Monday 11 January 2016

Careful of the icy patch

Icy selfie
I had to work yesterday. Which was okay in one sense, since it would be my last Sunday shift. We are getting new rotas and there are no Sunday shifts on mine. However, I was quite sad to have to work, because yesterday we had snow and I quite like snow! 

I went to work though, enjoying the snow that was lying everywhere, seeing the snowmen going up, seeing children with sleds and a lot of people out to enjoy the weather. The temperatures were not as low as earlier in the week, so unfortunately quite a bit of the snow melted, especially where I live: when I got home, there was hardly any left!

The high temperatures combined with frozen undergrounds left a big problem for areas that had not been salted and/or gritted though. Ice rinks. And I encountered one. And not just a simple flat ice rink either, oh no, it was uphill! Not that much of a problem if you are a person trying to get from A to B. If however you drive a bus, like I did, it gets a bit trickier. 

A nice fresh bath anyone?
There is a small roundabout  on the side of the road to allow buses to change direction that is at quite a steep angle and that had frozen over. I hadn't noticed though, since the rest of the road was absolutely fine. There was a car parked in a stupid place, but even so I felt I could avoid that and do my tour around the roundabout. I was wrong!

I wasn't even half way up, when I felt my wheels slipping and my bus going backwards. I hit the brakes with all my might, but that low wall behind the bus was coming ominously close. Fortunately I stopped in time. I was however by then better situated and tried again. This time it was even scarier and the wall came even closer! I then decided that car needed to move. Turned out, the minute she would take off the brakes, she would ram into me: she had the exact same problem! 

Help was at hand though, her son got grit from the grit box outside the school and put it in front of her wheels. In a moment she was off. He then went back for more grit for my front wheels and I managed to get out of that situation, by backing out and driving away in the opposite direction. 

Perhaps I won't wish for snow so much next time...

PS: the title of the post today comes from a line in a short Muppet movie: A Muppet Family Christmas. Everybody entering the house of Fozzie's mother is told to be 'careful of the icy patch!'

16 comments:

  1. Oh Brrrr, drive safely Aunty Mara.
    Oh and I is sooo luffing my everlasting treat toy, I is on number two treat and the peeps say its wonderful fur keeping me quiet. I of course haf no idea what they mean!
    Loves and licky kisses
    Princess Leah xxx

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  2. Crikey .. Be careful, aye? Who knew snow could be sooooo scary? It looks sooooooooo pretty.

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    1. The snow was very pretty. It was the melting stuff that then froze that was quite scary. And seeing that wall close in on me...

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  3. OH MY GOODNESS MARA...I CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE DRIVING A CAR IN ICE MUCH LESS A BUS. THANK GOODNESS ALL ENDED WELL AND FOR SURE WATCH THOSE ICY SPOTS.
    HUGS CECILIA

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  4. I am glad it all turned out well. How frightening though. Enough excitement for the week at least.

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    1. Indeed, enough excitement for the week. Or even for the rest of the month...

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  5. Hari OM
    YIKES, seems like a pertinent response... actually I drove over to Edinburgh yesterday and most of the M8 between G'gow and Edin airport was blizzard conditions - no sign of road ploughs... so it was picture postcard pretty and couldn't really appreciate it as it was also white-knuckle driving!!! Fun, in an extreme-sport kinda way... YAM xx

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    1. I remember driving for 50km once on ice. From Ghent to Antwerp it was really bad. And still lorries came whizzing past as if there was nothing wrong with the road. Well, all those cars in the ditch certainly didn't look that way, so I kept my speed down.

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  6. Scary enough in a car, nevermind a bus. We had two days of warmth and rain here but it didn't take away all of the snow. Not even close where it is piled from clearing roads and driveways.

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  7. We don't like icy patches either! Yes, even big vehicles can get into trouble. A thrill ride without paying the admission price to an amusement park!

    Keep Calm & Bark On!

    Murphy & Stanley

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    1. I think I would rather pay for it and be safe in that case.

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  8. Mommy has fallen on a couple of icy patches, so she is real scared of them. I am glad you are safe. We love that Muppet Christmas special you mentioned.

    Ziggy Out!!

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  9. I wouldn't like to drive a bus on slippery roads ! We have no frost at all so far always above 0°.

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  10. Oh my, that sounds so scary. I remember many times driving in icy snowy weather, not fun! I am glad that everyone is safe.

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  11. Good on to handle the situation so well. Maybe a bag of grit in the bus for a future icy day might help.

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    1. Wouldn't know where to store it on that bus. Some buses have luggage departments and some even carry chains, but not the bus I drove that day.

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Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!