Motoring Chaos! (Part 2)

[Heep]

[michiel]

Very local snow?

[Heep]

Yep, about a 3 minute walk from my office.To be fair to the poor Brits, though, we expect this every year and are fully prepared for it...

[Milford Cubicle]

I had a great time getting to work yesterday

 

 

Snowplough was stuck (since 3am) so we had to grit this hill by hand... To further RW's point about snow tyres, a 306 with a couple of snow tyres lobbed on the front made it up this hill no bother, before we'd gritted much of it.

 

 

The road was single lane in places, with a track only 'ploughed' by the traffic - some of the drifts at the side of the road were as high as the grille!

On a major trunk road as well That's privatised road maintenance for you.

 

 

A few miles on a large lime tree had fallen over the road

 

 

But having a van full of chainsaws is very handy

[STUNO]

LOL.. Michiel I think your question/comment was slightly misunderstood by heep. P.S. very hot here.lovely summer!

[michiel]

LOL.. Michiel I think your question/comment was slightly misunderstood by heep. P.S. very hot here.lovely summer!

Yep! Serves me right for trying to be funny in English... I'm not even funny in Dutch.

[STUNO]

LOL.. Michiel I think your question/comment was slightly misunderstood by heep. P.S. very hot here.lovely summer!

Yep! Serves me right for trying to be funny in English... I'm not even funny in Dutch.

I enjoy having a twisted sense of humour

[Heep]

Lol, I still don't get it.

[Richard]

 

Looking at the picture it appears as if it has only snowed where the pile is.[/url]

[r.welfare]

We had a -8C night, so I've just spent an hour trying to move two of the cars around so I can get the estate (with M+S tyres - GR8 TIMING) out of the garage and down to the local filling station to slop some DERV in it. Normally this would take 10 mins, max.Problem 1 - Accord, which has not moved since Wednesday, has a 4-inch-thick toupee of frozen snow. No bother to get in and start the thing - I do like Japanese dependability - but then broke two scrapers trying to chip away at the front and rear screens. Resorted to hot water (from the tap) in a watering can to melt it a bit, then use a big Tupperware lid to shovel it away. What fun.Problem 2 - 405 saloon, which was parked up yesterday afternoon, now has frozen locks. Key under hot tap, work the passenger lock free, central locking operates. Wrench open driver's door. Driver's door lock now frozen open, cue comical bounceback when I try to slam the door. At least that started.Problem 3 - snowdrift in front of garage door. Much kicking of it in solid footwear. Then find frozen lock, key under hot tap again. 405 estate - which has dying battery - fires up first time though after being sat in garage for 10 days, result. Fuel gauge bending itself round stop, though.Problem 4 - irritating nurses who come to get disabled neighbour out of bed arrive and park across drive. They ALWAYS do this, and it pisses me off to the point that I might stalk them one day and leave my car across their drive to see how they like it. Do a bit of ranting; sour-faced bints move aged rusty Clio forward a bit, but then take only spare bit of on-street parking. Try to move Accord off drive, down dropkerb so I can put on gravel bit next to 405 (which hasn't been parked on since the snow started). Result - Accord now beached on dropkerb like whale, smoke billowing from spinning front tyres. Swift movement of stick from D to R and back again frees it up. Thought to self - why don't autoboxes have a "snow" function like the old GM boxes (that my dad had in his Mk3 Cav) did?Decide to put 405 saloon across drive, move Accord to where 405 was, reasoning that the 405's tracks will provide enough traction. *Just* about works, with much wheelspinning.Then try to get 405 on virgin-snow-covered bit of gravel, get it stuck, rock it free, end up blocking my neighbours' drive with it while I get the estate out, leave that in the road (blocking traffic - ha ha), saloon back in garage (being careful not to rip mirrors off as I reverse in at 40mph due to "audience" - Russ Swift would have been proud), put Accord back on concrete part of drive, get diesel in estate (104.9! Bastards), job done.Rant over. I bloody HAT snow now.

[VWPowered]

moody here but no snow in france is planne today seen afew flakes, as last month the plumbing exploded when it dropped to -12 (yep 7 leaks and a bathroom cut to bits),all our cars were frozen solid, i do feel for you guys...

