Finding direction

Finally, distinctly less rain. Beautifully, much frost and some snow and a bitter wind howling in from Siberia.
Temps. bouncing between 0Celsius and -8C.
-8C is fine. It's scary when it warms to zero as things melt. Then the temperature drops again so freezing the meltwater from before. Gritting only partially deals with things so leaving the roads quite treacherous.

Now mentioning wind and it's source.
If a wind comes from the North it is the NORTH wind.
Thus it is NOT a northerly wind as that says in which direction it is travelling. A wind travelling norther is not southerly. It is NORTHERLY. Get it? cos the Met Office obviously doesn't.

Policebod: In which direction were you travelling along the road, sir/madam?
Driver: Northerly
Policeebod: Ah! so you were on the A1 going from York to Leeds.
Driver: Eh? no officer i was travelling from Leeds to York.

You catch ma drift?

Sadly, such conditions do catch out people of the road. Whether pedestrian or driver of some form of vehicle.
Taken from an ambulance forum

-A pedestrian has died after she was hit by an ambulance answering a 999 call in south Lincolnshire.

Two paramedics in the ambulance were hurt and taken to Peterborough District Hospital with minor injuries.

The ambulance was on its way to a road accident when it crashed and overturned at Stowe Road, Langtoft, at 0700 GMT.

The 39-year-old pedestrian has not been named but police said she was from the local area. The road was closed to allow forensic examinations.

The two ambulance crew were treated and later released, a police spokesman said.

Icy conditions

Drivers were urged to avoid the area.

A statement from East Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Tragically, the pedestrian has since passed away and we offer family and friends our deepest sympathies.

"We are working with the police to assist them with their investigation."

Sgt Ewan Gell, of Lincolnshire Police, is investigating what happened.

He said: "It was very frosty here this morning, there were a number of accidents in the area where people had slipped on the ice and gone into dykes or crashed their vehicles.

"So that is one of the things we are looking at but also it is early days yet and we have a lot of investigating to do before we come up with a conclusion as to what happened here." -

My thoughts go to all the families of those involved.
I wouldn't know what to do if i had been the driver at that time.
I wish the crew a speedy recovery tho' know that the mental anguish will remain for a long time yet regardless of the whys and wherefores.

So - Christmas is looming. It comes 'round so often. Every year. Bank balances shudder as October hoves in to sight. Credit Cards take a bashing. All for, essentially, less then 24 hours.
I have said before and i shall it again.
Christmas is 12 days. Why don't we utilise those 12 days?
Now i am not saying we should party for the complete 12 days - not my bag anyway - but why try to shove it all in to one day?
there's so much pressure to do it 'just so'. The stress when we should be chilling and having some fun and being happy in company of those we love. Oh - and our families ;0)... LOL!!!

Next - what is it with wanting to get drunk? wanting? get over it. It is childish banal, idotic, irresponsible and tedious.
Judge? moi? too flippin' right. I really do not get it. Now some would say i do not have to get it. Walk away - i do not have to have anything to do with other people 'having fun' by getting drunk.
Ahem! yes i do - or, more to the point, i can.
I resent having to deal with drunks and drugees when there are people out there in need of attention thro' no fault of their own.

Kiljoy?
Look - go! have fun! drink a few. Get merry. Have a laugh! Be sober! Go skydiving, whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, abseilling, horse riding, quad biking... yeah?
Do it responsibly.
Fun does not mean abrogating responsibility to the world around you.
Taking responsibility does not exclude fun and laughs from your life.
You can lose yourself in so many thrills without losing your self respect.
Go on try it. Give it a whirl.
It's pretty cool!
And if you break a leg or bloody your nose in the process so be it.
Do it so you know you're doing it - do it so you're not abusing parts of your body that really will come back and bite you in the posterior when you get older.
Do not expect the world and his or her wife to save your scrawny butt 'cos you're too damn lazy and pig-ignorant to think before you screw up.
Live and let live!