Pickled onions and snow – not something you would usually put together (maybe for a snowman’s eyes?)
But all week, following the ‘worst snow storms for 20 years in the south of England’, I’ve been thinking about Rich’s post about Christmas (Did you remember the pickled onions?).

Every time I turn on the radio I hear someone complaining at the how unprepared we are for the few inches of snow that started falling Sunday night. Apparently in the olden days buses never stopped, schools never closed and snow was cleared within minutes of it falling, and in Canada and Scotland they have 27 words for snow and no one has ever slipped up or missed a train.

Now I know its a pain not being able to travel and so on, but what are the alternatives? Should we have disused warehouses along the south coast converted into networks of snow plough storage areas? Should we turn the Isle of Wight into a massive salt mountain? If it snows like this in another 20 years then we will be well prepared, but is it worth having fleets of snow ploughs sat idle in the interim? and how will the islanders feel?

I think it all comes back to risk and how poor people are about understanding what it means. People say they understand what it means to take a risk, but they mostly don’t like the consequences when a risk goes the wrong way.

For the last 20 years councils across the south have taken a risk that we won’t get a prolonged period of snow. For 19 of those years the risk has paid off and we, as tax payers, have saved a fortune. This year the gamble didn’t pay off and we are very quick to point blame at those dastardly politicians who made the wrong risk call.

Testers are all too familiar with this situation. Risk is great until it all goes wrong. Maybe the real problem is that the councils who are taking the risk aren’t publicizing it well enough? Its certainly something we don’t do well in test.

Anyway, I look forward to pictures in the local papers 15 years hence of unused snow ploughs gently rusting in the salty breeze coming in over the solent…..