Where the Big Society would make a difference...

I was very surprised yesterday, at how concerned Big Joolie felt about the prospect of snow and ice. She was petrified really, about the prospect of it returning over the next few days.

Big Joolie walks with a stick these days, partly because she previously fell over on untreated pavements whilst venturing out to the shop for a packet of fags. She clearly doesn't want the same thing to happen again, maybe breaking a hip or a wrist this time, risking being admitted to hospital on a Sunday and not coming out...

We did venture out in the car yesterday, to the local Toby Carvery for a liquer coffee. That was partly because I wanted to test the ABS on the Worzel-mobile, which I haven't been able to do previously. The other reason we went out was that Big Joolie hadn't been out for a couple of days, and was bouncing off the walls of her flat...

I was surprised to see that even the walk from the disabled bay in the car park to the pub entrance, through the light slush that had accumulated in a wintry shower, proved worrying for Big Joolie. She is unable to shift her weight or alter her balance very quickly if needed to avoid a fall.

So why is it that our local Council cannot be bothered to clear pavements of snow and ice...?

I'm sure there are lots of people having this problem, including the lady pictured in the photo.

I guess it comes down to the question of money, and Council Tax.

I'm always one of the first to complain when Council Tax goes up. That's because I now have to work for a whole month to pay my annual Council Tax bill, but if we could reduce some of the wastage, on new or refurbished Civic Offices, on outsourcing work  (esp Care Homes) to Private Contractors at ludicrous rates that are milking the Taxpayer, on unnecessary Consultants and so on, perhaps it would be possible to do more about icy pavements...?

Even giving all the able bodied males in the area, esp the unemployed ones, a snow shovel, a couple of bags of de-icing salt and asking them to be prepared to clear a section of pavement would be a useful improvement on the current situation...