’Twas Brillig*

Well they can tell me all they like that there was grit, but quite frankly I don’t believe a word of it. Nigel rang the office sometime before 8pm saying that we could leave early, which at the time seemed pointless since nothing was moving from the Brindleyplace car park. Something must have happened as around half eight everything suddenly started moving and we decided to scarper before the roads cleared of cars and froze up for good.

Oddly the drive home was fairly straightforward - apart from the impromptu slalom laid on by the owners of abandoned cars (why when bad weather has been forecast do people drive without plenty of fuel?), and a dicey moment when I realised the ice on the downside of the Perry Barr flyover was having a greater effect than the car’s brakes.

So of course today, after yesterday’s post, Birmingham comes to a complete standstill. Driving in to work for 3 all the roads were clear of snow (and grit!) and now it has snowed again and Birmingham is gridlocked.

Since the school was closed and I’m doing a week of evening support, the kids and I had a snowball fight this morning which we all enjoyed. Unfortunately it was the wrong kind of snow™ and we couldn’t get a decent ball started for a snowman.

It’s odd, but I’m doing the same thing with this years snow as when it last snowed properly, January 28, 2004 I was also doing evening support when, during the rush hour, Birmingham ground to a halt. When I’m on evening support I have to move my car from the NIA car park to the office car park (by about 17:30 enough management and others have left for this to be possible); the car journey is less then 5 minutes, but on that day it took me over an hour to do it. I suspect it is memories like this which have led to so many school closures and the reported numbers of people staying away (although this didn’t seem to be very true of my office when I turned up). I know that the Highways Agency has said that people should only make essential journeys, but quite frankly all the main arteries into and around Brum appear to be clear.