a mug of tea and whatever they fancy on the telly. But they chose not to - instead they stepped out into the cold and helped people. Indeed, they helped people they'd never seen before and will probably never see again.

Some good things come from bad weather.

I really like the snow - even when it takes five hours to get home - it brings out the best in us.

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Bus travel not stressful? Who're you trying to kid?

Now I don’t claim to be as clever as the Goldacre chap when it comes to squirreling out dodgy research (although it’s interesting to note that Ben never strays into the drinking, smoking and eating field – that’s pinko Guardianistas for you) but this research worries me.

Driving a car is more stressful than going by bus, says new research

The author, Dr David Lewis is the media’s favourite ‘neuropsychologist’ and conducts lots of clever experiments designed to advise the owners of big brands on psychological stuff. And some of his work on brands and advertising response is very good and very interesting. His latest piece of research is paid for by folk called “Greener Journeys” who are:

…largely funded by major bus companies and so there are no studies on the stress levels of driving compared with travelling by train.

Dr Lewis did this to come up with his contention:

Dr Lewis, from the University of Sussex, conducted an experiment in which the heart rate and Electro-Dermal Response (EDR) of 30 commuters was measured when taking identical or similar journeys by car as a driver and by bus as a passenger.

So just thirty folk – that’s a pretty representative sample! And even if we aren’t concerned with representativeness, can we really be so sure that the results from just thirty people are enough to prove the point? I know Greener Journeys think so - but they just want to make more money from bus travellers rather than to save the planet or to reduce my stress levels.

So here are a few questions for Dr Lewis:

1. Have you repeated and replicated your test across a range of different locations, times, weather conditions and demographics?

2. Can you provide any evidence that modest short term increases in stress (which is what he is measuring) are actually a health risk?

3. Have you tested the stress levels when the bus is late or cancelled, it’s peeing down with rain and some women is giving you grief for smoking at the bus stop?

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