Cold Snap, Labor Strike Slow Travel in Europe

An early cold snap in Europe claimed more lives Saturday, and a wildcat strike by Spanish air traffic controllers added to the travel chaos caused by snow, ice, and in some countries flooding.

Freezing weather killed another nine people in Poland over a 24-hour period, bringing the death toll there to 46 since the beginning of November, police said.

Temperatures there dropped as low as minus 19 degrees Celsius (minus 2 Fahrenheit) overnight Friday.

In the neighbouring Czech Republic, it was minus 20 Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) overnight, disrupting rail traffic as the ice seized up signals at several junctions.

French police blamed icy driving conditions for three deaths in the east of the country after a car slid off the road and into a canal near Plobsheim late Friday. Neither the driver nor the passengers had been drinking, police added.

Weather forecasters warned of black ice in northern France that would make driving particularly dangerous.

Officials in the French Alps meanwhile warned to watch for avalanches on Sunday in ski stations already open because of the early snow. The danger would increase Monday with fresh snowfalls and a subsequent thaw, they added.

The roof of a building at the Flamanville nuclear power station in northern France partially collapsed under the weight of snow overnight Friday, power company EDF said.

The building contained about 10 barrels of low-level radioactive waste, but France's nuclear safety agency, the ASN, classed the incident one on a scale of seven, at the bottom of the scale of seriousness.

Civil aviation officials asked airlines flying out of Charles de Gaulle, Paris' main airport, to cut back their flights by 20 percent during daylight to ease the pressure caused by the snow and ice there.

In Spain, the disruption to air traffic came mainly from a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers, which ran from Friday to Saturday evening, hitting an estimated 300,000 passengers over a long holiday weekend.

The government there put the military in command of the skies and threatened to prosecute the strikers, who had called in sick en masse rather than staging a formal strike. By Saturday afternoon, they were returning to work.

Britain's Transport Secretary Phil Hammond relaxed the maximum-hours restrictions for lorry drivers to keep the country's vital supplies moving.

"This will help us with deliveries of fuel, it will help supermarket chains with their deliveries to their stores and it will help with deliveries of salt around the country," he said.

The wintry weather has disrupted road, rail and air travel in Britain over the past few days. In many parts of England and Wales however, the snows were melting away.

Ski resorts in Scotland warned of the risk of avalanches, but the thaw there was also helping rail traffic, badly disrupted by the recent snow, to slowly get back on track.

In Switzerland, Geneva's University Hospital cancelled non-urgent operations scheduled for Monday and Tuesday to cope with a massive flow of broken bones caused by people slipping and falling in icy conditions. Operating theatres were working overtime through the weekend.

Stay tuned, a lot going on across Europe right now.

Saturday Night College FB Play of the Day

UCLA

The Bruins are getting 6.5 points at home to their rival USC.  UCLA is an average team, but USC is nothing great either.  UCLA plays better in big games and I expect them to keep this one close.

This one important trend favors the Bruins.  They are 16-7 ATS in their last 23 games as a home dog.  This game cold be ugly, but go UCLA.

Tis' the Season for Office Christmas Parties

While the downturn in the economy has put a damper, or forced the cancellation of many office Christmas parties, they do still happen, but on a smaller scale. 

If nothing else we have our memories of the horrible food, drunken booses, and Ted from marketing disappearing into the bathroom with one of the interns. 

Have any great stories?  Send them in, here are some I've come across to get you through the big office bash.

En Fuego

Back in the early '70s I was a teaching assistant during graduate school. One of the department secretaries hosted a faculty and staff Christmas party. It was a time when everyone smoked wherever they wanted, and I was a smoker at the time.

I was talking to someone in the living room with a cigarette in my hand. As I spoke I was gesturing with broad sweeps of my arms. At one point, I accidentally hit the wall with the lit end of my cigarette -- the same wall their couch sat against.

The party went on. It was time to leave. As I was leaving I smelled smoke and looked over to see a steady plume of smoke rising from the back of the couch, caused no doubt by the embers from the hot ash of my cigarette as it hit the wall.

"Oh look!" I cried out. "Your couch is on fire!"

It was Cancelled!

I got the wrong date for the office party that was to be held at a very expensive restaurant. I showed up at work and asked a fellow co-worker if she and her husband wanted to ride to the party with us that night and she responded, "Why? The party was last night. Where were you? We waited for you and your wife for 30 minutes before we got started."

