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England New Optometry School
As 2010 drew to a close, the temperatures dropped and once again, the United Kingdom was laughed at by the rest of Europe. Schools were closed, offices were shut down, trains were canceled, people's plans were turned upside down and all news channels seemed to completely change their entire programs so as to spend hours discussing the weather. The reasons for all these drastic disruptions - snow. Not exactly the dawn of the next ice age, with high temperatures of minus 20 and five metres of powder in the city centres. No, possibly just less than an inch in most industrial regions.
The News
At first it's somewhat amusing to turn on the news and watch the grave faces of the newsreaders as they discuss the plummeting temperatures, the treacherous conditions, shaking their heads over how disruptive the weather is. However one starts to feel a little irritated, not only at the fact that wars, murders and political issues are brushed aside, but more due to the fact that no one seems to mention how pathetic it all is. During a cold spell, so much news time seems to be spent talking about how disruptive the snow itself is, an act of nature that no one can control and something that most people have yearned for anyway throughout the past, rainy, wet winters. What is not discussed is how disruptive the authorities are by reacting to the snow in such a timid fashion. And disruption is certainly the operative word.
Heathrow Airport
Thousands of people turned up at Heathrow airport to fly off to Christmas holiday destinations. Some of those people, like myself and my family, were flying to visit relatives whom they hadn't seen for years. The airlines had absolutely no idea what was going on so they advised passengers to turn up anyway, as it was highly likely that flights were going to be taking off - you would think so anyway, considering how, if passengers were able to drive to the airport without killing themselves on Britain's many roads, Heathrow should be able to run planes on its three runways.