[Closed] Snow in snowy countries

Flogging a dead horse I know, but Londoners might like to consider this satellite photo of Europe at night:

[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2007/aug/08/2?picture=330352703 ]Europe at night[/url]

While Paris, Moscow and even Madrid are easy to pick out, London is only one of three major blobs of light in the UK, and the one above it (the Birmingham Liverpool Manchester Leeds Sheffield Nottingham megacity) is much bigger, and clearly one of the biggest population centres in the continent, alongside the others mentioned above and the Ruhr conurbation.

Some Londoners need to get out more...

There is a running joke in Sweden about the chaos when the snow starts; they also have a North/South banter (Well, Rest of Sweden / Stockholm).

Because the Americans made it snow later each year the Swedes resent putting their expensive buzzy tyres on until it actually snows so it's really bonkers the first time it snows, especially with their penchant for turbocharged cars.

Gus - Oh yes, it's an underground train above ground. How quaint! Not that they'd heard that it was going to snow days in advance or anything, but i'm sure trains used to be fitted with snow ploughs in winter conditions, or do Swiss trains simply not run in the winter? Perhaps TFL could have procured some?

On a serious note, snow in London does seem to happen often enough that you lot could do with working out how to get simple things like trains working in it, as opposed to the abject dismay and dumfounded surprise that always seems to be depicted to the rest of the country every time a few flakes fall...

the Birmingham Liverpool Manchester Leeds Sheffield Nottingham megacity

Why are you comparing several cities to London? I don't get your point. They aren't one whole, are they? And there's quite a distance between some of those towns. Not a Megacity.

Zokes- this particular lot of snow is the biggest fall in a long time. London rarely even gets snow that settles. And, we've got more snow than most of the rest of the country, for once!

Lets be honest, there really is nothing special about London, its just a bunch of buildings in a geographically helpful location. There's a reason hundreds of businesses are vacating for offices elsewhere - thats because it the "gain" from being in London is small enough to be negated by the downsides (increased costs, time lost due to commuting/transport etc). Anyone under the illusion that London is indespensible and particularly special is simply that, about the only thing that couldnt relocate from any major port city to any other major port city are the actual buildings, nothing to do with the contents.

(I hate cities, especially crowded ones - why you'd put yourself through living there is beyond me, but they are a necessary evil)

snow in London does seem to happen often enough

Snow in this quantity last occurred 18 years ago. Most sensible and intelligent people consider that investing large amounts of capital to deal with certain inclement weather conditions which only occur about every 18 years, and last no more than 2 or 3 days, is unnecessary.

I tend to agree with them.

And going by your apparent order of priorities, I'm very pleased that you're not part of our 'ineffectual' London government.

Coffeeking- you could say that about any other city, though, really. New York, Paris, Rome, Bradford...

Although I think shifting all the workers and gubbins from London, elsewhere, might be a bit tricky.

why you'd put yourself through living there is beyond me

Fine. That's you. You're not me. I don't expect you to share my views and opinions. I know why I love it here, and don't really care what others think, other than to try and give them an understanding of what it's really like, to be a Londoner.

Funny, how when people are proud of being Yorkshiremen, or Scottish, or whatever, that's seen as ok, but mention London, and people treat you like a leper who's just raped their gerbil...

people treat you like a leper who's just raped their gerbil...

I'd treat a leper who'd lust raped my gerbil with considerably more respect than any londoner, mainly because I can't quite envisage how you'd go about raping a gerbil, so they'd definitely deserve marks for ingenuity!

Bloody hell! can you imagine getting up one morning in Leed/Brum/Manc and finding that a bunch of Londoners had moved to your town.

Happens every year, it's called fresher's week 😉

the Birmingham Liverpool Manchester Leeds Sheffield Nottingham megacity

Why are you comparing several cities to London? I don't get your point. They aren't one whole, are they? And there's quite a distance between some of those towns. Not a Megacity.

But as it probably takes significantly less time to get between them than from one side of London to another, with or without snow, i'd suggest that they would be somewhat more useful

On that logic you should relocate everything to france, as its only 26 miles away I could run there faster than I could could get to leeds on the train.

djglover - Member
On that logic you should relocate everything to france, as its only 26 miles away I could run there faster than I could could get to leeds on the train.

In order to avoid having a bunch of surly londoners turning up in Manchester, that seems like an excellent idea! Or does it snow in the channel tunnel as well?

