Winter is a-coming and if the local councils are anything to go by it cannot be far away
By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The London Borough of Sutton has been offering free grit to its residents from October 8 onwards. Free grit for the residents to use so that the council does not have to do it.
Hampshire County Council was so prepared that on the hottest October weekend on record, when the temperatures soared to nigh 30C in the shade, and was forecast as such, they had their gritters and snowplows out on the roads. Apparently they were being tested to make sure they worked.
Preparedness is good, as we, who prepare for many eventualities, know only too well but to have those trucks drive about on a hot Autumn's weekend – and I mean that weekend was hot – wasting fuel and man hours and being it was a weekend it would have been double time overtime, may be taking it a little too far.
Winter definitely is headed our way for sure as will the temperatures in the mornings and at night attest to at this third weekend in October with a ground frost – almost to really – in the not even that rural parts of Surrey.
If Nature's signs are anything to go by, though at times Mother seems to be as confused as us, and the bounty of fruit and nuts to be considered and the activities of the squirrels then we may be headed for, yet another, rather severe winter. We should, I guess, say that those kinds of winters would have been the norm rather than the exception not so many decades ago and the mild ones of the later 1990s and early 2000s should be seen as exceptions rather than the norm.
And, obviously, just in time for the possibility of a severe and maybe even prolonged winter the energy companies have increased the rates per kWh by more than ten percent in many cases.
Considering that our woodlands still are not managed properly fuel wood will also be – once again – at a premium and fuel wood only comes in where wood stoves may be used.
However, having seen all the signs, natural and council ones, it is certainly high time that we all prepared for winter and dug out all the warm gear and such.
Winter is a-coming for sure...
© 2011
