We've had snow again ...

Snow seems to be coming at convenient times at the moment here !

Last year, I can't remember the circumstances but I spent the Thursday working from home, so I missed the announcement that said the site was closed on the Friday. We have laptops, which is pretty much all we need to enable working from home. That said, the laptop hooks up nicely to a big screen while in the office and you can talk to people more easily. (And they do teacakes which I could do here but ...)

I could hook up the laptop to my home monitor but ... I'd honestly prefer not to do much rearranging of the cables.

Wait ... snow ! It arrived a few hours later than advertised, starting properly at maybe 8pm instead of the predicted 2-3pm. We got a little less than last year, maybe a couple of inches and it was actually starting to melt even as the last of it was falling.

The snowman above was made by a neighbour. It's glorious isn't it ? Definitely pretty snow when it started coming down.

As always, click for bigger. Most of these are phone camera but there are a couple with the proper camera.

I was able to do my usual Friday thing of working to around lunchtime and then taking advantage of accumulated flexi credit during the week to disappear. I used to have the standard 9 to 5 pattern, plus leaving a little later when I wanted to finish something off. I still have the pattern of hanging on until about 5pm but I start earlier ... means I build up those extra hours.

Yep. Totally not noping out of venturing too far. (I'd left my boots in the boot of the car).

The main roads had been fairly well cleared by the time I ventured out at lunchtime. The pavements were still pretty dangerous though. What I can't believe was that idiots were cycling on the icy rutted pavements still, instead of sticking to the clear roads. Well, that's cyclists for you. They're not smart round here.

There was, of course, a battle still raging on the surface of Hoth ...

And up in orbit.

A snow kitty was looking on from afar.

Which gave me ideas ....

A path to chips ? (And pizza).

That wasn't the idea that popped into the head, although I did raid a rather busy local Chinese later. I do love the muffled crump crump crump as you walk through snow.

Before I go, a proverb. The early bird beat the snow and got the worm, this is the late bird.

I wonder if my new front door guard is still there !

Not quite snowed in

Well. Not yet at least. It's coming down heavier now than it was yesterday.

Could be bad later but the power is still going well, I'm warm and can get warmer via kettle and heating and more layers. I'm ok. I'm sparing a thought though for all those people who did brave the conditions. They're unprecedented. I can't remember snow like this since the family moved back from Northern Ireland. We lived out in the country over there and would get the weather from the Atlantic first, whereas the rest of Britain is partially sheltered by the island of Ireland.

I was working from home for a second day running today, which actually works ok outside of not being able to haunt people's desks with a hangdog look when you need them to do something for you. That's done now, which means ....

That's a lot of Imperials .... How will BB-8 escape !!!!

That's how it looked out the front door this morning. Didn't look too bad, although the 2d of the picture and the flat snow belies how it was starting to drift into more significant clumps.

This lower angle from the front door shows it a bit more clearly. Yep. The snow is above the level of my front door. Boots essential .... And that drift before the pavement proved very fortuitous for ... fun :-).

Battle had commenced, with the massed Imperial Walkers advancing with just one plucky Rebel attempting to foil their attack.

More battles were underway as well. Who would come out on top between this snow speeder and the Tie Advanced ?

I hope they're taking note of the curious way the air is molding the snow ... It doesn't show up that well here but the wind has been carving shapes in the snow to allow the air to pass between the drifts and the obstacles. As the gap closes, the aerodynamic effect means the air goes through faster and in doing so, shifts the snow. It tingles my engineer senses.

Conditions on the roads are quite treacherous as well. Perhaps pod racers would get more traction on this than cars.

Definitely in that car park. (The cafe is open but not the shop)

This roundabout was definitely having its way with the people negotiating it. I saw a car go sideways multiple times as they were going too fast around it plus a Beemer needed a push because .... too much power not enough brain.

A lonely bootprint. WHAT COULD IT MEAN !!!!

And a path I have rarely trodden before today.

The going could be best described as Heavy going on Chance of Deathslip.

And .... I do believe that driver is obeying the speed limit. THEY SHOULD BE REPORTED FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR !!!!

How are those battles going ?

Maybe Vader someday later now he's just a small fry is ..... winning. Could go places that little one.

