What fun!

[strange_complex]

What fun it is when you're driving along the motorway, and you can't tell whether or not you are properly in a lane because you can't see the white lines under all the snow

Comments

[minnesattva]

I'm very familiar with this kind of driving, it happens here a lot and is the most stressful situation to drive in I'm glad it's done and you can relax now!

[strange_complex]

Poor you! I have driven in snow before, but never anything like that bad. It's exactly the sort of weather which tends to feature in news reports about hundreds of people getting stuck in their cars on the motorway. I've always had thoughts when watching those reports before such as "Well, why did you all set off in it, then?", but I will be kinder and more charitable in future, now that I know how it can happen.

[minnesattva]

Yeah, it's definitely easy to drive into such things. I grew up among people who pay such meticulous attention to the weather that I know the differences between places sometimes only a few miles apart can be drastic. And as you say, once you get started, it's usually better to keep going, but even the best option isn't always very good.

[pseudomonas]

Eep. That sounds most unpleasant. Very glad you're home in one piece.

[strange_complex]

Thanks - me too, I can tell you!

[parrot_knight]

Thankfully the snow hasn't got this far north. I'm sure we used to be better at dealing with this sort of weather.

[strange_complex]

I'm sure we used to be better at dealing with this sort of weather.

Hmm, I'm not convinced. I suspect that idea is a 'Blitz spirit'-style myth, and probably a dangerous one too, if it encourages people to try and carry on regardless when the conditions don't allow for it.

[parrot_knight]

I don't see it as a Blitz spirit myth. While heavy snow always brought infrastructure to a standstill, ISTR more snowploughs clearing roads in the north when I was a boy, and complaints more recently that the machinery once available to resolve blockages is no longer present.

[strange_complex]

But people seem to expect now that the snow should be cleared the instant it lands, which could never have been the case, surely. I think it's easy to remember the clearing and forget the hours of blockage beforehand when looking back retrospectively. Certainly, I know from my Mum, who lived on a dairy farm in the Midlands in the 1960s, that there were snowy winters when the milk lorry could not get to their farm to collect their milk, which obviously was a pretty massive problem for them as it meant lost income from selling it - hence her remembering it so clearly.

[steepholm]

I had know idea any of this was happening! (It's a different story in Hampshire.)

[strange_complex]

That was the treacherous thing, I think. If I'd stayed the night in Birmingham, as I briefly considered doing, I might never have known what I'd escaped. But the weather conditions seemed so trivial when I set off, that I was quite sure I would be fine. And after all, the motorways are always clear, aren't they, because of all the traffic? Hah! I know better now.

[the_lady_lily]

Oh good grief. I'd picked up about the flurries in Birmingham, but had no idea it was getting that heavy further out from the cities. Very glad to hear you made it home in one piece, and hope your plans don't take you far from the sofa today!

[strange_complex]

It seems like the epicentre of it all was Sheffield and the Peak District, which unfortunately was exactly what I had to pass through to get home. Ludicrously, the snow all disappeared just as I came into Leeds, giving way to wintry rain, so that I'd never have known how bad it was in between if I'd been here all evening either.

Oh, and yes, I am firmly ensconced on my sofa now, and with no more taxing plans than what combination of Doctor Who, Hammer Horror and Dracula adaptations I will soak up for the rest of the day. :-)