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Post by bromptonaut on Mar 4, 2018 9:09:16 GMT
I think it would have been around 2002 when I couldn't get out of Greens Norton to get to the M1, so if it is worse than that, then it must be pretty bad. That was probably the year it took me two hours to get off the commuter car park opposite the Santander building in MK to Portway roundabout and the A5 - less than a mile. Volunteer colleague who lives in Greens Norton couldn't get in on Thursday but she's a nervous driver and is still getting used to her new (to her) Citroen Picasso. I didn't get in on Friday because getting home on Thursday was such a nightmare. Personally I was OK driving on slush. A quick brake test confirmed the obvious - precious little retardation. The Roomster has proper diesel characteristics in that it will creep, feet off, at 5mph in first. Quite straightforward controlling it almost wholly with throttle/gears. Others, perhaps too reliant on electronics or confidnet in ABS seemed clueless as fact that nothing trumps Newtonian physics. As it happened I wouldn't have got out of our road before 10 or 11 as it was blocked by snow blown off the village playing fields.
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Post by Humph on Mar 4, 2018 11:21:43 GMT
When we lived 1200' above sea level in a very rural part of the Scottish Borders, the roads were so minor that we never saw anything as useful as a gritter or a snowplough. At that altitude and location it could and often did snow regularly anytime from November to April and some winters it hardly ever melted.
Many people in the community were farm workers and couldn't dream of owning a fancy 4x4 or changing to winter tyres. They managed with whatever old banger they could keep running.
In other words, they just got on with it, drove carefully when conditions required, stuck a shovel and a bag of sand in the boot and went about their business. One year, I think it was early 2001, the drifts came up to our first floor windows, the power and water was off for nearly two weeks and we had to more or less tunnel our way out. One of the local farmers came by after a few days and punched through the drifts on the road with a bulldozer and everyone got back to work, driving on a sort of bob sleigh run created by the bulldozer.
I know it sounds dismissive but the conditions experienced this past week in most parts of Britain don't even begin to compare.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 5, 2018 12:17:44 GMT
Thing is Humph, the sheer amount of people and traffic round here, not to mention buses, lorries etc, increases the risks and the chances of everything gumming up if even a small handful of drivers get things wrong and block the roads. Then it just gets exponentially worse, affecting thousands, dare I even say millions of people. There was really very little snow at my house for instance, but the risk of getting stuck on blocked roads was very real, so I stayed at home for two days. I can work online, it caused my employer no loss or problem and I was out of the way of more essential traffic. One bus getting stuck on a hill in my neighbourhood made it almost impossible for me to get a car to/from my house on Thursday.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 5, 2018 17:12:33 GMT
My view exactly, Vić. There are people who really need to be on the roads in bad weather. I’m not one of them, and it’s my civic duty not to get in their way.
I did hear rather too many vox pops saying things like, “It seemed all right when I left home,” after they’d caused others to put themselves at risk to rescue them, when a quick flick from Twitbook to the BBC Weather app would have told them it wouldn’t be for long.
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Mar 6, 2018 14:50:19 GMT
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Post by Humph on Mar 6, 2018 14:50:19 GMT
Or as they said on “The Last Leg” on Friday night, “Southerners should not attempt to travel under any circumstances, Northerners, you will need your big coat...” 😉
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2018 23:31:09 GMT
How true...
But we are getting a bit more 'southern' up north; more's the pity. All together now, in a fine Yorkshire accent; '....When I were a kid.....
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Post by Rob on Mar 7, 2018 0:15:26 GMT
When I was a student in Manchester, to avoid the queues and risk of losing a coat in a cloakroom.... I'd not take a coat out with me. Occasionally ended up walking back when very cold or raining without a coat. Stupid I know.
If going to the shop/supermarket to this day I might not bother with a coat either. House to car and car to store.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2018 9:38:16 GMT
Same with my boys. We nag them to get buttoned up, but they go out in all weathers coatless. 'I'll be fine Dad..'
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Post by Humph on Mar 7, 2018 9:41:16 GMT
My 18 year old son did that on Friday night. Snow on the ground and he went into town with no coat in just a T-shirt and jeans. OK, it's only a mile from where we live but even so...
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Mar 7, 2018 21:42:10 GMT
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Post by WDB on Mar 7, 2018 21:42:10 GMT
’Fraid to admit I make mine pack coats in the car in winter even if the trip ought to be door-to-door. Not all the environmental factors are under our control and it only takes one thing to go wrong.
When I had the S60 (and the similar 325) I used to put my work bag in the boot, but always made sure my coat was on the back seat. Reasoning: there was no way into either boot from the cabin, so in the event of a rear-end shunt jamming the boot closed, I wanted to be warm while I waited
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Post by Humph on Mar 7, 2018 22:00:25 GMT
Glass half full sort of chap are you? 😉
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Post by Rob on Mar 7, 2018 23:33:22 GMT
I have plenty of warm coats and an old jumper in the boot. If I needed a coat whilst out and also needed to put my laptop in the boot... I'd make sure the coat was not in the boot because someone could see a laptop case.
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Mar 8, 2018 6:14:24 GMT
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Post by WDB on Mar 8, 2018 6:14:24 GMT
Glass half full sort of chap are you? 😉 Generally, yes. But I do read the emergency exit instructions in planes, trains and hotels, so if a bad situation does occur, I hope I won’t be the one who makes it worse.
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Post by commerdriver on Mar 8, 2018 9:13:21 GMT
Glass half full sort of chap are you? 😉 Generally, yes. But I do read the emergency exit instructions in planes, trains and hotels, so if a bad situation does occur, I hope I won’t be the one who makes it worse. Good habit to have, WDB, I always note when I get on a plane or check in to a hotel room, where the nearest exit is and how many seats or room doors there are between me and the exit. If you have to get out in a hurry when the place or plane is full of smoke it may just make a difference
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Post by Alanović on Mar 8, 2018 9:28:20 GMT
There seem to be a lot of northerners having an attack of the southerners on the motorways and roads around Leeds this morning, according to Radio 5 Live.
Or are they the wrong sort of northerners?
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