I am feeling very disgruntled at the moment. The excuse is the winter weather. In fact, the winter weather is the excuse for everything. Today, I tried to take my bags of domestic refuse to the council tip but I couldn't because the place was all locked up. I was amazed. We haven't seen the council bin men since before Christmas - no collections are being made because the side roads are so bad. They are so bad because none have been gritted. No attempt is being made to do this because [a] they don't have enough grit, [b] councils will be responsible if anyone has an accident on a less than 100% satisfactorily gritted road or pavement. Even better, they advise private individuals and companies not to try to clear snow because they could then become liable if anyone falls over. Schools are closed, dustbins are un-emptied, refuse tips are closed, grit stocks are inadequate, roads are un-gritted - is there anything that councils are doing except making sure that they are not responsible, no matter what happens.
It has been obvious for ages that the lunatics had taken over the asylum but it gets worse. The costs of local government rise year after year after year, yet they contrive to do less and less. Admittedly, central government has added to the load of bureaucracy but it is not something that councils resist. More bureaucracy means more jobs.
And what about the weathermen? They told us that we would have up to 150 mm of snow over-night and that today would be sunny but very cold. The reality? We had no snow over-night, today is very dull and cloudy and it is warmer with a slow thaw. We may confuse weather with climate. I am not sure what they are getting wrong. Have they got so many instruments now that they are made punch drunk by knowing too much?
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