Richard Baum

I was on a course with work today, and noticed with some alarm, during the first of several unnecessary coffee breaks, that I’d had three missed calls from Tam. Under normal circumstances this could only mean one of a small number of distressing things - death of relative / car accident / cat-related incident blown out of all proportion but still requiring the wiping away of tears.

Today though, it was an enquiry I hear all too infrequently in my day to day business. She wanted to know if I knew of anywhere that sold sledges, since she’d been sent home from teaching at a school deemed too snowy for education.

I said no, but apparently she used all of her teacher’s ingenuity and was later spotted careering down a hill in Heaton Park on a tea tray.

Yes, the observant amongst you will have noticed that the ward (and, though sometimes I like to believe that it doesn’t exist, even the world beyond the ward) has been blanketed with snow. Not the type of snow that peacefully co-exists with the residents of Canada, Scotland, Russia and Scandinavia for much of the year, but instead an evil type of snow that only lands in Britain and is capable of bringing complete chaos to all corners of society. Except, unfortunately, the boring course I was on.

I hope everyone’s remained safe in the snow, and continues to do so until it melts away. At times like this the Council’s Environmental Services staff do a grand job keeping the roads as clear as possible through gritting and patrolling, and other local partners like the emergency services also work even harder than normal.

The Council’s gritters were out all night, from 9pm Sunday to after 6am this morning. 137 tonnes of salt was deposited on the streets of the borough. Two more gritters were out all day today to cover as many side streets as possible, carrying out the procedures which try to ensure that streets and pavements are gritted according to priority need. Tonight they will be out again.

If there are any stretches of road that are grit-free when they shouldn’t be, or if you have any concerns, please call the Council on 0161 253 5000 for assistance. Do take care in the snow, and if you know of anywhere that sells sledges, please let me know!

Rick