The White Stuff!

For the past two days, it has been snowing in the land of Alcester.

It has been so long since snow has fallen in abundance in my town. Firstly, it's in the centre of a valley, so we only get a light dusting. Then of course we have climate change to contend with. If the people of Britain had any doubt the climate was changing, they only need look to the Mr Whippy vans that have been out in Stratford-upon-Avon serving ice cream from January.

So, substantial snowfall is rarer these days. I always remember with fondness, the time when there was a blizzard on Christmas Eve. I was a child at the time and we had to walk all the way to the midnight service at Arrow. That was many years ago, before the bypass was built... before the Elephant Tree was cut down. I dragged my handmade ply wood sled all the way up and back again. The snow was deep, so deep... and my sled was no use at all.

That was probably 25 years ago now... and yet people talk of snow, like it never happened over Christmas. Maybe they just haven't noticed winter gradually getting thrown out of whack.

Cold, snowy days like this always remind me of my childhood. The gentle crunch of virgin snow beneath the boot. The huddling of the family round the radio as we listened to BRMB (there was no Warwickshire radio station then), to find out if our school had been closed... and the exultant cheer that followed when we discovered it inevitably had.

The way I see it, when days like this come... you can either be extremely mature and sensible... and bemoan the delays in travel, as well as the disruption to adult life... or you can recapture your youth, get out there, have snowball fights and/or build a snowman or some other effigy.

Guess which way I jumped?

I ran out the door taking a few tender and gentle steps on the new covering of snow, and then I ran and jumped for joy in the street. Now at 7.15, this is not something that is in my nature... but the snow had energised me and I ran amok with excitement.

I walked to the High Street to await my lift for work. I got bored so I decided to build a snowman outside the Post Office. I only got halfway up the torso before I had to leave. Once at work, it quickly became apparent that not many others would make it and most people left once official word had been given. I stuck it out till 4, trusting in Rob's judgement.

Sadly when I got home, no trace of my snowman remained. He'd been kicked in. I had hoped someone would have understood what I was doing and finished it off. Unfortunately though, it seems a lot of people are more destructive in their nature than they are creative. We need less of that sort of human.

Today I have the day off from work... I haven't ventured out yet... but it is still snowing.

Truly there is beauty in all God's seasons.

Police Restructuring

I'm not looking forward to the restructuring of the police as proposed by Charles Clarke.

I live in Warwickshire, which is one of the forces that are likely to get the chop. Policing at the moment is ludicrous, it seems you can vandalise, burgle or torch buildings, or beat up/stab people... and you'd be fairly confident that you'd get away with it. The police around us spend the majority of their time in their cars, and their priorities are to maintain an elaborate network of speed traps (don't get me wrong, speeding is an offence... but the roads they police are not normally the dangerous ones... and I feel their priorities should be to put an end to the increase in violation style crimes).

One of my work colleagues lives in Quinton, if you report a crime there... the phone call is picked up all the way in Leamington Spa, and responded to by a car in my town of Alcester (which is even further).

You might argue that centralising the police will eliminate the shambolic organisation of resources... but that's not likely to be what this is about.

What will inevitably happen with such a restructuring, is that resources will be focused on the urban centres... the major cities... rural communities will miss out (there's a shock!).

You might say that urban areas are more prone to crime because of their larger populations. However, modern crime is more complex than that; criminal gangs often use the cities merely as a platform for their operations. Increasingly, robberies and theft are becoming more common in suburbia and rural pockets just outside the cities... why? Because they are relatively poorly defended.

I don't believe this restructuring will benefit my neighbourhood at all. Besides, with the advent of the terror laws... it's probably just a cost cutting measure, it'll be easier to distribute jack boots if they only have to design them for one organisation rather than 43!

And another thing? Why is it always Warwickshire that gets picked on? They took our cities away from us (Birmingham and Coventry), they took our regiment... they charge capped us in the 90's and now they will likely take our police force away. It's especially annoying because we've got arguably one of the best symbols for a county... the bear! When you think of it that's quite appropriate. We are like a bear that is chained to a tree while dogs come up and take chunks out of us!

I'd like to see Warwickshire declare UDI and become a nation state, free from the tyranny of Blair!