The Sign Of The First Flake And It's Off

Don't you just hate it when people cancel at the last moment?

Well it's not surprising really. This school is a serial canceller. It always seems to book adventurous trips near Christmas, then at the first sign of any ice, snow, frost or heavy rain, they cancel.

I was half expecting it as I did the early school run down a road which had whitened with the snow. It had come thick and fast. The wind was blowing and the roads were drifting. As the first snowflake fell, I knew the outcome.

It had been a rush to get there. What usually happens in the bus industry is that companies try and save time and money by combining runs. The tour was meant to leave at 9am. Fat chance. I would never get back from the school run until 9.15 at the earliest.

When you are in a hurry, everything conspires against you to slow you down. It was the wrong level crossing operator on today. The one who derives some sort of pleasure by keeping the gates down for longer than necessary. He is well known to all bus drivers. He would happen to be working today. Then there was a slow bus. A slow truck. A very slow and petrified motorcyclist. And to cap it all a loose cow on the road. On top of that the roads were slushy and slippy , and it was still snowing.

I needn't have bothered. The school had stopped the trip by the time I had reached the car park. The other trips were cancelled too, so when I got back to the depot, there was a gaggle of drivers standing around twiddling their thumbs. There were too many drivers left for the school runs which were left, so I voluntarily chose to have the afternoon off.

What did I do?

I put some snow tyres on my car so that I can get to the depot tomorrow morning, if the forecast is to be believed. They are Polish snow tyres. They have to be good.