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Hi, Rusty!
My daughter has phoned to say that BB's headmaster has decided to open the school between the hours of 10 am and 2.30 pm tomorrow.
Obviously this will not be of much help to working parents, but is showing a good spirit to "keep the flag flying" , don't you think?
Good for him!
BB is thrilled with the novelty of walking to school in the snow!
Speaking of school, did Miss O get home all right?
She had a way to travel?
Still snowing here...but with less fervour than earlier.
Very. very cold though.....

Hello, Pigale!
What you say makes good sense to me.
I do not know how they go about ordering stock, or what circumstances trigger a re-supply of stock.
In normal businesses carrying stock costs money.
It should sell as quickly as possible.
But this is a huge chemist chain, Lloyd's, and I do not know how they decide when to order.
But if a lot of their shops have unsold stock on the shelves it will cost them money.
Could that be the reason?
Weather is grim here!

Hello again,

I am only going by my experience of our chemists (well, pharmacists
really) here, in France; They carry just about every single medicine
there are on the market, and they replenish their stock as any
super-market would do - ie when stock is low, they order more
(now I don't know in which quantities though); only occasionally
do they run out of one product, usually because several patients
have come with similar prescriptions in the same day, and then,
depending as to whether you go in in morning or afternoon, the
product will be available to you by late afternoon or the next
day - more or less what Elle was saying about in her neck of the
wood.
I don't know how it all works in UK, whenever I had to have medicine there, I never had to wait, but here, chemists/pharmacists make
good money! it is a very, very lucrative business; and with many
French folks being keen on taking medicine for this, that and the
other, the stock never stays on the shelves very long!

Another thing is that if, in a village like here, there are two chemists,
if one runs out of a particular product, they phone their colleague
and if it is available, one of the staff goes and collect it, so you can
either wait in the shop, or go and do some shopping and it is
waiting for you upon your return.

I hope you get your problem sorted out soon - how is your weather
now?

Elle, Are you snowed under ? it is still falling here, but miniature
flakes - roads may be treacherous overnight nonetheless, but i
reckon it will all be gone by lunchtime tomorrow - when I need to
walk down town - but by then, we should have sun and Plus 9C !

Hello, Elle!
I think if conditions are bad enough the schools should close.
All the schools in the Central belt of Scotland are closed tomorrow with the exception of Dundee.
They are waiting to see what conditions are like in the morning!
Mad! Mad! Mad!
Miss O got home safely and her school is closed tomorrow.
She has been told to report to the nearest Perth school!
So, what we have here is the Police telling folk not to drive unless it is absolutely necessary and the school authorities telling teachers to drive to their nearest school.
And what do they do when they get there?
There will be no pupils to teach!
Am I missing something here?

Hello, Pigale,
I do not know how they order.
It will be sorted out in a day or two.
It is only gel drops for my eyes, not vital heart medicine or anything like that.
No great problem to wait a day or two.
And I may not manage to get out for it anyway.
The chemist is situated at the very highest point in the city and the snow will be deeper there!
It is as bad as I have seen it in a good while here.
Heavy snow and strong winds.
But...we have coped before, and we shall do so again!
My son has a plumber's business and the plumbers merchants are very low on stock because the suppliers cannot get deliveries to them.
Must be low stock all over the place and in many different businesses!

elle

I think it's great BB's school is staying open, I think too much "Give-up-itis" sets a very bad example. I don't remember my school ever closing for weather, though I do remember snow coming over my wellies as I waited for the buses etc (trams, train, boat) and the resulting chilblains. Also smog so bad I could hardly read the numbers on the buses. All the teachers must have made it into school as well.

I had lunch today with a friend who said Boots could not fill her prescription at all. very strange

Yes Rusty, and plumbers might be in great demands when the
weather is freezing - not good for pipes etc...

This business about your grand-daughter having to report to
a school in Perth is ridiculous!

Hi rosalind
My last year in junior school, 1963, even in Barnstaple (where we previously had to go up onto Exmoor to see any snow), we went in to school every Monday between Christmas and Easter to be told "the toilets are still frozen, here is your work for this week". I still passed the 11+ to get in to grammar school, though!

Hi, Rusty!
I well remember walking a good mile and a half to primary school in the snow...many times!
We would wear our thick coats and our hats , scarves and gloves - and trudge along in our wellies!
We might have thrown the odd snowball on the way!
School never closed........ we just kept our coats on if it were cold!
In BB's case, the parents have received phone calls to say that the school will be open tomorrow between those hours.
I think it's great idea.
I have met the headmaster - he's a lovely chap!
But attendance at primary schools here goes mainly in Catchment areas - so no child has far to travel.
Most journeys will be walkable if necessary.
And is it still snowing here.....
How was the cycling?


Hello, Ros!
Yes, but you and I are both tough "Northerners"!
I never got a bus to school - it would have required two buses and "going all around the houses" .
My parents didn't own a car.
I always walked the couple of miles to get there to both primary and senior school
(I've never had a chilblain!)

Hi chris
That was the winter that was! I was at Edinburgh uni then and my parents were pretty shocked at the pictures of the snow there, though they didn't send me any extra money for the electricity meter! I used to study in bed, as I expect most of us did. But I don't remember a single lecture or lab being cancelled.
Were they outside toilets?