On the arrogance of head teachers...

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It snowed this morning - in fact it's still snowing now. It started while I was at the gym - about 9.30 - and has been pretty heavy resulting in the usual 'snowcoplypse' of traffic gridlock as everyone heads for home as that first snowflake settles.

One of the trainers at the gym gets a text message from her child's school telling her to come and pick up the child as they wanted to close the school. I must admit that, on hearing this, my blood frothed and boiled a little. Understand that this is one worker texting another worker telling that worker to stop work and make it possible for them to go home early because it is snowing.

The school had absolutely no right to do that - they cannot expect someone to leave their place of work in that manner. The children - I assume since this is a school - are safe and warm and will remain so for a fair while. What the school is asking is for parents to struggle through fresh snow to collect their children - for no good reason. Solely to facilitate the teachers making a quick getaway.

Such unforgivable arrogance.

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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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To the men driving the gritters - thanks!

This winter Bradford Council has spread nearly 10,000 tonnes of rock salt along 750 miles of treated roads in the district. And I know that the same goes for other Pennine authorities. It's never good enough - there are people who have had problems getting about especially as some steep cul-de-sacs in villages like Cullingworth don't get treated. But speaking personally, I have not been stopped from going about my normal life - work, shopping, family - by the snow.

So that's why I'd like to thank the folk driving the gritter wagons all night every night for the past few weeks. They's done a grand job.

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