 

not normal in jan we normally have snow in march...

 

 

we get really snowed in

 

 

grit around here you must be joking

 

 

you wont be driving that today

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Cikey RW! Quite a tale of excitement there. Pretty much no snow whatsoever here.....

[retrogeezer]

nothing here in the grim north...a lovely day in fact:

 

[Milford Cubicle]

Hey where's my car gone?

I think it's a level fall of 16 inches or more. Remarkable! I haven't seen it like this since the '90s

[Richard]

I'm going up there for work in a couple of weeks In my FWD Transit that gets stuck on slight inclines on a dry road.

[Milford Cubicle]

The A and B roads are ok as they've kept on top of the ploughing, but if you have to head off the beaten track it's pretty treacherous

[Richard]

I'm going to Aberlour and Elgin. I always go up the A9 and across because the road between Aberdeen and Elgin is a fugging nightmare.I'm kind of wishing I wasn't booked into the Hotel De Grim though, if I'm going to be stuck up there I can think of better places to stay.

[retrogeezer]

Hey where's my car gone?

I think it's a level fall of 16 inches or more. Remarkable! I haven't seen it like this since the '90s

holy fook - is that today?

[Milford Cubicle]

Earlier in the morning, aye. It's sunny now and not looking so grim.Richard, Aberlour was one of the worst affected on Thursday, it might be looking worse now. It's on my route to work so I'll find out soon enough.

[keef]

Almost all gone now in NW Kent :-

 

[VWPowered]

Hey where's my car gone?

I think it's a level fall of 16 inches or more. Remarkable! I haven't seen it like this since the '90s

holy fook - is that today?

thats nuts

[STUNO]

A bit of advice please. My sister is going back to UK today..from a perfect 30 deg. Her car is in Peterborough an she is probably going to Norfolk. Totally unexperienced in ice and snow. Can anyone tell me what she should expect when she arrives in a coupe of days.

[pogweasel]

Not much. forecast for 'these parts' is a bit more coldness at night sun/mon/tues so likely rural roads will still be icey, but I think the blizzards are about done. Not a million miles from Peatboghorror here, but Dollywobbla and Mr_Bo11ox(mon-fri) are closer to that locale for a better idea.

[CortinaDave]

well yet again we had heavy snow forecast here today and so far only a feeble little shower.

 

This is as good as it got here last week:

 

 

Missus took my new cougar up to aviemore for the weekend though.. looks like snow is much more impressive there:

 

 

[Milford Cubicle]

Hey, I saw your Cougar being dug out of the snow from that very spot! My granny lives about a mile from there, and I live in the village itself. I went up to see if she was alright but got stuck the moment I turned into her drive. Gr8 work. It looked as if the road had been ploughed, but it hadn't...

[STUNO]

Not much. I think the blizzards are about done

Thanks pogweasel we will see what happens. Btw I still remember a lovely pub lunch in Biggleswade while on the way to Old Warden for an airshow which was a bloody good show too!!

[pogweasel]

Must have been some time ago as I cannot remember the words 'lovely' 'pub lunch' and 'biggleswade' all occurring in the same sentence. The airshows do rock. I used to work at them selling the programmes to plane-spotters. Many moons ago now...

[STUNO]

Must have been some time ago as I cannot remember the words 'lovely' 'pub lunch' and 'biggleswade' all occurring in the same sentence. The airshows do rock. I used to work at them selling the programmes to plane-spotters. Many moons ago now...

Try about 1976 I can't remember the pub though!

[dollywobbler]

Peterboghorror was a nightmare on my run in this morning. Three accidents and even major roads were just sheet ice!All I can say is keep a good distance from the car in front (just like I didn't this morning - almost 'met' the car in front...) and try to keep off the brakes. People panic and automatically hit the middle pedal, which usually removes all chance of stopping a skid.It'll probably be clear in a few days though, if not by hometime (though I think more snow is forecast tonight?)

[pogweasel]

is it raining up there now DW? It's lashing it down here, which has at least melted the black ice off the roads. Randomly, a mahoosif gritting lorry has just been past our house, that's the first time EVER that a grit lorry has bothered to pass this way. Maybe it's so the bin lorry can come. OMG RECYCLING CHAOS.