We've had small floods in the past but nothing like this.
Had a spot of rain last night.
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At least the reporters were sensible enough not to go out in it
Over here they always need to stand out there to prove something! We have strong winds at the moment and they will go out there, bonus points if they bring an umbrella which blows inside out 😛 -
At the end of the 80s, we had a torrential downpour across London, not helped by the fact that someone thought it would be a good idea to close the Thames Flood Barrier. Houses were flooded, cars washed away etc all across NW London. I was stuck in traffic on the North Circular Road at Staples Corner behind a Lotus Elan. After a while, it became clear that noone was going anywhere, so the Lotus sped off down the slip road. I followed. He hit the water and disappeared in a great spray, and the next minute, he appeared, up to his chest in water, but of his car there was no trace.
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Yes, that annoys me as well, they have to stand outside number 10 to report on the Prime minister or be in the Houses of Parliament to report on Parliament and be at the scene of the crime, and so on.
One other niggle, is how little news we receive plus shed loads of speculation.
The news speculated on the election, we are now speculating on the up coming Budget.
If anyone is to give a speech, there are days of speculation about what will be in the speech.
Just about everything reported in the news is subjected to speculation, and what makes it worse, when the speculation turns out to be wrong, no one ever says, sorry I misled you there folks.
While I am at it, the news quite rightly berate social media for the bad things it doe's, then give out or show their social media tag, and encourage people to contact them on social media! -
Or outside the High Court at 10 p.m., as if expecting something to happen, when everyone knows the judge, jury and lawyers all went home hours earlier. Do they take us for idiots? -
Sir Winston Churchill -
We had heavy rains a few years ago and the 'dips' in the roads were full of water. Part of the patrol duties were to erect the warning ''don't drive through here' barriers.
Of course there were those who knew better and drove straight past us and got stuck.
They would then frantically wave at us through the windows, as though we were going to come over and carry them to dry land. When they realized this wasn't going to happen, and the car is already full of water anyway they waded over to us and asked "Can you help me push my car out of the water?"
Us, "No, you ignored the signs, so it's on you"
Them "Can you give me a ride to my house?"
Us, "No ,we're on duty stopping drivers from getting stuck and we're not a taxi service"
Them "Can you call me a tow truck?"
Us, "Sure, but the last time we called for someone else who got stuck because they ignored the signs, they said it would be at least 6 hours before a tow truck was available"
Them "So what am I supposed to do then?"
Us "We can call you a taxi"
But whatever we said we knew that there would be numerous complaints made about our unhelpful 'attitude'. -
As for news readers.
My pet peeve is when one of the newsreaders (they often have an ethnically diverse panel of 3 to 5 newsreaders who take it in turns) tells you that there was a flood somewhere, then they switch so someone who's at the scene, who will then tell you what you already know, that there's a flood, and then that person will switch to an expert meteorologist, who will explain what floods are, and finally to a couple, who have at least one baby and a special needs puppy, to tell you how they lost everything in the flood and have no insurance, despite losing everything in a similar flood a few years ago. -
I've often wondered why they get experts on and then ask them questions that I could answer, or that the newsreader could surely just read out themselves and save the money
I think there was a viral thing about 10 yrs ago. An African IT expert due to go on BBC news to be quizzed about something; but due to a mix up, lateness or something, the studio organiser went downstairs and rushed the wrong person up to the studio, he had the same first name and was also African, but he was a taxi driver... 😂
Sorry to carry on the rant chain 😂 -
Nothing wrong with a rant chain.
Another irritation is the weather person who wastes time by telling us what the weather has been today so far, or yesterday.
I already know that! Admittedly, I don't know what it's been like elsewhere in the country, but (a) if it had been noteworthy it would already have been on the news , and (b) I don't care. -
I remember a DJ on Capital radio who refused to read out a weather bulletin. His comment was along the lines of, if you want to know what's happening, look out the window. He also asked people to phone in their areas and what the weather was like there as there are no windows in a recording studio. Apparently he received more complaints than answers to his request.