Last week Britain and the rest of Europe officially decided to give up, wrap up warm, head off into the great outdoors and build snowmen – Erm sorry, of course I meant to say snowpeople. In the last week or so temperatures across the continent have continued to dip, snow has descended from the sky at a phenomenal rate and general havoc and mayhem have been caused throughout the lands.
Travel and tourism has been hit hard by the snowpocalypse – you can always tell that the end of the world is nigh when you go to Tesco and you see people wheeling trolleys around stacked to the hilt with flour and canned goods. In the last month freezing temperatures have caused huge delays for those travelling to and from mainland Europe. Just before Christmas, airport authorities began closing down runways and the Eurostar service notoriously shut down trapping people inside the Channel Tunnel for almost a whole day.
In the freezing conditions travel across Europe has become an increasingly arduous task, a significant amount of commuters have been forced to make additional travel arrangements either by plane or rental car. France and Britain have been amongst the worst hit, while at the same time being the least prepared for such drastic weather. Areas of France such as Grenoble and Nice have experienced the heaviest snowfall in nearly two decades; reports from Grenoble suggest that the city’s streets still lie buried beneath nearly a foot of snow. In Spain the army was called in to clear roads around Madrid and in the surrounding area.
Meanwhile across the channel our fair isle virtually ground to a halt after two days of intense snowfall. Trains, planes and automobiles all fell victim to the icy conditions; a number of services simply ceased as they were unable to cope with the situation. In some parts of the country people encountered hours of delay, one lady in Scotland has been unable to return to her remote home for over two weeks due to the treacherous conditions. Some economists have suggested that the bad weather will cost the country an estimated £690m a day which will only hamper Britain’s financial revival.
Recent Comments