The Weather!

[Terrier_Tez]

I wonder if the Bedlington Terriers Game will be on tomorrow

[Malcolm Robinson]

Tez,

Thought you would have underground heating down there by now!

[Terrier_Tez]

Not yet mate.

Need cooncil planning for that, and you know how slow they are

[Merlin]

If you need a hand to clear it gis a shout

[Terrier_Tez]

Merlin i know your a wizard, but i think we would need miracles to clear the pitch and get it dried out in time.

So no Home game now til mid January

[Merlin]

Tez I have a knack of getting people hot under the collar and to blast hot air, so if my services are still required you know where I am :dribble:

[sizsells]

Not yet mate.

Need cooncil planning for that, and you know how slow they are

COONCIL what bloody cooncil they cant clear the bloody roads and paths so slow aint the word my friend........ nondescript, pathetic, usless, overpaid fools trying to justify there positions doing ALL THE WRONG THINGS........

rant over sorry

[Merlin]

had to look twice there, thought I'd been sleep typing :dribble:

[Terrier_Tez]

Have just been informed The Game between Bedlington & Dunston is OFF.

Could have told you yesterday, but had to wait for offical notification

Edited November 26, 2010 by Terrier_Tez

[Terrier_Tez]

Where are the Gritters????

Took this while travelling at 10 mph coming into Bedlington at dinner time

Utter disgrace

[Malcolm Robinson]

Thats nothing Tez, spare a thought for our wildlife at this time of year, this was taken down at the Golf Club yesterday!

[mercuryg]

With the amount of snow falling each day I don't think a gritter is going to be a lot of use. We need snow ploughs.

[Pete]

Thats nothing Tez, spare a thought for our wildlife at this time of year, this was taken down at the Golf Club yesterday!

Well Malcolm you may have supplied a good way of proving the existance of big cats in Bedlington. Foot prints in the snow would prove that big cats are there, perhaps Merlin can take some pictures if any are found

[Pete]

Talking about the cold weather does anyone know how long you have to be without gas or electric before you can claim compo from the supplier. Our gas meter developed a fault on Saturday and we contacted the supplier on their emergency number, its now Monday and no one been to carry out a repair. (Gas supplier, Eon) I have contacted them three times in the last two days and they tell me they will send someone out but nobody comes, so it must be Mr Nobody they keep sending out.

[sizsells]

Where are the Gritters????

Took this while travelling at 10 mph coming into Bedlington at dinner time

Utter disgrace

Disgrace is too nice a word to describe the way the gritting has been handled or NOT as the case maybee in Bedlington.

I wonder what would happen if we ALL decided not pay a portion of our cooncil tax as a mark of disgust

[Malcolm Robinson]

I wonder what would happen if we ALL decided not pay a portion of our cooncil tax as a mark of disgust

We would all get locked up! Council tax is one of the taxes which carries jail sentences for non payment.

Not disagreeing sizsells only pointing out a potential flaw.........

[Merlin]

so we get locked up for not paying cooncil tax! Where is the other side of the coin for not providing a service we are required by law to pay for!

[Keith Scantlebury]

Heard today that N.C.C. are on top of things. All crews are out, concentrating on all A & B roads in the county. I had to google something about Bedlington the other day, apparrently Bedlington is in Cumbria, that could be why we are being ignored by N.C.C. Also heard that, by law, they are not obliged to treat roads and footpaths on housing estates. Pity help anyone who needs an ambulance or fire appliance on our estate in a hurry cos we still cannot see the kerbs, speed humps or footpaths and almost everyone was out with shovels digging cars out this morning.

Edited November 29, 2010 by keith

[Malcolm Robinson]

Talking about the cold weather does anyone know how long you have to be without gas or electric before you can claim compo from the supplier. Our gas meter developed a fault on Saturday and we contacted the supplier on their emergency number, its now Monday and no one been to carry out a repair. (Gas supplier, Eon) I have contacted them three times in the last two days and they tell me they will send someone out but nobody comes, so it must be Mr Nobody they keep sending out.

Pete, I have tried to find out how long punters have to be without supply before they get compensated but it looks like all the companies have revoked their user charters?

My advice, say you smell gas and say this telephone conversation is being recorded!

[Malcolm Robinson]

so we get locked up for not paying cooncil tax! Where is the other side of the coin for not providing a service we are required by law to pay for!

Merlin,

That would be the better option theoretically but it would carry a heavy financial penalty.

The whole point of the system is to use our elected representatives for this sort of thing………

[Malcolm Robinson]

Can't quite believe I am going to do this but……..

I think we have to realise the constraints NCC are operating under. They have been shedding jobs and cutting service provision in an attempt to balance their budgets, which by and large up to now they have had foisted onto them by central Gov. Of course they have to prioritise and with regard to their legal requirements as well. In a county with such a large footprint no real surprise some areas feel as if they have been almost ignored as other areas take priority.

In this case I would say remote and isolated communities should take precedence because at the end of the day people living in the larger conurbations can at least walk to the shops and expect necessary continuation of essential supplies. There are a lot of smaller communities up and down our county who don't have that possibility and will be cut off.

Phew, getting back to normal service………

How many middle and top managers in NCC have been out with snow shovels? How many of our elected representatives have been out clearing snow in an attempt to stop our OAPs falling and breaking fragile bones? They are all getting paid to work for our county authority and aren't we all in this together?

[Keith Scantlebury]

Malcolm,

I do agree with with what you say, you can't please all of the people all of the time and there will always be some of us that will feel hard done by. But, as I said a little while ago, well before the snow came, all councils should expect the winters to be like last winter, that way they should be better prepared. I have delivered salt to councils up and down the U.K., Many of them have these new dome shaped salt barns and i have never seen a full one yet, a lot of them are being used to store other equipment not related to the gritting of our roads.

The winter of 1983/84 saw us snowed in for 10 days. The council opened up the A69 and the military roads within a couple of days. Hexham and the villages closest to us Humsaugh, Chollerford, fourstones and Newbrough were opened up fairly quickly. We had 350 cows to milk twice a day and were throwing out nearly 800 gallons of milk daily because no-one could get to us, including a milk tanker. We were running out of feed for the livestok and ourselves as well as fuel, yet we were not a priority. Maybe it is just all my fault, I just happen to choose to live in the wrong places at the wrong times.

Edited November 30, 2010 by keith

[Malcolm Robinson]

Keith,

I look at this a bit differently, I think this sort of weather is our normal winter and we should be prepared for it. It's the unusually mild winters we have had over the last 20-25 years which probably has meant councils could shave winter budgets and get away with it.

At the end of the day it's at best a bet these days as to how much money is allocated. Thing is I wouldn't like to be the person responsible for placing that forward bet and getting it wrong!

Maybe it is just all my fault, I just happen to choose to live in the wrong places at the wrong times.

Never mind you are at the centre of the known universe now!

[Pete]

Pete, I have tried to find out how long punters have to be without supply before they get compensated but it looks like all the companies have revoked their user charters?

My advice, say you smell gas and say this telephone conversation is being recorded!

Yes Malcolm my research has revealed the same results, but I now have gas. They phoned last night about 12 15am and told us they where on their way, they arrived and fixed problem in five minuets, finally got to bed at one o'clock feeling warmer, well I think it was warmer I had forgotten what heat felt like.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Pete

[Merlin]

Pleased you got sorted Pete