Snow and its side effects

Well the weekend has now been cancelled due to another wave of snow in sunny Huddersfield. I have now been living here for nearly 18 years and this is the first proper winter we have ever had. Yes there has been snow before but this is the first time that we have had a time when the town has ground to a halt at times. The council have not coped with it desperately well. The potholes in the road that were bad before the cold weather, and weren't being fixed, are now significantly worse. There is one road in Slaithwaite which has what I would describe as a car-killer of a pothole. The road has just totally subsided so it now resembles something from Journey to the Centre of the Earth rather than a pothole.

My concern here is that with all the potholes what unseen damage has been done to my car literally days away from its MOT. So since I am somewhat sidelined since we are not at the rugby club today I thought I would inflict some more film opinions on you. This week, as you will see from the little list on the right of your screen, I have highlighted three films for your delight and delectation. These are not necessarily the best films on those days in terms of critical acclaim but are my favourites and on some days there are other films which are well worth a look.

Today, after Gerry Adams investigates the story of Christ, Channel 4 has two films which are both worthy of attention. At about 8 there is 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which is the sequel to the Fantastic Four. I am a comic book fan but I always felt that the FF were Marvel's equivalent to Stepford and a bit too stereotypical. This film is better than the first film, which isn't actually saying a lot, and is diverting entertainment. It is followed by one of the best action films you will see. The current governor of California goes around the jungle deforesting it and having his crack team wiped out one at a time in Predator. There is no deep pathos here, no real moral message it is just really good fun if you like violent action thrillers. This is why I have nominated it as my film for the day. Other offerings available on some of the smaller channels are Top Gun and Romancing the Stone and Black Widow all on Film 4.

On Monday, my film of the day is Highlander. It is one of my favourite films of all time and has one of the largest franchise operations in existence with 4 'sequels', 2 spin off TV series and a number of animated series as well as books. Highlander, like Predator, is no Citizen Kane but is just enjoyable fun which is what the critics, the real ones, never really seem to appreciate. There are other better films on today but few will be as original in concept as this or will be as loyally supported by the fanbase that exists. There are rumours of a remake of the film in the pipeline and fans of the original are waiting with dread at this prospect. Other offerings of note today would be The Sixth Sense, Ladyhawke (set aside the really bad soundtrack) and Working Girl.

On Tuesday, I don't have a favourite film as such. Crocodile Dundee is alright but has begun to show it's age somewhat. I strongly suggest that you avoid The War of the Roses. I went to the cinema to see it on the back of the previous collaborations of Messrs Douglas, Turner and De Vito. That is two and a half hours I will never get back. On Wednesday if you liked Highlander on Monday you can watch it again. On Thursday you will find the quirky Local Hero and the deeper Once Upon A Time in America. I lost patience with the latter and never really took too it as I am not a big fan of american gangster films.

On Friday, there are repeats of T2 and Top Gun and the very British comedy, Time Bandits which hasn't aged very well largely because of the effects. I will probably check out Seraphim Falls on BBC1 at 11.45.

Just for the information of my international readership, which I have apparently acquired. Since you don't have British TV much of the scheduling information is irrelevant but the recommendations still stand. In the UK until the 1960s we only had one TV channel and a few radio channels - all BBC. The Beeb added another in the 1960s and we got ITV. In the 1980s Channel 4 arrived and in the 1990s Channel 5( if you could get the signal). This was about the time of the cable and satellite TV boom. There are now hundreds of channels showing next to nothing that anybody wants to see. The ones that people watch are showing programs that were, in many cases, made 20 years ago. Most of my recommendations will be for terrestrial channels or on freeview (the free to air digital channels)

With films, almost all will probably be available at your local DVD rental outlet by now since it generally takes a couple of years to get on to terrestrial TV here unless your film has been backed by one of the channels (usually the BBC or Channel 4). Any TV programs I may mention probably won't be available in overseas markets but keep an eye out as you never know. Books and music recommendations are almost certainly available at Amazon or Itunes etc.

Snow, school closures and other mild irritants

Well Happy New Year to my reader. As you can see from my recently installed cluster map I can now see where the literally very few readers are based. As some of you may be aware this septic isle is currently in the throes of a 'Siberian blast'. I am sure that Sun readers will soon start seeing it referred to as Britain's Siberian hell assuming that they haven't already had this joy.

This current bought of wintry weather, cunningly found in the middle of WINTER ( the clue is in the name) is very reminiscent of the sort of winters I remember in that golden age of the 1970s and 80s (please note mild sense of irony). When this happens most of the rest of Europe and North America watch on in a state of bewilderment wondering what we are complaining about.

This country has to start preparing itself better and learning to be adaptable since the Gulf Stream which gives us our weather system may not last forever. In a slightly hypocritical way, I won't generally drive in snowy conditions. The public transport round here is reasonably good and nowhere is so far away that I can't walk there. So with this in mind I yesterday set off to catch the school bus which didn't turn up. So I brought back my children along with one stray and rang the school.

This morning I rang the bus company before setting off to see if the service was running. I was told that not only was it not running but that the school was shut. I had already got a back up plan in place but thought it wise to ring the school to check facts since they have only actually shut once in living memory. My son and I made it to school that day only to be told it had shut. The Deputy Head assured me that school was open and that the bus company clearly didn't know what they were talking about. So I set off with the brood and proceeded to catch 2 buses. I arrived almost at exactly the same spot as 6 years ago and was told by a departing parent that the school was shut.

I understand that a decision has to be made but why does my school have to do it at such a late stage and why do they never tell any of the radio stations early. The High School was on the shut list at 7am this morning.

The BBC has just devoted a 45 minute News Special to the snow. Lots of people standing out by roads telling everybody who is at home that there is snow and not to be out in the middle of nowhere unless necessary. I am getting tired of this broadcasting to the most stupid member of society. Intelligent people can make their own decisions and also most of the stupid people aren't going to watch a 45 minute program about snow.

Rant over for now

Well there really is no hope

Well we had barely a centimetre of slush here this morning and as expected normally good drivers left their common sense behind and the traffic system in Huddersfield came to a grinding halt. It is always the same the slightest bit of bad weather and all sense of reason or ability disappears and the country shuts down.

I remember when we had proper snow drifts not this namby pamby stuff we had this morning. As I recall the country coped reasonably well certainly much better than it seems to nowadays. It also depresses me that every time this happens we have the same outcome - chaos. I wonder what the Scandinavians, Canadians, Alaskans, Americans, Germans and Russians must make of our inability to deal with what to them are minor inconveniences. These countries do not grind to a halt they struggle on in spite of the conditions.

They probably have a version of You've Been Framed showing videos of traffic jams in the UK when there is barely a millimetre of snow on the ground. How they must laugh?

I hate driving in snow but I at least try and drive with common sense as far as is possible but find it frustrating that people driving Chelsea tractors can't cope largely because they have never been near a field in them.

Well rant over for now. Graduation piccies and post will be coming soon. Well as soon as I can find the camera with the photos on it.