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Snow Watch
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And it all costs money - particularly those businesses that are affected in so many ways. That's what gets my goat when hear of the current ConDom Coalition Government's plans to cut public expenditure to the bone - it doesn't account for the cost to businesses out here in the real world.

That's the problem with career politicians running government - they don't seem to have the first clue about life outside politics (or Eton).

It's like this announcement that we're all to get an extra day's public holiday when that RAF bloke and his bird get married next April. Who pays for that? We do, that's who. No wonder the Federation for Small Businesses is up in arms about this daft plan. It's yet another tax on those trying to run businesses profitably in these hard times (and next year will be even harder).

Barmy.
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Cherskiy



Joined: 08 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 4:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Someone wasn't particularly happy when I overtook them on a snowy road this afternoon - I wasn't going to sit behind them doing sub-20 mph down an admittedly somewhat icy but easily passable main road from Amble to Ashington in Northumberland. No problems drifting onto the other side of the road (through the middle unploughed bit), overtaking and then pulling back in again - though said driver then started to flash me for the next 1/4 mile as I pulled away.... maybe he thought the line of traffic building up behind him had to stay there.

There's being careful and then there's driving far too slowly for the conditions - if you're that scared of being out in the snow and ice, stay at home.
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Mark Mayhew



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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your story reminds about the many Americans who haven't the first clue about driving in rainy conditions.
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SantaFefan



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cherskiy wrote:
Someone wasn't particularly happy when I overtook them on a snowy road this afternoon - I wasn't going to sit behind them doing sub-20 mph....


That someone wasn't driving a big yellow truck with flashing lights and salty stuff on board was it? Laughing
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Cherskiy



Joined: 08 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ha! Laughing

Curiously enough, haven't seen many gritters these last three days (none on Thursday morning when it took me 3 hours to travel 30 miles into work) - although one was reportedly stuck in the snow near Morpeth this morning!
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mark occomore



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some people are saying in the news that the snow has caught them by surprise. Shocked...... Don't they listen or watch the news reports? Anyway - watching the news pictures. I don't think people know how to drive in the snow sliding all over the place. Firstly don't put your foot hard on the brake pedal. Try to slow down by lifting your foot of the gas, and using the gears. I'm a professional driver, and know what I'm talking about.
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mark occomore wrote:
I'm a professional driver, and know what I'm talking about.


Thank you very much for the advice, Mark.
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Helen May



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A lot of drivers don't know how to drive in snow as we had such mild winters for so long. Living in the NE in the 70s you certainly got plenty of practice. You always had a shovel and a piece of carpet in your boot!

H
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RockitRon



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 1:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We've been out tonight with friends for a meal out towards Grantham.

Main roads clear, and at least three gritting lorries seen; side roads are skating rinks. Temperature coming home at midnight minus 8C.
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why people moaning about the snow and freezing temperatures could be here for the next few weeks? It's winter, and we should expect this type of weather now. I remember when we had this in the 70's and 80's, so it's nothing new. We should be fully prepared for all weathers. How on earth do other countries cope.
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think actually most people are coping very well but its not surprising that the weather is big news at present

After all this is the earliest snow seen since 1993 so its not exactly typical for late November

They say that earlier winters could become a pattern but the positive side is we should get earlier springs so we've just got to see the benefits as well as the disadvantages

As for driving standards there are quite a lot of incompetent drivers on the road even in good weather so it souldn't really come as a shock that these people struggle and cause other people problems
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SantaFefan



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think most drivers find out the hard way about how to drive, and stop on snow and ice... an inexperienced driver cannot imagine the total loss of control of a sliding vehicle until it happens.. then all you can do is just hope there's nothing n the way! Confused of course it's a much better situation on today's ABS and BAS equipped cars.
I certainly don't envy Mark transporting people around in this weather!
I'm glad I have a 4x4 sometimes...
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Helen May



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember when still living in the NE in the 70s the mini was one of the better cars to cope with snow. The snowdrifts used to be higher than the car many a time!

Snow at this time was more the norm back then as well.

H
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graham b



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Best car I had for the snow was a Lada. It was a gas guzzler but always got me home. Mind you it did destroy a Fiesta in a low speed bump with hardly a scratch.
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ruddlescat



Joined: 16 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember in December 1981 my car radiator actually froze whilst driving along the M56 in Cheshire in freezing fog with masses of snow piled up either side of the motorway

Walking to the nearest phone was a frightening experience

And yes the engine did have plenty of antifreeze in it
Does anyone else have any memories of winter 1981 or 1963 of perhaps for some people even 1947 although that was a bit before my time
Well quite a lot actually Smile
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SantaFefan



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll never forget an incident back in about 1977/8 when a girlfriend of mine called me in a panic after she had rolled her Mk 1 Ford Escort in heavy snow down a narrow country lane.. It was one of those grey days when you really couldn't distinguish the land from the sky, quite magical really.
But yes, she had completely rolled her Escort plus another 90 degrees for good measure to end up on it's side.. we soon righted the car and were amazed to discover there was no damage whatsoever! not even a scratch.. the snow was so thick it cushioned the whole thing.. Shocked

Feeling elated by her lucky break we stood around in a jolly group enjoying hot mince pies and a flask of coffee and were even more amazed to see a tree fall on it and right it off..

I lied about the last bit...
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Angela W



Joined: 11 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ruddlescat wrote:


After all this is the earliest snow seen since 1993


Not here it isn't. I have just been looking at photos I took on 23rd November 2008 and there was plenty of snow outside here then. Not quite as much as there is now though!
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Helen May



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've some of 14 Nov 2005 but I don't think it lasted more than a day or two at most. It wasn't -10c overnight I'm almost sure of that!

H
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quickssandra



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We've heavy snow, which is really unusual. I know I live in Scotland, but we don't get much at all.

I remember the midwife telling me it was snowing the night my son was born in 1993, on the 8th November. So there you are, snow at the beginning of November.

Mind, I remember snow one May in England.
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I'm pleased to say that here in sunny MK we had the lightest of dustings of that white stuff last night. The canal outside is frozen, though, which always provides us with a source of amusement as we watch the swans and ducks attempting to land on what they think is water!
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RockitRon



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sunny Nottm as well, but below freezing all day, and heading rapidly and further down now.
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John W



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

North Warks light snow, but minor roads NOT gritted, very slippy for feet and for tyres.

Driving 20 mph out of our daughter's street we came towards a mid-sized roundabout and a car was already coming round. So I braked. Even my 4WD saloon continued its trajectory. I think the other fellow saw my wheels had stopped but I hadn't and he managed to stop while I continued at 20 mph onto the roundabout! Phew!
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Helen May



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

quickssandra wrote:
We've heavy snow, which is really unusual. I know I live in Scotland, but we don't get much at all.

I remember the midwife telling me it was snowing the night my son was born in 1993, on the 8th November. So there you are, snow at the beginning of November.

Mind, I remember snow one May in England.


So do I Sandra! We were sunbathing by the weekend though!

H
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think farmers in some areas need be able to grit and snow plough roads. The experience on the roads in around Sussex and Surrey have been a nightmare. We should be much prepared for this. It's not as if we wern't told the weather was on the way. The M25 was full of lorrys on the hard shoulder today. Some people took nearly 10 hours in some parts of Surrey to travel only 13 miles on ( Tuesday 30/11/10 ).
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Angela W



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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mark occomore wrote:
I think farmers in some areas need be able to grit and snow plough roads. The experience on the roads in around Sussex and Surrey have been a nightmare. We should be much prepared for this. It's not as if we wern't told the weather was on the way. The M25 was full of lorrys on the hard shoulder today. Some people took nearly 10 hours in some parts of Surrey to travel only 13 miles on ( Tuesday 30/11/10 ).


Some of the farmers here do clear the lanes and the roads on housing estates. Apparently they have to drain the red diesel from their tractors and use white (?) diesel. If they get stopped and they are found to be using red diesel they are in huge trouble. In this area the farmers who do go out don't get paid!