Zokes- you're in Manchester?

Ah, THAT explains the jealousy!!!

Zokes- you're in Manchester?

Nope....

So, come on; what amazing place are you in, then?

Did I ever say it's amazing? I never even implied it. All I stated was that London really isn't all that...

And you are of course wrong.

And I'm sure your intellectual prowess as a Londoner would have worked out how to view my profile on here. FYI, my research field is environmental science, and my main hobby is mountain biking (pretty exceptional for STW, it seems), so living on the edge of Snowdonia seems a pretty convenient place to be. If I want to pay £5 per pint and go to big(ish) clubs, Dublin is somewhat more convenient than London.

RudeBoy - Member
And you are of course wrong.

But rudepaddedfredboy, can you tell me what's so exceptional about London - something you've singularly failed to do over the afternoon...

On that logic you should relocate everything to france

Coffeeking- you could say that about any other city, though, really. New York, Paris, Rome, Bradford...

Although I think shifting all the workers and gubbins from London, elsewhere, might be a bit tricky.

I know, I just did say that- I said no city is special and you could relocate the contents of any of them anywhere.

why you'd put yourself through living there is beyond me

Fine. That's you. You're not me.

I mean to add that point, then forgot as I got distracted by this pesky work!

Well I wouldn't live in london. But I wouldn't live in Paris either. All big cities are the same. Full of people, you just get stuck in endless queue to get to the tube.
I have been involve in a something with a girl in london for a few month. And to be honest going to visit her was a nightmare. It's almost faster to go from my village to london that from waterloo station to her place (and she was living inside the zone 2).

There is no riding in london and what justifies (honest fred I am not trolling) that you paid exactly the same product in london more than lets say southampton, bristol, cambridge, nottigham, manchester or edimbourg?

what you've all done is got sucked in by mass media hysteria - about the weather, about London and about the North/South divide
it's a self-fulfilling prophecy fuelled by people who are led entirely by their reactions to the media

anyway

the few people who turned up at my office today were either grads who were too scared to stay at home, people who lived <5 minutes walk, non-British nationals and me, a northerner

I can't decide whether those who stayed at home were soft or sensible

it's a self-fulfilling prophecy fuelled by people who are led entirely by their reactions to the media

That, and wonderful political decisions such as [url= http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/coe-essex-a-better-olympic-mountain-bike-venue-than-wales--17340 ]this.....[/url]

rudeboy, so you'll admit that we have better pies but reckon the bike rides and beer are better. What bike ride from London is better than a bike ride from any city up ere? What London Beer is better than several northern beers?

But rudepaddedfredboy, can you tell me what's so exceptional about London

It's the Greatest City On Earth.

But, you (and others) have made your minds up that it's 'cr4p', etc, so there's no point me wasting my time trying to explain things to you.

Mountain biking is just ONE of the many things I enjoy in life. An many of them, I can only enjoy in a city like London.

mt; where did I suggest that stuff like pies or beer is better in London, than anywhere else? I'm not slagging off any other place. Actually, there are a few decent breweries in London, Meantime being one.

I choose to enjoy a place on it's own merits. I don't go to Snowdonia, and think 'oh, it's cr4p here, 'cos there's no shops/cinemas/museums etc', no, I enjoy what's wonderful and unique about the place.

See, living in such a cosmopolitan and diverse metropolis, you learn to have an open mind...

mt - no single beer is better than several beers, that's an impossible question to answer 😀

It's the Greatest City On Earth.

[i][b]Really?[/b][/i]

Have you spent enough time in many of the world's other 'great' cities to draw a reasoned conclusion, or have you just decided that because you happen to live in London?

Again, all i'm saying is that London really isn't all that. I'm sure there are worse places to live, but as a place to live or as a commercial centre, it's really not all that great. Granted, at present it houses the UK government and the majority of the UK's financial sector. However, seeing as most of the banks are in the process of bringing the western economy to its knees, and pointless policies such as the 2.5 % reduction in VAT aren't exactly helping the UK cope, I really fail to see how important at present it is to the rest of the UK

Have you spent enough time in many of the world's other 'great' cities to draw a reasoned conclusion

Name one, that, in ethnic, cultural, social, architectural, historical, influential, contemporary, artistic and economic terms, is greater.

If you include all those aspects, you will find that London wins, over all others.

