Wednesday 4 February 2009

More snow






OK, So maybe I was just a little harsh about Londoners in the last post. (but only a little) So, to set the record straight:

Apparently 45% of the Underground is, in fact, overground, and subject to frozen points.
It can’t really be unreasonable not to spend money on gritters and snowploughs if you’d only get to use them once every 18 years

BUT.

I stand by my view that you cannot describe 10” of snow as a blizzard , nor can you claim (assuming you are reasonably able bodied) to be ‘trapped’ by it. Inconvenienced, yes. Trapped, no.

Right. Rant over.

We had a little extra snow overnight – enough to cover the places where the snow had been scooped off walls and cars to make snowballs, enough to make everything white again, including the road outside the house, but not enough to justify doing anything other than going in to work as usual.

The street immediately outside the house, and those to get off the estate, don’t get gritted so were quite icy, but the bigger roads had all been gritted.

Having got up a little earlier than usual in the expectation that I would have to (i) scrape snow or ice off the car and (ii) drive a little more slowly than usual, I was a little peeved to be delayed as I left town due to someone else slithering backwards out of a side road and into a pillar box, effectively blocking the mini roundabout for 20 minutes – I think he was going too fast along the ungritted road approaching the junction, slammed his brakes on with predictable results.

No-one was hurt, it seemed to be a classic case of making no adjustment for the driving conditions.

The rest of apart from occasional icy patches the drive was fine, easier than Monday night. It was a beautiful morning – very clear and sunny, with a lovely robins egg blue sky. As I was going to be late for work anyway due to skid boy I stopped to take a few photos en route. - just as well, as much of the snow was gone by evening.

It froze over Tuesday night, and there was just enough snow in the road to be compacted and frozen so that the road outside the house was like an ice rink. Cue very slow, careful driving, until a gritted haven was reached – It was all gone by the time I returned home tonight, although there is still a good deal of snow on the fields and hedges a little higher up, and we are being forecast ‘heavy snow’ overnight. The suspense.

2 comments:

spacedlaw said...

Having to drive in such conditions is no fun at all, in particular if cars and roads aren't equipped properly.

Dragonsally said...

Definite heart in mouth conditions.
Snow looks so pretty when its like icing over the countryside.
I'm going to look at these pictures this weekend when its meant to be 44C again (gasp)