Cheesetown is in Central Scotland.
Throughout Tuesday the Met Office and Metcheck and the real weather forecaster, the one with the English accent on the BBC confirmed that Sean was not winding us up; central Scotland was in for a storm of epic proportions on Thursday.
Sigh... why haven't I emigrated yet?
Trouble is, although our weather forecasters could agree what code red meant, no one in charge could seem to agree what this meant we should do.
Half of Cheesetown assumed that police warnings to stay off the roads after 3pm, meant they should stay at home all day. The schools announced they were closing at noon. Network Rail was cancelling trains faster than the information boards could signal the news. But my office was OPEN.
The Institutes's adverse weather policy can be summed up as "Go home in the full knowledge that we disapprove and might not pay you later".This policy was self evidently not working. The Institute might have had a full house of staff, but no one was working. The Great Snow Disaster of last year is still fresh in our collective memory. We all know people who spent the night in cars in the snow, or six hours getting home in snowstorms (me).
Fool me once.... We were keeping an eye on updates from the Met Office and Scot Rail, we were texting friends and family to check they were OK and could pick the kids up from school, we were complaining about our uncaring employer; one thing the staff at the EERIE were definitely not doing was working.
At 11am Senior Management gave up.
We could go home as long as we took work with us and worked from home.
And so it was that Code Red for me meant I got to sit for two hours in a bus out of Edinburgh and reflect that any severe weather seems to result in me sitting for hours in a traffic jamout through Corstorphine. This is not how Code Red storms are shown in movies.
Oh yeah.. and today it snowed!
10 December 2011 at 10:33
Employers are silly when it comes to bad weather. I can recall taking three hours to get to work in the snow, I then spent two hours in the office where my colleagues and I discussed our hellish journeys, I then spent three hours getting home again. No work was done, it was a complete waste of time and merely an exersise in proving the power that employers have over their staff - the power to make them as miserable as possible.
Sx
10 December 2011 at 10:58
Your weather guy stands and points in front of the blue-screen weather map just like ours do. I wonder if they are taught that at weather-guesser school?
10 December 2011 at 11:14
Scarlet - You said it. It's just plain stupid that, in the days of virtual desktops, we still have to go to the office.
And, yes, it is just a case of "we don't trust you to do your job without us watching you".
Anyhoos the snow season is starting...
lx - I bet they are. Wee Sean though is a scottish institution. Sometimes he gets let out from the studio You might enjoy the link
10 December 2011 at 13:08
Terrible weather... last year I read on paper that difficulties of transportations caused by snow fall in London around Christmas.
10 December 2011 at 14:26
I checked out your Batty Boy link and at first I though he looked quite attractive but it turned out to be Liv Tyler in a hair advert. Wee Sean came on afterwards making slightly rude Clarkson type gestures with his hands.
10 December 2011 at 15:54
The bad weather is bound to slither down towards Newcastle in time for us going up there next weekend.
I like your wee Sean: we have a Paul who wears bad ties.
10 December 2011 at 17:50
Haricot - London got off easy! Soft southerners! Mind you the gales are moving south next week...
Rog - Tsk. I'm sure you've seen wee Sean already on your trips up north! I bet your Scottish Granny dotes on him...
Trish - Isn't he a wee sweetie? Wait till you see him in his kilt at new year....
10 December 2011 at 18:50
A kilt? Oh I love a man in a kilt......
11 December 2011 at 00:57
y'all's weather made the news here, sugar! bad days all over the world! xoxoxoxo
11 December 2011 at 07:44
Do Scottish men wear kilts when it's very windy? I wouldn't do it without a pair of long johns underneath.
11 December 2011 at 09:28
Bad weather. Britain grinds to halt. Transport shambles. Power shambles. Etc. So predictable isn't it? We just can't seem to cope with a bit of the unexpected.
Agree with what you and Scarlet said about employers. They can be absurdly unreasonable. I remember my boss telling me one day that I had to walk to the office through thick snow (the car couldn't cope with the ice), although he himself was staying at home....
11 December 2011 at 10:23
Fortunately, I'm not a million miles away from work and as long as I have internet, and my laptop, all is well.
Mind you, last year I came to work via bus, cause I just wasn't risking the ridiculously icy road to the main road.
I'm glad you and The Cherub are safe.
11 December 2011 at 10:51
Libby - Oh kilt, and climbing socks and thick wooly jumper, doesn't get much better ..pauses and sighs
Savannah - Really?? I'd have thought "Bad Weather in Scotland" was right up there with "Cat Stuck in Tree" as a headline!
Gorilla - Hi! And er I dunno. But now you mention it I've never seen a pair of thermals flashing along Princess Street.
Nick - Oh employers what can you say - except they can be beyond pathetic.
And yes, directors and senior managers "work out of the office" all the time.
11 December 2011 at 10:53
Roses - What enlightened employers you have! One day we'll all be trusted to work on a laptop at home.
11 December 2011 at 16:26
I did think about you all.
We are just drowning here today.
11 December 2011 at 18:50
It makes a change for the weather forecast to be that accurate!
11 December 2011 at 21:26
Last winter, my son-in-law cycled 22 miles through snow to work. He was the only one to turn up.
Schools are often put under pressure to close by the bus companies.
12 December 2011 at 01:15
We had the code red over here too. Stuff flying around that had no business being in the air, no trains, double deckers on their sides, people sent home early (yay). Lovely. I stayed home the rest of the day and drank coffee which was the sensible thing to do and tried not to worry about the windows coming in. Stupid pseudo hurricanes. Glad you're ok out east, lady!
12 December 2011 at 07:06
Pat - Looking on the bright side, the lousy weather means more blogging time..
Curry Queen - Typical hey? Funnily enough the one time they get it right they're not predicitng unseasonably mild and sunny weather.
Z - Your son in law deserves immortality for managing that!
And if I was a school bus driver, I'd be looking for any excuse not to have to drive them too...
Ms Vegie Mite! Yay. Hurricane Bawbag just sent over all the west coast's pizzza boxes and crisp pokes..
15 December 2011 at 19:59
Every morning when I wake up, I am grateful for how things have worked out for me job-wise - in May, I started to work from home, and it is GREAT, I'm telling you, GREAT!!! Especially at this time of the year when I do not have to face the darkness and cold both in the morning and the evening on my way to and from work.
But I know not everyone is as lucky as I am, and I truly feel for all those who are wasting precious hours of their lives being stuck in traffic.
Storm warnings here for the next few days and nights, too; no idea how bad it is really going to be. We shall see!
18 December 2011 at 21:34
Our December bad weather warnings are just to let us know that the sun will poke out from the lowering gloom just long enough to remind us how grotty the town centre is but not so long that it might sort out our Seasonally Afflicted Disorders.
23 December 2011 at 19:31
Wishing you the best Christmas ever.
24 December 2011 at 09:21
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Are you snowed under?
SXXX