The street beneath your feet

This was mentioned in passing in a review of the papers on television this morning. I already knew what the legal position was, or at least I think I did. (It took ages to find anything very authoritative on the subject when I looked on the internet.) Basically, during snowy or icy weather, the legal position in the UK is that a householder bears responsibility for ensuring that the pathways on his own property are clear for anyone likely to use them, such as the postman. (Haven't seen one of those for several days.)
But when it comes to the pavement outside, the position is different.
Councils generally do not grit pavements, nor do they grit most of the less busy roads. In fact, now that grit is becoming less available, even fewer roads will be gritted, which means that many people will decide to leave the car at home and walk. This could be a sensible decision except that walking on ice and compacted snow carries its own risk - ask any A&E department.
It is possible that many  householders would  be quite happy to clear the pavement in front of their property and if everyone, or even the majority of people, did this, it would make life so much easier for pedestrians. In fact in many other countries, this is positively encouraged or even required.
Oh but, hang on, this is the UK we're are talking about here, land of the 'blame culture', where people who have an accident are then encouraged to look for someone to blame and claim compensation from, whether it was due to lack of care or simply 'one of those things.' So, householders are warned not to clear the pavement in front of their property in case they are sued. After all, the argument goes, by clearing away the snow and ice, passers-by will assume that the pavement beneath their feet is clear and they can dance along it without a care in the world and without having the intelligence to realise that, although the surface is reasonably clear, it is not the same as walking on it on a sunny summer's day.
So everyone's a loser. Householders play safe as they decide not to run the risk of being sued and pedestrians continue to hobble along, hoping they will not end up measuring their length at any moment, or, worse still, especially if they are elderly or disabled, they decide not to venture out at all.

Jonathan Ross leaving BBC

So Jonathan Ross is finally to do the decent thing and leave the BBC. Better late than never. After the fiasco in 2008 when he and Russell  Brand made pathetic and cruel phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs, at least Brand had the decency to resign. Apparently, Ross's contract, negotiated for the three years up to 2010, was worth a staggering £18,000,000, which is immoral by any standards. Now, rumour has it that he was to be expected to take a substantial pay cut, but of course, his decision was nothing to do with financial considerations. Of course not.
Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, referred to him as 'extremely talented', which has to make one wonder about the generally accepted definition of that phrase, and both she and Alan Yentob, current BBC Creative Director, bemoan the fact that Ross has had had a 'difficult year'.
A difficult year with a salary of £6,000,000?
I could cope with that.
Bring it on!

New fleece

Keith has been busy this week, out and about in the freezing cold snow and ice but his favourite fleecy jacket has sadly come to the end of its useful life so, during my shopping expedition this morning, I managed to find a new one.
Apart from the fact that it hasn't got as many pockets as he would like, (What is it with men and pockets?) he is very happy with it, especially as this one has a hood.
"I'll be as warm as toast driving around in this," he said.
Maybe not for long, though!

Global Warming - the ultimate evidence

For those of you who are worried about the threat of global warming, look no further for definitive evidence than here.


Cute, isn't he?

The Case of the Missing Locksmith

Yesterday and today I have had the strong feeling that Keith and I might be about to have a similar experience to this Scottish lady and her husband. Yesterday, the roads up here were like ice rinks and traffic accordingly suffered a much higher than usual number of breakdowns. Keith set off at 9am to Rhyl to do a repair which proved to be very complicated and took far longer than expected. In fact, he hadn't finished before it began to get dark, so he decided to stop and go back today. However, true to Sod's Law, the van refused to start, so he called the AA, who told him it would be SIX HOURS before anyone could come out to him. Fortunately, they eventually sent someone within two hours and once again Sod's Law was in operation because  the mechanic had barely laid a hand on it before the old crate started.
But at least it meant that he got home in time for Coronation Street. (He was SO pleased about that!)
Today, off he went again, this time to Capel Curig, with the aim of returning to Rhyl on the way back. OK so far, except that he spent about two hours on the way back from Capel Curig sitting in stationary traffic so  again it was too dark to finish yesterday's job and he decided to come straight home.
By now, of course, the promised snowfall had started and he has been sitting in his van on the A550 near Caergwrle, going nowhere as the road is blocked by - guess what? SNOW!
Shall I ever see him again? That is the question...

The Wedding

Here are a couple of photos of Elder Daughter, Kathy getting married to Mr Shakespeare (yes, honestly!) on New Year's Eve.

Misery!

The road and pavements outside are like a skating rink and show no sign of improving.
"If we ever move," I said to Keith today, "We are going to a house on a main road so that there will be some remote chance of the road outside being gritted in weather like this!"
But that's not the main problem, no the main problem is that, since Wednesday, I have been feeling increasingly 'not well' and miserable. It's probably the mysterious 'Christmas bug' which afflicts people at this time of year, one of those indeterminate, unidentified germs that waft about looking for likely victims. Suffice it to say, eating has been a non-event and so has drinking except for boiled water and the occasional cup of tea.
It's now the fifth day of feeling like something the cat dragged in and I'm fast losing patience.
New year, huh? Forget it, I'm off to hibernate until Easter at least.