Holy Bat-Bleepers I'm snowed in!!
downfader
Posts: 3,686
I'll pretty much travel, walk and cycle in any weather, but after last nights snow I went out at 6am with two ice-walking sticks and a fair set of proper hill walking shoes. It took me half an hour to walk 400 feet. :shock: I was sliding around all over the place, just couldnt get purchase.
I saw one idiot going down my road on his mobile telling his boss he'd be late. No **** sherlock, you will be if you drive like that! Very late. Also saw an astra van driver give up before a hill, wise move, its 35 degrees for about 100 feet, he'd be one big sledge down there.
I saw one idiot going down my road on his mobile telling his boss he'd be late. No **** sherlock, you will be if you drive like that! Very late. Also saw an astra van driver give up before a hill, wise move, its 35 degrees for about 100 feet, he'd be one big sledge down there.
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Comments
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Is there any chance people could add photos to the description?
It'd be nice to SEE what the problem is
Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
2011 Trek Madone 4.5
2012 Felt F65X
Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter0 -
Given up on the bike this week as not that confident in the snow and ice and hubby didn't want me cycling in. Buses are running at least, if annoying in that my 20min commute now takes closer to an hour!
Just walking to the itchen bridge took ages this morning (thought I'd walk to main roads to increase odds of finding a bus after one crashed on our road before xmas due to the ice). Very very slippery!0 -
still waiting for downfader's pictures... ahem!Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]0 -
MonkeyMonster wrote:still waiting for downfader's pictures... ahem!
Took a few this morning. Cant be bothered to stick them on the puter yet as they were done on the D3 and need editing.0 -
Never fear, Downfader, I feel we may be iced in tomorrow in Bitterne! Commercial Street was like a giant mud/grime slush puppy when I got back from the Shirley post depot, expected to feel like -13 ( minus thirteen :shock: overnight...
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/today.asp
We are going to have a giant black ice rink again I think, just like the Wednesday before Xmas, when Shirley cancelled the mail rounds for the first time since the hurricaine winds of 2000/1... :twisted:================
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo0 -
NitrousOxide wrote:Never fear, Downfader, I feel we may be iced in tomorrow in Bitterne! Commercial Street was like a giant mud/grime slush puppy when I got back from the Shirley post depot, expected to feel like -13 ( minus thirteen :shock: overnight...
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/today.asp
We are going to have a giant black ice rink again I think, just like the Wednesday before Xmas, when Shirley cancelled the mail rounds for the first time since the hurricaine winds of 2000/1... :twisted:
Have been in the shed this afternoon trying to build some spiked over shoes with nails and ply. Hasnt gone well. 0 -
You lot don't know what snow is :P
Now THIS is snow:
Or you could try and work out where the road is:
Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
2011 Trek Madone 4.5
2012 Felt F65X
Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter0 -
Haha, those pics remind me of a winter around 1981, when we were living in a tiny village called Tilstock (~5 miles from Whitchurch in Shrophire)...
At the time, being ~8, the snow was upto my waist! To get around the farm, while school was cancelled, I walked around with my legs locked straight and ~2 feet apart! ================
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo0 -
NitrousOxide wrote:Haha, those pics remind me of a winter around 1981, when we were living in a tiny village called Tilstock (~5 miles from Whitchurch in Shrophire)...
At the time, being ~8, the snow was upto my waist! To get around the farm, while school was cancelled, I walked around with my legs locked straight and ~2 feet apart!
It was on BBC News last night that this is the longest cold snap since 1981
I think I remember that one too. Was living in Merthyr at the time - loads and loads of snow and it's one of my stand-out memories of that time.FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
'snowed in' = 'there's a bit of snow outside'?
this country is an absolute joke when the weather turns slightly bad.0 -
cjcp wrote:NitrousOxide wrote:Haha, those pics remind me of a winter around 1981, when we were living in a tiny village called Tilstock (~5 miles from Whitchurch in Shrophire)...
At the time, being ~8, the snow was upto my waist! To get around the farm, while school was cancelled, I walked around with my legs locked straight and ~2 feet apart!
It was on BBC News last night that this is the longest cold snap since 1981
I think I remember that one too. Was living in Merthyr at the time - loads and loads of snow and it's one of my stand-out memories of that time.
got to be honest i'm less than conviced that this really is the longest cold snap, unless they mean just london?0 -
singlespeedexplosif wrote:'snowed in' = 'there's a bit of snow outside'?
this country is an absolute joke when the weather turns slightly bad.
I am sick of people saying this, we just don't have the inclination to pay the money to gear ourselves up for handling this kind of weather. And when it is a once in a 20 year event what's the point?
In Canada cars have heaters that plug in the house/garage, remote starters so the car can be warm by the time you get in them and all drivers have to change to winter tyres.
I was in Finland one October, it was before the mandatory change of tyres on the 1st of November so everyone was still in summer tyres. They had snow, probably only 3-4 inches and it was choas, just like here.
Not sure where you live but here in Manchester we had 8-9inches of snow on top of frozen ice, now that is difficult to get around in.26km each way commute on a Decathlon Comp 1 2006 Road Bike
2009 Communting Totals - Car 112 miles Bike 2,765 miles0 -
roger merriman wrote:cjcp wrote:It was on BBC News last night that this is the longest cold snap since 1981
I think I remember that one too. Was living in Merthyr at the time - loads and loads of snow and it's one of my stand-out memories of that time.
got to be honest i'm less than conviced that this really is the longest cold snap, unless they mean just london?
Well this is the longest in my life (in the northwest), we have had snow on the ground and pretty much temperatures below or around zero (save for a couple of days) since the 16th of December.
I remember one cold winter when I was growing up, it was pretty cold for a few weeks but we didn't get that much snow.26km each way commute on a Decathlon Comp 1 2006 Road Bike
2009 Communting Totals - Car 112 miles Bike 2,765 miles0 -
we just don't have the inclination to pay the money to gear ourselves up for handling this kind of weather. And when it is a once in a 20 year event what's the point?
oh I agree entirely with that. But it is the way that people seem to go to pieces that annoys me. It's not particularly anything to do with 'gearing ourselves up for handling it' - just a bit of effort and planning by people would be a good start. Like, read up on how to drive on snow. At the moment it seem that the accepted method is 'floor it and yank the steering wheel around a lot'. Crazy.
Not sure where you live but here in Manchester we had 8-9inches of snow on top of frozen ice, now that is difficult to get around in.
Saddleworth - just over 18" of snow and ice here. Still got into work in the city centre all week. And yet many of my colleagues who live in the city centre 'couldn't get into work'. Sorry, what? It's not that difficult to get around in the city centre. It's really not. The roads are gritted. The pedestrian areas have paths dug through the snow.
My point is, people use the snow as an excuse not to do stuff. 'Snowed in' means you can't get out of the house. We used to get 'snowed in' 20 years ago or so - 6' drifts against the house not uncommon. So you could jump out of a first floor window into the snow, armed with a spade (kept in the house because you were expecting snow) - note that all the snow at the moment has been FORECAST and yet people can't cope - and dig out the front door so that you could get out of the house.
To summarise - HTFU the lot of you 0 -
mattybain wrote:roger merriman wrote:cjcp wrote:It was on BBC News last night that this is the longest cold snap since 1981
I think I remember that one too. Was living in Merthyr at the time - loads and loads of snow and it's one of my stand-out memories of that time.
got to be honest i'm less than conviced that this really is the longest cold snap, unless they mean just london?
Well this is the longest in my life (in the northwest), we have had snow on the ground and pretty much temperatures below or around zero (save for a couple of days) since the 16th of December.
I remember one cold winter when I was growing up, it was pretty cold for a few weeks but we didn't get that much snow.
from Breacon beacons. and in from 1981 there have been countless very cold wintery times. been times with snow in feet, not drifts but just snow.
i'm very cynical to put it mildly.0 -
The BBC are keen to for this 'snow event' to be bigger & better than than the 'last snow event', so they judiciously alter the measurement point to suit. Depending on where you are in the country, it's either the coldest / longest / worst since last February, or 1986, or 1981. Or maybe 1963 if they really want to push it a bit.
I'm with singlespeedexplosif re our inability to cope. Not struggling through 8" of snow is understandable and correct, but these muppets who were holding the world up just before Christmas and will do so again over the next few weeks by bimbling along at 20-30 mph on straight open NSL roads, when the biggest threat to life is that the roads are a bit damp, really ought to stay at home out of the way if they really do believe that any attempt to get a move on will result in an accident resembling a small aeroplane crash. By that I don't mean do 65 in a 60; do 50ish and use the same awareness and judgement that you use the rest of the year. Just because it's a bit cold & damp it doesn't give every halfwit the right to drive without due care & consideration for other road users. I'm talking straight open country A roads here note.
Honestly - if you're driving along and there's no-one for miles ahead of you, but you have the whole of Oxfordshire following you in close convoy, you're not going at a speed appropriate for the conditions. Get a move on, or get out of the way and let the rest of the world get to where they want to be.
Grumble grumble...0 -
I think people are less inclinded to go to work when the weather is bad because with the internet, emails and VPN its much easier to work from home than it used to be.0
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singlespeedexplosif wrote:
Not sure where you live but here in Manchester we had 8-9inches of snow on top of frozen ice, now that is difficult to get around in.
Saddleworth - just over 18" of snow and ice here. Still got into work in the city centre all week. And yet many of my colleagues who live in the city centre 'couldn't get into work'. Sorry, what? It's not that difficult to get around in the city centre. It's really not. The roads are gritted. The pedestrian areas have paths dug through the snow.
To summarise - HTFU the lot of you
So what tyres do you have on your car? do you have a 4x4?
On Tuesday we tried to get our car out of the drive (we live down a 50m lane only used by us), it took 30mins to get out with me digging the snow away and then when trying to get up the street (slight uphill) it was impossible.
A neighbour had to help us just to get it back on the drive. Driving in that day in our Focus with summer tyres was idiotic and dangerous. Are you really advocating that we should have driven in that day?26km each way commute on a Decathlon Comp 1 2006 Road Bike
2009 Communting Totals - Car 112 miles Bike 2,765 miles0 -
singlespeedexplosif wrote:we just don't have the inclination to pay the money to gear ourselves up for handling this kind of weather. And when it is a once in a 20 year event what's the point?
oh I agree entirely with that. But it is the way that people seem to go to pieces that annoys me. It's not particularly anything to do with 'gearing ourselves up for handling it' - just a bit of effort and planning by people would be a good start. Like, read up on how to drive on snow. At the moment it seem that the accepted method is 'floor it and yank the steering wheel around a lot'. Crazy.
Not sure where you live but here in Manchester we had 8-9inches of snow on top of frozen ice, now that is difficult to get around in.
Saddleworth - just over 18" of snow and ice here. Still got into work in the city centre all week. And yet many of my colleagues who live in the city centre 'couldn't get into work'. Sorry, what? It's not that difficult to get around in the city centre. It's really not. The roads are gritted. The pedestrian areas have paths dug through the snow.
My point is, people use the snow as an excuse not to do stuff. 'Snowed in' means you can't get out of the house. We used to get 'snowed in' 20 years ago or so - 6' drifts against the house not uncommon. So you could jump out of a first floor window into the snow, armed with a spade (kept in the house because you were expecting snow) - note that all the snow at the moment has been FORECAST and yet people can't cope - and dig out the front door so that you could get out of the house.
To summarise - HTFU the lot of you
I must say I disagree. All this, "We can't handle it" is just an angle for the media to take to sell copy. It is just the same as the storys about gritters not being out. The amount of people I have heard talking about gritters like they are experts is embarassing.
I fail to see any real way that we have not been able to cope in this cnty. My day to day living has not been impacted at all really. I worked from a dif. location one day but that is not "not being able to cope" it is quite the opposite.
Like a previous poster said, we don't have the infrastructure to clear every road and pavement and why should we for something that happens once every couple of years.
On the whole we do just fine and as usual everyone just reels out what the papers say. It is amazing how much power the press really have, it really is and I don't think most people even realise how influenced by the press they are!0 -
Sorry must pick you up on this, the wonderful MetOffice who today are quoting "The heavy snow that we predicted yesterday" predicated 1-5cm of snow for Manchester and we got nearly 8".singlespeedexplosif wrote:.
- note that all the snow at the moment has been FORECAST and yet people can't cope - and dig out the front door so that you could get out of the house.
To summarise - HTFU the lot of you
How is that predicting it? In fact out of all the snow events we have had this winter I think the MetOffice have been on the money once.26km each way commute on a Decathlon Comp 1 2006 Road Bike
2009 Communting Totals - Car 112 miles Bike 2,765 miles0 -
amnezia wrote:I think people are less inclinded to go to work when the weather is bad because with the internet, emails and VPN its much easier to work from home than it used to be.
+1 on that, being at home is just like being in the office, even my phone diverts to my home phone number.
In fact it is better becasue the tea is nicer!!26km each way commute on a Decathlon Comp 1 2006 Road Bike
2009 Communting Totals - Car 112 miles Bike 2,765 miles0 -
I must say I disagree. All this, "We can't handle it" is just an angle for the media to take to sell copy. It is just the same as the storys about gritters not being out. The amount of people I have heard talking about gritters like they are experts is embarassing.
I fail to see any real way that we have not been able to cope in this cnty. My day to day living has not been impacted at all really. I worked from a dif. location one day but that is not "not being able to cope" it is quite the opposite.
Like a previous poster said, we don't have the infrastructure to clear every road and pavement and why should we for something that happens once every couple of years.
On the whole we do just fine and as usual everyone just reels out what the papers say. It is amazing how much power the press really have, it really is and I don't think most people even realise how influenced by the press they are!
see quite apart from disagreeing...all you've done there is confirm what I'm saying. People start to believe the crap they get fed from the papers and from others.
You worked from a different location - ie you put the effort in and were prepared to give it a go. Many weren't and used the snow as an excuse.
As I said, Manchester has been absolutely fine, roads gritted and paths cleared. But people stay at home claiming that they can't walk 10 minutes to the office. That's not from the papers, that's from colleagues. My employer closed the premises on Tuesday pm and all Wednesday ffs! A lot of us carried on working and came in on weds too.0 -
Sorry must pick you up on this, the wonderful MetOffice who today are quoting "The heavy snow that we predicted yesterday" predicated 1-5cm of snow for Manchester and we got nearly 8".
How is that predicting it? In fact out of all the snow events we have had this winter I think the MetOffice have been on the money once.
erm...hang on. you just said that the Met Office predicted snow for Manchester, right? And there was snow in Manchester. So they got it right.
The depth doesn't matter. If there is snow forecast - ANY snow - you anticipate it and prepare for it, rather than sitting around going 'ooh, there's a bit more than they said there would be, I think I'll take the day off work'0 -
singlespeedexplosif wrote:
Sorry must pick you up on this, the wonderful MetOffice who today are quoting "The heavy snow that we predicted yesterday" predicated 1-5cm of snow for Manchester and we got nearly 8".
How is that predicting it? In fact out of all the snow events we have had this winter I think the MetOffice have been on the money once.
erm...hang on. you just said that the Met Office predicted snow for Manchester, right? And there was snow in Manchester. So they got it right.
The depth doesn't matter. If there is snow forecast - ANY snow - you anticipate it and prepare for it, rather than sitting around going 'ooh, there's a bit more than they said there would be, I think I'll take the day off work'
LOL that is funny, you really think that 1-5cm is that same as 8" !!
That's like predicting a light drizzle when it turns out there are floods everywhere.26km each way commute on a Decathlon Comp 1 2006 Road Bike
2009 Communting Totals - Car 112 miles Bike 2,765 miles0 -
LOL that is funny, you really think that 1-5cm is that same as 8" !!
can you tell me where I said that please?
cheers.0 -
singlespeedexplosif wrote:LOL that is funny, you really think that 1-5cm is that same as 8" !!
can you tell me where I said that please?
cheers.
This was what you said wasn't it?
erm...hang on. you just said that the Met Office predicted snow for Manchester, right? And there was snow in Manchester. So they got it right.
So explain how saying 1-5m when it actually snows 8" is getting it right?26km each way commute on a Decathlon Comp 1 2006 Road Bike
2009 Communting Totals - Car 112 miles Bike 2,765 miles0 -
singlespeedexplosif wrote:I must say I disagree. All this, "We can't handle it" is just an angle for the media to take to sell copy. It is just the same as the storys about gritters not being out. The amount of people I have heard talking about gritters like they are experts is embarassing.
I fail to see any real way that we have not been able to cope in this cnty. My day to day living has not been impacted at all really. I worked from a dif. location one day but that is not "not being able to cope" it is quite the opposite.
Like a previous poster said, we don't have the infrastructure to clear every road and pavement and why should we for something that happens once every couple of years.
On the whole we do just fine and as usual everyone just reels out what the papers say. It is amazing how much power the press really have, it really is and I don't think most people even realise how influenced by the press they are!
see quite apart from disagreeing...all you've done there is confirm what I'm saying. People start to believe the crap they get fed from the papers and from others.
You worked from a different location - ie you put the effort in and were prepared to give it a go. Many weren't and used the snow as an excuse.
As I said, Manchester has been absolutely fine, roads gritted and paths cleared. But people stay at home claiming that they can't walk 10 minutes to the office. That's not from the papers, that's from colleagues. My employer closed the premises on Tuesday pm and all Wednesday ffs! A lot of us carried on working and came in on weds too.
Apologies, I didn't read your post as thouroghly as I should! :oops:
I do think the press influence people. If their angle was "It's snowing but we can manage as a country without too much difficulty" I'm convinced that all the people that can't be arsed to get in to work would not be as confident having days off.0 -
singlespeedexplosif wrote:'snowed in' = 'there's a bit of snow outside'?
this country is an absolute joke when the weather turns slightly bad.
Well considering that I dont drive, dont own a car, have limited funds due to my job, live just over 5 miles from work with three big hills in between me and it... add to that the cycle or the bus is the only method of transport I have access to and that I can only really afford one bike (though I tried this week to get a cheap, decent mtb) ...
...what would be YOUR advise o'great one who obviously bungs on a pair of skiis and slides to work. :roll:
edit and I should point out it keeps freezing as packed snow, not that deep only an inch but its like bambi on a frozen lake0 -
Well considering that I dont drive, dont own a car, have limited funds due to my job, live just over 5 miles from work with three big hills in between me and it... add to that the cycle or the bus is the only method of transport I have access to and that I can only really afford one bike (though I tried this week to get a cheap, decent mtb) ...
...what would be YOUR advise o'great one who obviously bungs on a pair of skiis and slides to work. Rolling Eyes
I don't drive, don't own a car and live 15 miles from work with lots of big hills between me and it. So we're in similar boats there.
Are the buses not running? Are your feet not working?
* oh, and I don't ski, either.0
