| "What's caused this sudden heavy snowfall across the south of England is the arrival of some warm air from the south, from the Atlantic, and that's collided with the Arctic air hovering over the UK and according to the Met Office, injected heat and instability into the weather system, causing the snowfall," reported Channel 4 News.
The Met Office has been accused of giving us "warmist" weather. They had predicted a "mild" winter! | comments: Leave a comment   |
| Back in France. It snowed for this morning. I took this as France's way of welcoming me back. I'm still freezing off my proverbial bollocks, however.
Jetlag is horrible. More of an update tomorrow, methinks. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I contacted a teacher about possibly starting doctoral studies next fall at the University of Iceland. Have an idea for a thesis and everything. But it's going to be more difficult than I thought. Apparently there aren't any teachers qualified to supervise my thesis. That or this teacher is trying to discourage me from applying. In any case; a lovely slap in the face. I have some time before I need to apply and intend to gather more information and present a comprehensive and thought out application and hope for the best.
Meanwhile the country has gone nuts again. We currently have the most useless president in the history of all presidents. He's done two things during his 14 year presidency (apart from falling off a horse and marrying a wealthy Brit): veto 2 controversial legislations. Something none of the previous presidents had done.
Here's the thing about our president: he's a figurehead. He has no actual power (except the power of veto). He's a glorified ambassador which is why he can stay comfortably in "power" for so long. Since this crisis began he's been pretty much MIA. I would've thought one of his duties extended to speaking to the nation on occasion, bringing people together during troubling times etc. But no - not a peep.
Vetoing this legislation - which was a contract made with the UK and the Netherlands regarding Icesave - means international relations will worsen. Financial credibility will sink - and is sinking - further. No loans anywhere until the matter is settled. And EU contracts in jeopardy.
To anyone who's read headlines like: "Iceland refuses to pay" - they're incorrect. People are arguing about the terms of payment - not whether or not we'll pay. We're paying no matter what. That particular law was passed last fall.
BRB scrounging up 2,2 million ISK
[ETA] This little quote from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) causette's locked post is too priceless not to be posted:
We're basically trying to negotiate a little lube before the UK buttfucks us. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| “Snow - snow, snow, snow, snow, snow - dominating our news coverage today,“ exclaimed Susanna on BBC Breakfast.
Blizzard conditions have swept across much of the UK. Met Office warns up to 40 cm (16 inches) of snow expected to fall in worst-affected areas of UK. Severe weather warnings in place across Scotland. Many roads have been badly hit especially in Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Surrey. Gatwick, Exeter, Cardiff, Bristol and Robin Hood airports closed. At least 94 Easyjet destinations to Europe and between UK airports have been cancelled. Heathrow airport open but expecting snow, and warns of possible disruption. Luton, Southampton and Birmingham airports have reopened. Stansted airport expecting to run normal services. Train disruptions include Arriva, East Coast, E Midlands, First Great Western, Chiltern Railways, Northern Rail, Scotrail and Virgin Networks. High speed services at St. Pancras are operational. Hundreds of schools closed in Manchester, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Gloucestershire and Surrey. All schools in Salford, Warrington and St Helens closed. University of the West of England in Bristol closed today. A serious accident has closed A1 in N Yorkshire between A6136 and A684. Hundreds of drivers stuck on A3 in Hampshire overnight, and many were forced to abandon cars. RAC report 200,000 breakdowns in the past 3 weeks, some 30,000 more than expected.
It has been snowing around Southern England for the past 12 hours. Up to 20 cm of snow fell overnight in some Greater London areas (Surrey, Berkshire). Through the course of today, we’re going to have another 5 to 10 cm, and in some localised areas, 15 cm of snow. Freezing temperatures are set to continue for the next few days at least. It’s snowing a little bit here in S London this morning, but the snow has not “stacked”. "We got mono-skis here on the high streets of Malborough," reported Colin Brazier from Sky News. “Isn’t a glorious day to be under a duvet?” wrote in one BBC Breakfast viewer.
Telegraph - Snow UK: 10ins of snow, roads blocked, schools closed and councils low on grit
Sky News - Road, Rail And Air: Latest Weather Disruption | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Traveled to STL to spend NYE with familiar faces. They were pretty faces, and difficult to align with. Living so often in the morning means that night becomes a hazy blur. I always have more energy for life when I'm on my feet, outside. Got to skate the Sylvan Springs skatepark, which is strangely designed but a lot of fun - small, chunky transition and thin coping that you can't hang up on as well as a big wave-inspired quarter pipe to use as a launch. Supposedly that king-of-kings, Tony Hawk, had some role in designing it - yet I seriously doubt that accusation. It's half-finished, with only the bottom level being skateable. Once the top is finished, I expect some serious high-speed assault from skaters of all ages since the entire park heads downhill. I dropped in at the top and had to run out because I had too much speed.
Skateboarding is a beautiful activity. I cannot wait for the climate to change to "acceptable" rather than "astoundingly, painfully cold." I want to open an indoor skatepark in Chicago (hello long-term). There isn't one in the city, which is unacceptable in a place that is snowy, cold and dark for 6 months out of the year! Makes my bones ache for SF, LA - any place that doesn't really have a winter - especially since so many of my former skating partners in crime are "living the dream" in the strange, unstable state of California.
Saw a giant funk band with about 15 people play bassy, loopy, high-energy songs and a country-flavored band play drippy, slow, methodical songs about mythical creatures. Danced. Got a grapefruit thrown at me, caught it, ate it a few days later. Saint Louis is turning into a wasteland, slowly but surely, after signs that it wouldn't. There is just too much emptiness. Everything used to be, now it is in disuse. The buildings wait for occupants but they never arrive.
Sat on the bus in the dark. The driver got a speeding ticket. I tracked our progress with my phone, which lit up my face in that unnerving blue-screen color. Everyone has a smart phone now. This happened in the past two years. How's that cash cow? Information overload, information withdrawal, information absorption. I can feel the facts dropping from me: down, down, down.
My parents got a dog named Sheba. She bites and jumps and is just a bundle of floppy, clumsy puppy - smooth black coat and big expressive ears. Animals bring us great joy because they remind us about our very basic selves: confused, lost, wordless, restless, acting without fully understanding why. We are no better, but our hands work nicely at shaping our environment and our words lend interaction a false precision.
I thought I was very sad for a while when I was in STL. Then I realized I was only being enchanted by familiarity. The winds of change are permanent, though, and that fragile bubble was broken by revelations about the lives of others. Nothing is as perfect as it seems. Everything must be earned through some effort. The relationships do not arrive unpacked and sprawled out on the floor like so many gifts on Christmas morning. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Having had to experience a sh*it Icelandic bank i.e. Icesave, we now have to deal with another bunch of Icelandic crooks!
I understand some 25% of Icelanders signed a petition that opposed a bill which if passed, would have repaid £2.3 billion to UK and a similar sum to Holland. Sounds like the Icelandic president has caved in to pressure, saying he will not sign that bill. Darshini David of Sky news commented, "The Icelandic population is suffering quite badly, 10% unemployment, and an economy that's shrinking by over 7% - they're in dire straits, they need the cash - you'vbe got to have some sympathy with them..." Er, silly woman, no! We do not have to have any sympathy. This is UK savers' hard-earned savings we're talking about! Those "25%" - which equates to some 60,000 people -- wow, an amazing number - that would fit into a London shopping centre on a busy day - seem to be hell bent on STEALING our money. Any wonder why we may well have to use anti-terror legislation to get back what is rightfully ours?!
Let me see, had Icelanders saved in a UK bank that collapsed, I'm sure their humane generosity would show no bounds. Why, they'd surely sign a peittion demanding that UK should not pay back Icelanders who lost out -- NOT!
Sickening behaviour. Pariah state comes to mind. Why don't we annex them and help ourselves to their minerals and energy resources, not to mention their lucrative whale slaughtering industry? | | comments: Leave a comment |
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