The Imperial learns that they should not have brought a starfighter to a battle in the snow when the Rebel had a snowspeeder. One more unwise pilot crashed in the snow.

A snowboard emerges !!! BB-8 will leave them in his wake with that.

I had a good walk around the neighbourhood earlier but as the snow was coming down heavier again, the homing instinct was kicking in pulling me home. By the time I arrived, the fresh snowfall had already nearly erased the evidence of the earlier impromptu photo session.

Stay safe everyone ! If you can avoid it, don't travel in this. It's hopefully unnecessary for you and if you have conditions like around here, the chances of getting caught out are far too high. (From someone insane enough to travel when I definitely shouldn't.)

Stay safe, stay warm and I hope you enjoy the snow if you get a chance to.

Photo Challenge Day 27 - Snow

Dunno if I'll be back today but am queueing this one up anyway :-).

Today will probably be when I travel back actually. I'm pretty sure we won't have snow, unless a surprise Arctic blast sweeps across the country. It's been a very mild December here.

Snow ?

It is not a myth. That white fluffy stuff on one of my older cars (long gone now) was snow. Honest.

More snow ! That's from a while back too, the car in the first pic is my old detested Focus. Not had that one for a while ...

Last one for today :

A gift from CK that still makes me smile when I see it.

Edit - addition - more snow here !

Back properly soon, not checked the traffic situation yet but am confident I can punch through.

Photo Challenge Day 20 - Snowman

It could only be ...

Return of the Snow Thing !

I made him a number of years ago. We hadn't had snow for quite a few years, so when it started falling one winter night it was a massive novelty.

So of course I had to head outside at 11.30 to build a snowman. You can probably tell by his size that we didn't actually get much snow that night. But it had to be done ! I bet I got a few funny looks from the neighbours too, which makes it worth it.

More pic ?

Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes is an absolute legend. And one of the staples of Calvin & Hobbes was always the snowmen scenes in the winter.

Utterly hilarious.

Now for some chilling out - on the telly we have the Strictly Come Dancing finale. I have no clue who's going to win. Once the also rans were eliminated, it's been an incredibly strong field with 6 potential winners. I hope Caroline wins, although it would be good to see Mark win as he's come from nothing to be something pretty special.

And on the desktop, we have Yogscast doing (or trying to do - the game is a bit broken) Civ V on the livestream. That's usually good for a laugh as they ally, betray and backstab each other in an otherwise friendly game.

But I better wrap - I've been hearing the dinner bell going off in the kitchen. Better rescue my munchies before the smoke alarm tells me :

Cya !

Snowyventure

Snow's hit today.

It's actually worse than I can remember for a while, there's more come down than there has been for years and I think it's actually worse than the period a few years ago when barely anyone got into work.

Here's the BBC take on it ... (link)

Lots of cancellations - schools, buses, trains and the airports. For me, Plan A was to come in on the bus today because I didn't know how the car would handle the uncertain grip. I'd have been ok with walking the 3.6 miles home but not to do that both ways (We're expected to walk up to 3 miles). One problem - buses are cancelled. I can understand that too because the roads were somewhat treacherous this morning.

(It's not that bad, I've experienced worse)

After a little bit of um and arr, I headed in anyway in the car. I'd not driven the hybrid on ice before ... It behaves a bit differently to a conventional car :

It is driven by motor and/or engine, so it doesn't need a clutch
Therefore there's no matching of engine speed to road speed which is one source of wheelspin on ice
But, the motor is very powerful when it's at low speeds.

In my car, the motor and engine are all brought together in the one axle, without the driver needing to worry about matching them up. But, there's a very active traction control system looking after it all. The traction control is where the concern comes, as reports say that it can totally stop the car from moving if you attempt to start on ice.

Ok, what did that actually mean for the drive in today ?

Car actually handled it quite well. The traction control was only obvious with flashing its light twice and one of those saw the car slipping sideways. I'll allow traction control interference there :-). The automatic gearbox helps out a lot as you can start off more gently and more controlled than trying to match engine speed to low road speed with a clutch.

