White out

Getting some extreme weather over here in Blighty :-)

We're getting away with it a bit where I live but that still means we have a couple of inches of snow lying on the ground. The snow started on Tuesday and came down heavily that evening. I had a severe dose of Cabin Fever, which ended up in me heading out to our local Mall.

That reminds me ... I bought a few cookies while I was there and one has survived. Not for long :-)

Had a good rummage up there, the Mall was far too crowded last week (I like being around people but overcrowding gets me nervous) for a comfortable peek. As well as the cookies, I brought back copies of Batman Begins and Dark Knight on Blu-Ray. Both excellent movies, although the Joker's insanity is not the most comfortable viewing.

Bah - I digress :-) (as usual !)

Headed out of the Mall as it was just starting to get dark. The footing was fairly ok, there didn't seem to be much ice. At least I didn't notice until I started driving :-) Wheelspin ... wheelspin and a bit more wheelspin. My current car is 170bhp driving the front two wheels, so it's not the easiest of things to keep traction with. I'm gaining a lot of appreciation for the electronic toys it has though :-)

Toy 1 - Snowflake light. Yellow snowflake means BRR, put gloves on (ice warning, temp's between 1 and 5 degrees C). Red snowflake means it's ... ... freezing (below 1 degree C)
Toy 2 - Anti-lock brakes. Seriously, I will not buy another car unless it comes with anti-lock brakes. They're the difference between hitting something and stopping short. There's a technique called Cadence Braking, where you pulse your foot on the brake pedal to get the wheels turning again so they can do useful braking. I've actually used it too. However, it's far better to leave it to an onboard computer as it's much more effective than a slow human.

Toy 3 - Traction Control. This is the biggie, I don't think I'd have gotten into work yesterday if it wasn't as effective. In my last car, this worked by touching the brakes on if a wheel was spinning. In my Focus, it works by limiting the power produced by the engine.

Huh ? What dat meen ?

It means that when I pulled away yesterday morning on a road coated with snow packed down smooth, the car accelerates gently away instead of going nowhere as spinning wheels polish the ice even more. True, there's wheelspin but then the brainz inside the car takes over to make the car push forward slowly. This is wheelspin on treated roads coming in second gear too ...

I mentioned above that I got away with the conditions a bit here, the cul-de-sac I live on is ungritted but is flat enough to be passable. You just have to take it very slowly and expect to slide. As I did when coming back in the evening, needing to drive around someone coming the other way. 4 wheel slidey time ... The rest of the urban roads are fine but we're anticipating major problems as the freezing cold conditions turn the snow to ice.

It's very dangerous out there, even with just a couple of inches. I'm seeing some amazing pictures on Sky news at the moment - telly's muted as I'm listening to iTunes. Cars upside down where they've slid over wall terraces, motorways that are car parks. I only have 5 miles to go to get to work and only 200 yards of that is ungritted.

How many people got into work ? Yesterday was my first day back after Xmas and we had about 1 in 7 people in, probably less. I'm picking 1 in 7 as my number cos the Newsies said that's how many didn't get into work. I reckon it was probably the other way around yesterday. A lot more made it in today and the roads were far busier.

Back in tomorrow - can't miss out on my first bacon sarnie for a fortnight.

Oh - last thing for this post. When I hit Tescos tonight I was doing a MutterMutterMutter while finding a car park spot ... People had left trolleys in the roadways, they'd just dumped them after putting their stuff in the car. This drew the inevitable "MUPPETS!" until I tried getting my shopping to the car. Let's just say that I found it easier to carry my empty trolley to the trolley hut instead of wheeling it over there :-)