Are You Winter Ready, Idiot?

The Manx gov is responding to the unusual annual event of winter by making sure we can all still function as people.

It’s Winter Ready campaign has stepped up with some helpful tips, helpful if you have never seen a winter before.

The first tip, posted on the excellent Isle of Man Government Facebook page, is to check the weather forecast.

This is actually good advice, imagine, to your horror, you forget it is November, you wake up, head to Shoprite (RIP) to buy a BBQ, only to find yourself stood in the car park in your Hawaiian shirt, beach shorts and flip flops and thinking, wow it is unseasonably cold.

To avoid such embarrassment, the gov is reminding us all that a ‘quick forecast check ensures you’re ready for any weather curveballs so you can plan your day and dress accordingly’.

This is instead of serving up a curveball such as the taxpayer owned Manx Utilities lowering its charges to customers to ensure that, while we might all freeze to death by leaving the windows open on the off chance we forget its cold at night in November, we can at least do so with the TV on.

Some of the ideas that the gov has put forward, such as making sure your car is safe are actually quite sensible.

However, it also has recommended keeping an emergency kit in your car with essentials like blankets, a wind up torch, extra warm clothing, various snow busting pieces of equipment and ‘non-perishable snacks’.

The last one just seems odd, first of all, it’s the Isle of Man, not Siberia, if you suddenly find yourself stuck in a snow drift, you will be found quite quickly but secondly we all know there isn’t one of us who wouldn’t eat those Kit-Kats the second we got peckish sat in a traffic at the QB or on the prom.

There are also pieces of advice for the home such as ensuring you have enough essential supplies to sustain yourself and your family, we’ve all seen what M&S and Tesco are like when the boat gets cancelled for more than an afternoon, there are no supplies, you’ll just have to pick your least favourite pet and eat them, or if things get really bad, have a Pot Noodle.

You may think I’m being unfair on the gov, this is all well intentioned, but then maybe it’s time they started treating us as adults….

Btw pass the message to the guys at the back, of course it’s a joke, get a sense of humour, minister…