In preparation for the party, we both bought new clothes and had to sell NBA tickets because of the supposed scheduling conflict.

This happened five years ago and I am reminded of it EVERY year when the holiday party is being scheduled.

I couldn't face my wife due to all the trouble we went through to get ready for the party. To this day, my wife thinks they cancelled the party - I was too embarrassed to tell her I got the dates wrong. It is my dirty little secret!

Dozing Off

After enjoying myself at our office holiday party, I was feeling very tired and had to go outside and lay down in the back seat of a co-worker's car. Turns out it was my boss' car and he didn't realize I was asleep in the back seat until he had driven all the way home! So, I went inside to call a cab, much to his wife's disapproval.

The Musical Entertainment

At my first company Christmas party, the entertainment was a group of female impersonators who dressed up like Cher, Tina Turner, Bette Midler and a few others, and sang and danced like they were real women. Other than a couple of oversized shoulder blades, you would never know they were men. Many of the old ladies from advertising and customer service were very impressed. Clueless and impressed. “These gals are really good! They look and sound like the real thing!” I overheard one say to another. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that those gals that they were watching were men. They had gotten their hair done and put on girdles for this party; who was I to spoil it for them.

I See London, I See France

At the office Christmas party, the back of my silk dress got caught my panties after a visit to the ladies room. It was a good 10 minutes I pranced around the party before an "angel" came up to me and told me my status. Ladies, if you see another girl is this situation- help her out (wouldn't you want that too?)

Buckle Up!

Unfortunately, I have to admit my huge blunder. After the classy holiday party at the nicest restaurant in our town I had had a few to many when my coworker and I were outside laughing it up. The party had ended and another co-worker and his future wife were about to leave. This co-worker was very religious and as they were leaving I yelled to him don't forget to buckle up his condom. I had just watched Father of the Bride the previous night and thought it would be funny. Wrong!

Huh?

Let's just say it involved alcohol, a bathroom sink, and I ended up with a nice shiner, although I didn't feel a thing.

Don't End up on You Tube

I went as a date to my best girlfriends office party last year. We spent the day getting our make up done on Newbury Street in Boston, then having cocktails and girly fun in our hotel room before the party. I had a fantastic outfit picked out and was excited to strut my stuff. Fast forward to my girl friends and I being the only ones on the dance floor-- drinks in hand. Feeling sassy, I broke out my signature dance move, involving some hip-swaying, booty-shaking elements. As it turns out, the back of my skirt was up over my panty-less behind the entire time. I spent the next 2 weeks on YouTube hoping that no one caught my little dance on tape. Thankfully, they didn't.

Saturday Afternoon College FB Play of the Day

Oregon

The Oregon Ducks are so close to playing in a BCS Championship game.  One team stands in their way, their rivals, the Oregon State Beavers.

Oregon goes on the road today, but it's not going to matter.  Oregon gives p 16.5 to the Beavers, but they will win by more than 20.  Take Oregon for the mid afternoon game today.

Cold Weather Blasts Europe

Northern Europe contines to be hit with cold and snowy conditions.

Dozens of people are reported to have been killed by exposure to the cold or in weather-related accidents.

The snow continues to disrupt transport networks but many airports are resuming a more normal service.

Temperatures in Poland have fallen to as low as -33C (-27F) in the past few days.

Another 12 people froze to death across Poland on Thursday night, according to police, bringing the total killed there during this cold snap to 30.

Police say many of the victims were homeless people.

Eleven people were reported to have died in Russia over the past 24 hours, and three in France. Deaths were also reported in Germany and the Czech Republic.

The snow and ice has meant widespread delays and cancellations to European flights in recent days, with the closure of a number of British airports.

London's Gatwick airport reopened on Friday morning for the first time in two days, but the authorities said it was likely to be some time before flight schedules returned to normal.

While a regular service appears to be resuming in many European airports, arrivals and departure boards are still showing delays and some cancellations.

Eurostar says it expects to operate a significantly reduced service until Sunday, but that no more tickets will be available until Monday.

Cold air moving down from Siberia has contributed to the wintry conditions in northern Europe.

Temperatures are an average 5C-10C below average in some major cities.