I have been living in London for quite a few years and in my opinion it is one of the best cities in this world. It has around 7 million people that call it home and this number will probably grow every year. It is the financial capital of Europe, if not the world, the royal family has its main palace here and there;s always something new you can do every single day of the year.

It’s not all roses for London, though. Housing is extremely expensive and you can get much less here than anywhere else in the country for the same amount of money, the public transport gets more expensive every year and… the snow. Yeah, you weren’t counting on snow, were you? Snow is London’s real Armageddon alright and here’s why.

Almost every year the city of London gets itself in trouble due to the snow. Now, you ask ‘Does it snow a lot in London?’, and I reply ‘No, not really. Not compared to the highlands of Scotland, for example, or even any Scandinavian country’. And it’s true, it doesn’t snow that much in London. But when it does, the whole city steps into chaos.

Don’t get me wrong, London is beautiful when the snow decides to appear, and many people enjoy that, but what no one enjoys is the chaos it brings. Trains are probably the first to feel it. As soon as it starts to snow, they either get delayed or worse, cancelled. And when that happens, it’s even more chaos on the roads.

Because people cannot wait that long for delayed trains or use them at all when they’re cancelled, they have to resort to other means of transport to get to their destination. Buses get completely packed very quickly and one has to fly  to grab a taxi or minicab. Even booking an uber or mytaxi is no guarantee that you’ll actually get it, as often they take too long or just get cancelled right away.

Why does this happen in London almost every year? I don’t know, but probably the city is not well prepared for times like these. This “Beast from the East” winter storm was probably one of the worst in a few years, with extremely freezing winds keeping conditions very icy. Thing is, the mayor of London decides not to do anything about it, viewing investing in solutions to deal with these snow problems as not good solutions at all. If countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Germany and Canada can cope with these situations just fine, how come the big ol’ city of London can’t?

#theeleven11