The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

Doozergirl

LydiaJ wrote: »

I got there without difficulty around 7:45, and back again, also safely, around 2ish.



Which winter was it when we had snow on the ground for about 2 continuous weeks in January? 2010? My neat screen wash froze, and the car thermometer said -13C IIRC.

Yes, 2010.

I bought screen wash about 3 weeks ago as I couldn't be bothered to go in and out of the house with my pathetic little jug in the cold. The 5 litre bottles were £3.50 and £5.00. I looked to see why one could possibly cost more and realised £5.00 went to -10c but £3.50 went to -5c.

I distinctly remember laughing to myself over the possibility of it getting below -5c at any time really, let alone coming into spring and sagely bought the cheaper one.

My screen wash has frozen. In fact, before it froze solid the kids asked me why the areas under my headlights were blue. That'll be the headlight wash freezing after use but before it hit the floor!

SingleSue

The weather has been missing us all day, well that is until I said I would take mum and dad to Lidl as mum is too terrified to drive in the snow.

It started snowing lightly as I left mine, was snowing slightly harder but still quite light when I picked them up but then let loose while we were shopping. At the end of every aisle I was looking out of the big windows and seeing it was getting heavier and heavier and that the previously pretty clear roads were becoming very very white again.

By the time we left the store we had a full scale blizzard, the roads were covered and I had to clear a few inches of snow off the car. I then had to get back to theirs, get the car unloaded, defrost with a cup of tea gulped down and try to get back home.

I think I will call the drive home 'interesting', I was one of the last cars to attempt the last hill still open (I have to go up one of them to get home, I chose the one with the least steep incline but it does go on for a while longer than the others...it is also always the last one to close) and get up it ok ish. I then chose to divert off to avoid the hump bridge which was a blooming good thing I did because as I passed it on the other side after my divert, a car was sliding down the other side and not being able to stop in time for the lights (and scaring the blooming living daylights out of me as it was coming towards my car sideways!)

Got home safely but it was a bit of an eek drive and boy was I glad to finally pull up outside mine.

Pyxis

SingleSue wrote: »

The weather has been missing us all day, well that is until I said I would take mum and dad to Lidl as mum is too terrified to drive in the snow.

It started snowing lightly as I left mine, was snowing slightly harder but still quite light when I picked them up but then let loose while we were shopping. At the end of every aisle I was looking out of the big windows and seeing it was getting heavier and heavier and that the previously pretty clear roads were becoming very very white again.

By the time we left the store we had a full scale blizzard, the roads were covered and I had to clear a few inches of snow off the car. I then had to get back to theirs, get the car unloaded, defrost with a cup of tea gulped down and try to get back home.

I think I will call the drive home 'interesting', I was one of the last cars to attempt the last hill still open (I have to go up one of them to get home, I chose the one with the least steep incline but it does go on for a while longer than the others...it is also always the last one to close) and get up it ok ish. I then chose to divert off to avoid the hump bridge which was a blooming good thing I did because as I passed it on the other side after my divert, a car was sliding down the other side and not being able to stop in time for the lights (and scaring the blooming living daylights out of me as it was coming towards my car sideways!)

Got home safely but it was a bit of an eek drive and boy was I glad to finally pull up outside mine.

Ooooh Sue! :eek: :eek:

I must admit, I haven't dared go out. Haven't been out of the house at all since Tuesday night........ only two yards to the car on Wednesday to pull the cloth back over the windscreen.
I cancelled two appointments on Thursday, and one was only half a mile away..
My dance class on Friday was cancelled, and my AmDram practice for today I've cancelled myself.

Don't you dare go out again until this is over!

PasturesNew

I think one of the problems is that we're so jaded to poor information we used to have on inbound weather ... and the more modern endless 24/7 coverage of the Armageddon to come... so now we're surprised when it does happen, even though they told us.

If you watch them carefully and listen, then it is possible to spot when the weather might arrive, almost to the hour .... on the other hand, the weather reports tend to jump about and wave all over the place with specifics and where/when and whizz through "the important bit about my journey I want to see".... it can be a blur even when you're trying to watch it.

Then there's the "who do you believe" as those with micro climates know that "Oh we never listen to the weather, they never get it right for here".... and so 100 websites telling you different things doesn't help.

You end up going on what you know: nose against the window "what does that look like?"

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think one of the problems is that we're so jaded to poor information we used to have on inbound weather ... and the more modern endless 24/7 coverage of the Armageddon to come... so now we're surprised when it does happen, even though they told us.

If you watch them carefully and listen, then it is possible to spot when the weather might arrive, almost to the hour .... on the other hand, the weather reports tend to jump about and wave all over the place with specifics and where/when and whizz through "the important bit about my journey I want to see".... it can be a blur even when you're trying to watch it.

Then there's the "who do you believe" as those with micro climates know that "Oh we never listen to the weather, they never get it right for here".... and so 100 websites telling you different things doesn't help.

You end up going on what you know: nose against the window "what does that look like?"

That's why I have the Met Office page for my immediate local area bookmarked to Favourites.It gives very detailed hourly info.

I don't tend to bother with the national or even regional forecasts except for general interest, being in one of your micro-climate places.

Doozergirl

I have the free Rain Today app. Very simple. Tells me if it is raining where I am, and if it is, how long it will rain for.

It has a graph to show if it will rain in the next hour and how heavy it should be. Perfect for dog walkers.

And it has a satellite timelapse to show the weather coming in.

(Replace rain with snow where appropriate!)

SingleSue

I have the Rain today app too. Unfortunately for yesterday afternoon/evening they said we were getting light snow with the heavier stuff just skirting around us.....

It's our local area weird system, the slightest change of wind direction and we either get it all or none at all even if it looked like 10 minutes earlier we were going to get hit by it or miss it completely.

SingleSue

Pyxis wrote: »

Ooooh Sue! :eek: :eek:

I must admit, I haven't dared go out. Haven't been out of the house at all since Tuesday night........ only two yards to the car on Wednesday to pull the cloth back over the windscreen.
I cancelled two appointments on Thursday, and one was only half a mile away..
My dance class on Friday was cancelled, and my AmDram practice for today I've cancelled myself.

Don't you dare go out again until this is over!

I've been out every day so far, had to as had to go to work. Before this year I still had to go out in the car because I had school runs.

I think I had good prep all those years ago when I had to take my test in fog with piles of snow lining the roads, it meant I got a good grounding in how to drive in it all.

PasturesNew

Looks like it's all over here. Above zero, so snow is slowly melting on the ground and is slushy. Roads clear/wet/puddles.
I even went and brushed the snow off my car/windscreen and it was soft/wet and just slid off... except the roof stuff which I can't reach even with a broom

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

I even went and brushed the snow off my car/windscreen and it was soft/wet and just slid off... except the roof stuff which I can't reach even with a broom

Another use for that stockpile of bog rolls :rotfl: