Reply to: Snow Takes Idio^H^H^H^H Motorists By Surprise

[Diver]

In an email yesterday from a friend of a friend:

From AdelaideNow - SOUTH Australia sweated through - and survived - a scorcher yesterday, with temperatures across the state soaring to more than 40C in many centres.

Wudinna recorded the highest temperature of 45C, while Adelaide sweltered through a maximum of 41.3C.

Whew!

[RichardCranium]

Looking on the bright & envious side, they're apparently having a heatwave in Oz.

In an email yesterday from a friend of a friend:

It's 42 in the shade here. Trust me, you don't want to trade with us! Winds up to 60kmh per hr. Drought conditions...fire danger considered 'catastrophic'.

Adelaide, Australia

[Sysman]

That is what councils used to do until the last ten years or so. Enfield Borough Council, North London, for example, had a small hill of salt they had bought in the 1960s; they were still using it up in the 1980s. (I used to walk past it on the way to/from school. It had developed a red crust; when we had loads of snow in circa 1979 they used up at least a quarter of that hill.)

Yep, I remember council depots having small mountains of the stuff. There was usually plenty left at the end of winter, despite them gritting every single road.

[shaunbhoy]

So is this country supposed to keep huge amounts of grit/snowploughs for rare events?

We probably have around about the right amount of snowploughs to get by with, but there is no excuse for running low on salt/grit.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Well maybe. But Berlin isn't working too well (so I'm told by colleagues there). Most of northern France is a bit fliped too.

Yeah, last night they avoided trouble on the A1 into Paris by closing it. Great.

[ASB]

i think everyone on the mainland will agree,

this is pathetic...


'Between 3cm (1in) and 10cm (4in) of snow was predicted for parts of Devon, with strong winds expected to cause drifts of up to 15cm (6in) on Dartmoor.
'


1 inch of snow, and drifts of 6 inches

6 inches is not a snow drift

jeeeeeez

my pathfinder with winter tyres easily gets through 2feet + of snow




Milan.

Well maybe. But Berlin isn't working too well (so I'm told by colleagues there). Most of northern France is a bit fecked too. Certain difficulties in Lodz and Warsaw too I am told.

Agreed the fact that we get any snow and everything stops is pants but at the moment lots of the mainland is struggling because they have more than normal too.

6 inches is a drift if there wasn't 6 inches of snowfall. Granted it is a pathetic drift, but nevertheless it is still drifting.

[milanbenes]

i think everyone on the mainland will agree,

this is pathetic...


'Between 3cm (1in) and 10cm (4in) of snow was predicted for parts of Devon, with strong winds expected to cause drifts of up to 15cm (6in) on Dartmoor.
'


1 inch of snow, and drifts of 6 inches

6 inches is not a snow drift

jeeeeeez

my pathfinder with winter tyres easily gets through 2feet + of snow




Milan.

[RichardCranium]

So is this country supposed to keep huge amounts of grit/snowploughs for rare events?

That is what councils used to do until the last ten years or so. Enfield Borough Council, North London, for example, had a small hill of salt they had bought in the 1960s; they were still using it up in the 1980s. (I used to walk past it on the way to/from school. It had developed a red crust; when we had loads of snow in circa 1979 they used up at least a quarter of that hill.)

Sadly, the cutbacks enforced on the local authorities has been so bad for so long now that they long ago stopped capital investment and the idea of stocking up on emergency salt / grit supplies is unacceptable when Social Services are being sued because they don't have enough social workers to stop kids being harmed.

So, yes, we used to keep huge quantities of salt and/or grit and snowploughs.

[Sysman]

4WDs within 6 feet of the bumper of the car in front while the car in front is 1 or 2 seconds behind the car in front of that.

Oh Dear. You've just reminded me of a snowy day 20 years ago. Some idiot pulled out of a side road in front of me and I still don't know how I managed to miss him.

And for anyone pulling out in front of an old Series 3 Landrover, irrespective of the weather:

1. It might be doing more than 20 mph
2. It can't stop as fast as your car can
3. It's pretty heavy and will do serious damage to your motor

[d000hg]

So is this country supposed to keep huge amounts of grit/snowploughs for rare events? Why do people have to drive?

Why shouldn't they? What if we get a month or three (perfectly possible if unlikely) of proper snow over the whole country - should nobody drive the whole time? No work, no shops, no food, no electricity. And worse than that, having to look after your own kids all day every day!

[VectraMan]

It's always interesting to me in frost/snow to see which people don't consider their rear view mirror to be important.

You don't need to see out of your rear view mirror. All you're going to see is the person behind too close, out of control, and likely to crash into you. You're better off not knowing.

[BrilloPad]

Er....two hills which could and should have been ploughed and gritted were not. This is the second time in less than a year this has happened even though the authorities were well aware of the predicted snow. When most of those trapped set off for work yesterday in that area just south of Exeter there was not a drop of snow on the ground. You really ought to do a bit more research before you put your Daily Mail hat on.

So is this country supposed to keep huge amounts of grit/snowploughs for rare events? Why do people have to drive?

Though I liked you accusing NF of "put your Daily Mail hat on." - cant wait for his reaction when he reads that!

[Sysman]

Linky

Bugger me, I just learned something there:

A more concise alternative sometimes seen is ^W, which is the shortcut to delete the previous word in the Berkeley Unix terminal line discipline

^W does work using bash on the OS X command line.

[d000hg]

Twats with a small patch of windscreen cleared and nothing else, driving leaning over the steering wheel so they can see out.

It's always interesting to me in frost/snow to see which people don't consider their rear view mirror to be important.

[sasguru]

There is no snow here again this morning. Should I just stay at home in case?

I don't think it will make much difference what you do, today or any other day.