So there!

And btw, you've spent a fair bit of time, arguing about a place which you apparently have little interest in...

Come on, you lot are rubbish. I at least expect a decent argument!

Pathetic...

Istanbul?

Given the current woes of the UK economy, it may well end up greater in that respect. I'm certain it is or has been more important on every other front you suggest, and i've not even been there. Berlin would also be worth another shout. In fact, there are plenty places that would qualify.

zokes - Member

FWIW, this argument is mildly more amusing than the finishing touches to my PhD, which is why i'm giving it slightly more attention than it deserves.

Posted 1 hour ago #

You must be easily amused....

Istanbul and Berlin, whilst fantastic cities, still can't match London, pound for pound.

Don't worry about trying to find a greater city, BTW- it's actually an impossible task, for non greater exists.

grizzlygus - Member

zokes - Member

FWIW, this argument is mildly more amusing than the finishing touches to my PhD, which is why i'm giving it slightly more attention than it deserves.

Posted 1 hour ago #

You must be easily amused....

Or easily bored with a topic that has dragged on far too long

Are you a relation of sfb, Fred? Because your inability to argue, substituted by just shouting 'I'm right, I'm right, I'm right', seems very similar...

I'm fairly sure a similarly brainwashed set of German citizens once thought Berlin to be the best city in the world too.

See, I've even invoked Godwin's law too....

And pound for pound is probably the best thing to do, thanks to the wonderful government and financial sectors based in: you've guessed it - London, as apart from coincidentally Turkey, Iceland and Zimbabwe, noone else wants stirling any more.

Rudeboy, it's a cesspit with an open sewer running throuh it. Like all capital cities the place is full of people that think the rest of the country owes them. Like the former wealth generators of the bankrupt north (mines, mills, manufacturing) Londons time is over. The Scots have had enough, the good folk in Wales, so now it's time remove the strangle hold of London from the North, let the pie eating pies nations unit (not eel pie eaters).
As an attempt keep on topic, Helsinki is a pretty good city and they really know how to deal with snow. They are bit rude about the Laps north of the artic circle though.

Yawn....

Bored now.

If I were to be drawn into this Paddedfredboy, I'd dispute your claim that London is the world's greatest city, as I doubt that calling it a city is tenable any longer.

And as for the original post, the 'apocalypse now' mentality that engulfs the south (roughly anywhere below preston-leeds-hull :wink:) whenever anything remotely resembling a snowflake is sighted is pathetic. Much of the rest of the world can, and does, deal with these things without a murmur, whether it's a regular occurance or a freak instance.

RudeBoy - Member
Yawn....

Bored now.

Why? Have you realised the task I set you of demonstrating just what makes London such a great place to live and such an important place on the UK and global scales is more difficult than you initially envisaged before you had considered all the facts?

Love the way 'London' is responsible for the current economic crisis.

Not the entire rest of the nation spending more than they could afford, oh no...

Ah, loving the vitriol, people!

Zokes- I just can't be bothered, tbh. I've done it many times before. Just look through me previous posts.

That should keep you busy for a few weeks!

Zokes, a "yawn" from rudeboy, does that mean it's home time? Bloody hell! theres snow everywhere.

Snow in this quantity last occurred 18 years ago.

Here is the point. This is true for London maybe but certainly not around thse parts. Wow. I bet all the doublechoccamochlatte shops are going bust as the severe arctic conditions cause everyone to stay at home and drink Harrods instant instead.
If London collapses because of this severe weather event can we have the money from the banking bailout instead? We might even be able to afford to get the road and rail snow ploughs out of storage and find some grit with money like that.

noone else wants stirling any more

Why would anyone not want Stirling? It's a great place. Lovely castle. And then there's the Wallace memorial.

Anyway - have a quick look at the weather map on the BBC website - clearly showing snow all the way down the east coast of the UK. Oh yes but it's all about London isn't it?

And which are the banks in the worst trouble (here's a clue: Halifax Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock - coincidence? or all part of the London plot?)

I can't be bothered to read this thread in full, but i'm sure it's full of the normal petitiness you'd normally expect on these threads.
However through observation of the country lane outside my house today I can conclude that BMWs are the slowest most out of control cars on the road and 2CVs are the fastest. Tractors and 4x4 fall somewhere between the extremes.
The sample may not have been big enough for statistical significance.
Carry on as normal.