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View Full Version : A bit of Snow and England stops



stevewool
21st January 2018, 15:23
Well I know the advice is (if you don't have to go out well don't) but I had to get Emma to work which is a journey of around 12 minutes there and 12 minutes back. Well today, after 1 hour, I was still on the road.

There were collisions here and there and frustrated drivers stuck behind drivers doing 10mph, and - talk about trying to go up hills - it would have been easier to ring in sick.

Now I know it can be dangerous driving in snow, and you do have to take your time, but there is going slow and then there is going too slow, but me being a experienced driver, I do try to read the road ahead, trying to keep the car moving and leaving a little extra distance between me and the car in front. One driver tried to pull out in front of me, and changed his mind when his wheels started to spin, but a few minutes later he passed me and then could not stop until he hit the car in front of him. Stupid driver.

We were warned about the snow, but again, where were the council gritters? Hay ho, back home safe and sound, and in a few more hours I shall be back out to collect her from work, but hopefully it should be a little better.

Tawi2
21st January 2018, 15:41
Despite the British obsession with the topic of weather, we don't handle extremes well. We don't even handle a couple of inches of snow well. In comparison to some places, our weather is quite mild in all honesty. :smile: Most councils are pretty shoddy as well. In Canada, they are on it as soon as the first snowfalls cover the roads. Here they panic. :icon_lol:

Michael Parnham
21st January 2018, 16:15
Not seen any snow this winter yet :Erm:

fred
21st January 2018, 18:25
You know what?
I've forgotten what snow looks like!

lordna
21st January 2018, 18:52
Years ago I was fortunate enough to spend a year working in Munich, West Germany. Had some major snowfall there and the temperature would drop to minus 15 centigrade at night. Despite this the transport system still ran and on time, as if nothing had happened. The exception to this was during the Oktoberfest when so many descend on Munich that no transport system could possibly run on time.

stevewool
21st January 2018, 20:48
You know what?
I've forgotten what snow looks like!

Just for you Fred.

stevewool
21st January 2018, 21:03
Despite the British obsession with the topic of weather, we don't handle extremes well. We don't even handle a couple of inches of snow well. In comparison to some places, our weather is quite mild in all honesty. :smile: Most councils are pretty shoddy as well. In Canada, they are on it as soon as the first snowfalls cover the roads. Here they panic. :icon_lol:

The problem is, most have never driven in snow. Yes, it came very quickly and settled too, and on top of this it froze onto the road. Even I was skidding and my brakes were pumping when I was trying to stop skidding, (forgot about that being fitted to car).

Yes the councils are not quick enough to be out.

stevewool
21st January 2018, 21:04
Years ago I was fortunate enough to spend a year working in Munich, West Germany. Had some major snowfall there and the temperature would drop to minus 15 centigrade at night. Despite this the transport system still ran and on time, as if nothing had happened. The exception to this was during the Oktoberfest when so many descend on Munich that no transport system could possibly run on time.

Many years ago it seemed we coped better than with today's weather.

jonnijon
21st January 2018, 22:35
1963 I'd not long left school, and was working as a milkman. The snow was about 4 feet deep. We all turned up for work, went out on our rounds and we only had the walk in front electric carts then. We would put milk in a crate for five or six customers at the end of a road and carry it to the customers house then back again for more. So many useless people about these days. :cwm23::cwm23:

Tawi2
21st January 2018, 23:07
Feb 2016 I was in Ottawa. They had a 3-foot snowfall that day, a massive amount. I still had a wander around on foot. You can see the beginning of the snowfall on youtube ...

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ottawas+heavy+snowfall+2016&&view=detail&mid=9909F5F738AAF52C69089909F5F738AAF52C6908&&FORM=VDRVRV

The UK is becoming a nation of wimpy whiney complainers. Some people shrug the snow off and just get on with their day-to-day lives.

Arthur Little
22nd January 2018, 01:24
British winters during the 1950s & 60s were a lot harsher than they are nowadays. And people back then grew hardier as a result! Well ... :anerikke: ... they had to, in order to withstand the [much] lower temperatures.

:yeahthat: ... combined with the fact, there were far, far fewer cars :transam-front-ramai on our roads in those days.

fred
22nd January 2018, 05:24
British winters during the 1950s & 60s were a lot harsher than they are nowadays. And people back then grew hardier as a result! Well ... :anerikke: ... they had to, in order to withstand the [much] lower temperatures.

:yeahthat: ... combined with the fact, there were far, far fewer cars :transam-front-ramai on our roads in those days.

And coal was cheap..

fred
22nd January 2018, 05:28
Just for you Fred.

Thanks Steve!! Ahh..Memories and it`s all coming back to me now!!
Any romantic pictures of when it turns to slush and when the slush turns into ice again?:icon_lol:

jonnijon
22nd January 2018, 22:35
I really miss the ice on the inside of bedroom windows when you wake up in the morning, and the cold draaught whistling up through the floorboards, lifting the lino up off the floor.
:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

fred
23rd January 2018, 01:05
I really miss the ice on the inside of bedroom windows when you wake up in the morning, and the cold draaught whistling up through the floorboards, lifting the lino up off the floor.
:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

Wonderful..Making me jealous..Might have to take a trip up to Baguio..I hear it was 10 Degrees or lower up there a month ago.
Brrrrr!!

SimonH
23rd January 2018, 08:09
Wonderful..Making me jealous..Might have to take a trip up to Baguio..I hear it was 10 Degrees or lower up there a month ago.
Brrrrr!!

13 last week according to my next door neighbour

Tawi2
23rd January 2018, 11:41
Reminds me of Honkers, we used to sometimes get frost in January up in the new territories, tourists would go up to look at the patches of hoar frost :smile:

Michael Parnham
23rd January 2018, 16:28
I really miss the ice on the inside of bedroom windows when you wake up in the morning, and the cold draught whistling up through the floorboards, lifting the lino up off the floor.
:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

So do I. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Tawi2
16th February 2018, 13:53
-25 here a few days ago with frostbite advisory, and we have shed loads of snow. Life just carries on. :smile: As Brits, our obsession is with the weather, but we don't handle it well at all compared to most countries.

grahamw48
16th February 2018, 21:51
Oops... did I miss some snow ? I was away in the sunny Philippines... sorry. :biggrin:

Other reasons for the pathetic driving in snow nowadays.... compared to 20 or 30 years ago (or 40 :cwm25:) :

Cars are ridiculously overpowered compared to years gone by, lower, heavier, and with much wider wheels...useless for ice and snow, and a much larger percentage of them are driven by old folk and women. Say no more. :NoNo:

Longweekend
16th February 2018, 22:05
I really miss the ice on the inside of bedroom windows when you wake up in the morning, and the cold draaught whistling up through the floorboards, lifting the lino up off the floor.
:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

Lino!! you were lucky....:biggrin:

grahamw48
16th February 2018, 22:30
Aye... we could only dream of having glass int windas... never mind blinkin lino. :cwm3:

Tawi2
17th February 2018, 14:09
-21 with windchill but a beautiful sunny morning :smile: