Chuffing heck

[kk white]

Just now:

Flippin' 'eck Davy. I'm just down the road from you (ish - North-East County Galway).
We have blizzard conditions here.... and the west of the island was (for once) meant to have the least of the snow!

[johnh]

Ok.

..... it was cold but there was no moisture in the air and it was actually clear everywhere, with no snow. I didn't even need to scrape the car at that time.

Same here, Really Baltic and windy as hell but crisp and no snow.

Just now:

I see two people didn't turn up.

[johnh]

[johnh]

John, you're a good bloke and this is just karma paying you back - get well soon, both of you

Very true, I know that first hand, stay on the mend. Nice to hear that there are some good guys around.

[PockWhite]

I'm not saying it's been bad around here today and I'm not saying Mrs PW is an eternal optimist or anything, but this is her hanging out our washing this morning!

[Deleted User 3289]

Is that a helicopter buried under the snow.

[NottinghamWhite]

Still loads of snow here although it's stopped coming down. Judging by the table in the garden looks like we have had at least 5"

[Deleted User 728]

So I got up at the usual time of 03:15 to leave for work at 03:45 this morning and when I got to my car found it was covered in ice. The side-road where I'd parked was thickly snowed (is that a verb ? It is now) but the pavements were just black ice for the most part.
The car took TEN MINUTES to defrost itself with the rear window (wire heating throughout) clear in five, but the windscreen was still like looking through frosted glass (literally!) as it had rained in the night and there was what I can only describe as a sheet of bubbly ice all over it. If you can imagine frozen frogspawn without the embryos, that's what it looked like

Anyway .. finally pulled off the parking bay and onto the road .. where I could feel the black ice underneath immediately.
My car is an automatic and I just put my foot on the brake to slow down its usual torque and manoeuvred it on to the next street, which is a long B-road that runs for over a mile down a steady hill to a dual carriageway, where I just have to drive half a click to my work.
It normally takes me four or five minutes from getting behind the wheel to being at the door of the depot.

I know I work for UPS but I really felt like I should be wearing brown trousers as I drove down that hill, slowly creeping my way past all the parked cars on one side.
It was okay once I hit the main road, but the entire trip took me twenty-five minutes from door to door.

Not a single driver is going out on the road today.
40 called in saying they won't make it, while the other 20 stood around saying "Well, if they're not going out, neither are we !" and that's fair enough given two of them ended up stranded and had to stay in hotels last night while the last one to make it back to the depot got there at - and I kid you not - quarter past three in the morning


Be safe, people .. which basically means : stay the chuff home !

[Barlow Boy]

I have the Mercedes 4x4 ML, and actually find it easier to drive in this weather by taking the traction control off. Took it off today, and came out of the village, which hasn’t seen a gritter in 14 years, perfectly fine.

[Davycc]

I have the Mercedes 4x4 ML, and actually find it easier to drive in this weather by taking the traction control off. Took it off today, and came out of the village, which hasn’t seen a gritter in 14 years, perfectly fine.

my old, low tech Merc auto petrol C320 with its rear wheel drive makes it "interesting" driving in snow. Thank goodness we're getting the really dry powery stuff that just blows across the roads and builds up at the road side