The traction control behaves differently with the motor. When it fired a second time, I could hear lots of ticking from the front. With an engine, traction control works through either applying the brakes on the slipping wheel or by making the engine give less power. I think I was getting that power limiting happening as well today, although the car wasn't letting. Could have been my boots :-)

Roads actually weren't too bad and they'd cleared up by lunchtime too. What happens is that the grit that's laid down will clear little pockets which then refreeze but the road won't clear until cars drive over it. This morning, the roads were a mix of ice and slush, with them clearing to wet tarmac in the afternoon.

What was surprising was the amount of respect the drivers were showing the conditions. At 35 on a 40mph limit, I was one of the faster cars on the road. I suspect the idiots had stayed at home.

I wasn't really surprised that I was one of the few who made it in. And I made the trip partly cos I wanted to experience the conditions. Yep, I'm one of those people who when given a "do not travel, it isn't safe", I'll think about heading out anyway just to see what it's like. And seeing as I didn't know how that car would handle the ice ? ;-)

Oh - I've also picked up a laptop and a few documents as well in case I get stuck at home on Monday. If the snow does continue and the buses don't run on Monday, I will not be taken the car. I'm banned from the car park except for on Fridays ...

So yeah - conditions = quite poor. We've only had about 3 inches of snow but it's enough to shut down a lot of the infrastructure and to keep many people at home.

PS Next time I take the car out when covered in snow, I'll clear the parking sensors ;-)

In need of a Hobbes

I'm feeling like that somewhat at the moment. Depression is a curse suffered by many (CQ calls it the Ugly Monster) and I'm definitely no exception. In my case, it's probably a case of manic-depression. I enjoy riding the wave of being hyperactive manic but I know there's usually a downside to come later.

At the moment, my Ugly Monster is raising its head from :
The cold. It's getting into my bones and muscles, feeling like someone's poured concrete down my spine. It's actually not that much worse than normal, except that I'm feeling it more due to not having that hyperactivity to let me blast through it.
Feeling lonely.

It's that loneliness that is really biting at the moment. I have great friends, like the Snow Queen, Craziequeen, BK, half the people on my Facebook, CK, BD & RCA. Trouble is, when I'm needing to reach out to them, I'm usually picking the wrong time. It's hard to have a heart to heart in work time. People are busy. (Including me !)

What I need is the chance to talk with someone until we're literally falling asleep. Bit like the original intention for 03.45am No Sleep, talking with friends until it's so late you can't stop your eyes closing. There's stuff I'd need to talk about that are too private to be put here. However, there's also me finding it difficult to talk to people about what I feel. I'd need absolute trust and confidence in secrets to talk about some of it. I must look a rather different person outside the happy smiling armour I habitually keep up.

I've not let that armour down to allow those emotions to be released for a Very Long Time now (even in my last serious relationship I was walling off). I guess I've just been single too long now and in need of more hugs.

There's also a touch of being frustrated in helping people. I know there's a few of my friends who could do with similarly opening their armour and unburdening those pent up emotions or just being able to talk through their situation to someone who can offer a soft shoulder and a willing ear ... but the frustration is in not being let in to offer the help. I'm wanting to help - I just don't know how.

Going back to the cold, here's another Calvin & Hobbes scene :

We're threatened with snow tonight, which could make it interesting to get into work tomorrow. When it snowed a few years ago, I was one of the few who made it in. It was seriously tempting to do a snow scene like the one above, except instead of salutes there would have been branches like the rifles of a firing squad. On the other side, there would have been a single snowman with a blindfold.

Woulda been hilarious. Like the rest of the Calvin & Hobbes strips done by Bill Watterson who is an absolute genius. Sadly there's no more Calvin & Hobbes being made.

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 :-)

Bambi impressions

Firstly, a shameless plug for the Techie blog :-) Talking about anti-virus products this time. If you're in the market for AV, take a peek - it'll guide you to a site that's comparing the various AV products that are out there.


This piccy is from last night :-) Had to take this one as the snow was absolutely perfect. Unsullied by boot and untouched by car tyre. The advantage to living on a cul-de-sac :-) Enough for a covering last night but it was about 2 inches deep on the car this morning.

