On 15 Feb, 17:21, wrote:
Is anyone else sick and tired of these smug "We coped much better in
the old days, the country's gone soft" comments that seem to fill this
group?

An inch of snow does not "close schools and businesses for a few
days". Last week 3-4 inches of snow fell over the SE, which rarely
encounters it these days, and I did not see a single business closed.

Well Rob, up here in the West Midlands, we had 6cm of snow; pretty
well every school in Solihull, Birmingham, and Coventry (apart from
Bablake) was shut for two days, some even before a snowflake had
fallen.

Shops closed early on Friday because of the forecast snow on Friday
afternoon, while office staff were let off early to make sure they got
through the snow. My niece who worrks in Birmingham took 3 hours to
get home on the bus, a journey of 5 miles. Roads were gridlocked well
into the evening with local people putting up people overnight in
rural areas because they couldn't get home.

There was no smugness implied in my observation at all, after all I
went to work last week, as I did 28 years ago, but many didn't even
try!

Having said that, I do believe health and safety has gone mad, and yes
I do think peolple today are soft compared to the 70's and 80's, but
that wasn't the point intended.

You southerners down in the SE are obviously not as soft as some
northerners think you are!

Steve J