Our lane didn't get done today because a German lorry driver came round here too fast yesterday and slid into the ditch. He made it worse by trying to get out and it took the recovery people the whole of day to clear the lane. It was a very difficult job in atrocious weather conditions. (I suspect he was using one of those dreaded satnav things. The lane is local traffic only and comes out in the village to a size/weight restricted zone.)
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ruddlescat



Joined: 16 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I absolutely detest Sat Nav Angela its a very lazy way of driving

A friend of mine was trying to get to a building in Birkenhead and his Sat Nav told him to drive into the Mersey Tunnel and then turn right
Needless to say he didn't get there

Also I live down a single track road at
the end of which is a river with a footbridge connecting it to the unsurfaced track on the other side of the river
Unfortunately most Sat Nav systems show it as a through road so we frequently get large wagons coming down and then finding they can't turn round and one ended up in the river and took four days to recover
We also had a guy in a 4 by 4 who tried to drive through the river and wrote off his vehicle despite the fact we warned him not to do it

Sat Nav has a lot to answer for Shocked
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becky sharp



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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SantaFefan wrote:
I'll never forget an incident back in about 1977/8 when a girlfriend of mine called me in a panic after she had rolled her Mk 1 Ford Escort in heavy snow down a narrow country lane.. It was one of those grey days when you really couldn't distinguish the land from the sky, quite magical really.
But yes, she had completely rolled her Escort plus another 90 degrees for good measure to end up on it's side.. we soon righted the car and were amazed to discover there was no damage whatsoever! not even a scratch.. the snow was so thick it cushioned the whole thing.. Shocked

Feeling elated by her lucky break we stood around in a jolly group enjoying hot mince pies and a flask of coffee and were even more amazed to see a tree fall on it and right it off..

I lied about the last bit...

I sorta wish that last bit had been true.... Embarassed ... Twisted Evil
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mark occomore



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In my whole life of driving. I have never seen a road like the M23/25 today with snow on it It's a bloody disgrace. It was like driving on a country road which hasn't been treated.

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ColinB
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mark occomore wrote:
I have never driven in my whole life on snow which was never removed from the M23/25 today.


That sentence is utterly meaningless, Mark.

Let me think - you've never driven on snow in your whole life......... OK, I've got that bit. "which was never removed"........ er, you're losing me now. And then "from the M23/25 today". I'm definitely lost now.
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SantaFefan



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd suggest Marko was saying that in all his years of driving, he hasn't experienced the M23/25 so badly cleared of snow as today, or treated to enable safe progress. Disgraceful behaviour on the part of those Highway's boys... Razz
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think I get your meaning, Santa! Cool
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The snow is back again sweeping the country. It was an nightmare here in my neck of the woods in Sussex this evening. Took me over an hour to travel 2 miles home. Gritter lorries going out at the wrong time and getting stuck in traffic. Why they don't position them in certain areas ready to roll, without leaving them in the depots is beyond me. It's the same when this happened last time on the M25. Gritter trucks got stuck in there depots, because of the traffic. They know it's coming, park them up on the side of the roads.
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No problems here. Either we've got extra-special gritters or a different type of snow. I guess we're just lucky.
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SantaFefan



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PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 10:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few inches here overnight and more during the day but it's so cold compared to the last lot.. really solid ice everywhere.
I tried to persuade Mrs SFF not to go to some stupid horse show in London ( Olympia ) today but failed.. at least she took the train instead of driving there.
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Helen May



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PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It started snowing here a couple of hours ago but it's that really light powdery stuff so not thick yet. I've a feeling it could be a bit different by tomorrow morning though.

H
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SantaFefan



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PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Uh oh.. if it's powdery stuff, all the trains will stop running as last year! Laughing
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

SantaFefan wrote:
Uh oh.. if it's powdery stuff, all the trains will stop running as last year! Laughing


Rick Wakeman was yet again having a pop this morning (on his radio show with David Jensen) at the train company that takes him from his Norfolk home into work in London!!!
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Clive55



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PostPosted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ColinB wrote:
SantaFefan wrote:
Uh oh.. if it's powdery stuff, all the trains will stop running as last year! Laughing


Rick Wakeman was yet again having a pop this morning (on his radio show with David Jensen) at the train company that takes him from his Norfolk home into work in London!!!

Rick Wakeman lives in Norfolk? Surprised I thort he lived in the Centre Of the earth! I know he used to go on about his Journey To the Centre Of The earth
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SantaFefan



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PostPosted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

some of the best people live in Norfolk... Razz
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becky sharp



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PostPosted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It snowed here last night ..just a light covering, then this morning we woke to a further 2 to 3 ins covering of the white stuff....

Some of my hydrangeas bowing to the inevitable.... Smile

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