Pizza Hut got raided yesterday, before the snow started coming down. Paths were still not great but footing was far better than Monday night ... Bit different this morning though. We only had about 1/3 of our normal complement at work today because the roads were fairly hairy. However, we still had morons in BMW X3's (insert generic 4x4 name there!) doing 60mph on a slushy 40mph road.

It wasn't too bad, after getting off the cul-de-sac I live on. However, I wouldn't have been wanting to do much more than the 5 miles it is to get into work. It's not so much trepidation at the road conditions, more like extreme wariness at what the other idiots on the roads are going to do ... I think I've learned to handle a car pretty well now in adverse grip and the car has toys that help out there too but I'm not convinced about the other people out there.

Oh - I was highly amused to see groups of people at work today who were using their lunch break to build snow men :-)

Don't worry ...

A wise man once said (and put to music), "Don't worry, be ..."


Courtesy of my neighbour CK ! :-) Had lots of laughs from this one at work today.

Had to be done

What's wrong with kids nowadays ?

One whiff of snow and they should be out making snowmen ! This one :


is the only one I can see from outside my front door ! There should be loads of them :-)

Ok - you can probably tell from Junior's size that there isn't actually that much snow here. He's supposed to have a stone nose as well but that must have fallen off between me putting on the nose and fetching the camera.

Haven't made a snowman since university and although he's just a runt, it's just got to be done. Wonder how long he'll last.

Next-day update - Junior is a bit melty now ... he's one ball short of the snowman he was.

PS For much better snow scenes, peek here : http://www.angelfire.com/wa/zzaran/calvin.html
The Jaws one is guaranteed to crack me up. Lol, who am I kidding - all of them crack me up. Genius at work.

Better part of Valour ?

Or just good sense :-)


Think it's the streetlights making it look jaundiced - and British number plates really are as white and clear as the ones above, it helps to avoid getting caught by speed cameras ! honest ... Heh heh heh - kidding, those aren't my cars so I've blanked their plates.

That's the scene from outside my upstairs front window about 15 minutes ago. Usually on a Monday night, I'll head down the motorway to get a gaming session in. The rest are going but they have a much shorter trip than me. I'll be looking to hibernate tonight cos while I would drive short distances in the conditions in the picture, heading down the motorway for what really is a not absolutely essential trip is a wee bit loonie. Especially when the way back will be twice as treacherous !

I'll get the mickey taken in next week's session but at least I'll have an intact car next week, not one that's in the shop getting ice induced dents taken out of it ...

Tonight's trip home was possibly one of the quietest I've had for a while - everyone must have either not turned up for work or gone home early to avoid attempting icey roads in rush hour conditions. People seemed to be giving the roads some respect, although there were the usual tailgaters this morning. I'll be going in again tomorrow, once I'm past the road I live on conditions are usually ok. However turning up for work counts as a lot more Essential than heading out to a gaming session !

Who knows ? Maybe I'm starting to show some good sense in my old age ? Nah :-) Time to put the coffee on while I fetch my pipe and slippers.

(that's actually the other reason - my "pipe and slippers" are as fictional as the cold weather gear I have stowed here ... if I did get stranded, I really don't have the gear to keep me warm)

See ? Snow ! :-)

But not too much of it any more. Thought I'd better capture the evidence before it all disappeared again. The car in the foreground is my faithful little puddycat, the snow doesn't show up very well on the silver but it's more visible on the windscreen. It's currently 10.20am here and the location of the houses means my car's in the shade. That's why it's probably the only car around with snow still on it :-)

Makes it a little more interesting in most of the winter for de-icing but that's where a front screen heater comes in very handy. It also means that in summer, I can sit in my car in the morning without having a burnt behind :-) That was the only disadvantage of the leather seats in my last car, they scorched your bum when they got hot. I've been back to cloth in this car though.

(addon - it's now 10.45am and that snow is all gone !)

Addon 2 - it's now 5pm and I got prompted to look out the window by an email from CK saying that the snow hadn't lasted long. This is the scene outside :


Poor Chronos, in his chair again wearing an absolutely disgusted expression on his face due to noticing me open my upstairs window again to take the piccy above that I'm calling "Snow Cat". Those little white streaks on the picture is snow, although it might need a clicky to make the picture large enough to see them.