How are you handling the snow, Ray?

[Ed62]

Did you have a hard time getting around? We saw it on the news. It seems the people who drive on the wrong side of the street were having a hard time.

Ed

[Hellrazor]

Did you have a hard time getting around? We saw it on the news. It seems the people who drive on the wrong side of the street were having a hard time.

Ed

You have it all wrong Ed. When it snows over there, they all drive on the right side

[herb fellows]

You have it all wrong also, Hellrazor. When it snows over there, they all go to the pub and wait out the storm!
Heck of a civilized country, if you ask me!

[drumpriest]

I'm with you herb! I think Pittsburgh and New York should adopt this strategy! I think I'll wait out the snow storms here, so I'll leave the pub somewhere around April.

[RayintheUK]

It still amazes me that a comparatively small amount of snow - especially compared to the amounts you get in North America - can bring the UK to a virtual standstill. No buses, very few, if any, trains and yet everyone throws up their hands in horror, when the solution is clear - invest in the infrastructure properly!

Where gritters have decent stocks, they went out too late, in spite of at least two days warning. This can only have been in an attempt to save money, yet it's ended up costing hundreds of times more in lost attendance, production, etc.

I'm comparatively mobile, even though I live in one of the worst-affected areas, because I'm close to major routes. Side roads and some villages are much worse affected, because they're low on the gritters' priority list.

I've got to go to Pall Mall in London on Thursday for a job at the RAC Club, so I hope I won't have too much of a fight to get there by then.

Ray.

[germdoc]

2 questions: what's a gritter? And isn't Pall Mall what my grandfather used to smoke in the 60's?

[HarmsWay]

My daughter works in central London and was one of the 1 in 5 that made it to work. She put on her Wellies and snow coat then walked in (apparently taking a picture about every 15 steps if her Facebook photos are any indication). It looked like she was one of very few adults that were enjoying the snow.

Pall Mall is a hoity-toity London street. Presumably a gritter is the sanding truck.

[RayintheUK]

2 questions: what's a gritter? And isn't Pall Mall what my grandfather used to smoke in the 60's?

Vehicles used to spread a mixture of grit and rock salt onto the roads, in snowy or icy conditions, are commonly called "gritters" in the UK.

"Pall Mall" cigarettes probably took that name to imply that they were "upper class" in the cigarette world. You'll see the location from the map here, close to quite a few famous places.

Presumably a gritter is the sanding truck.

See above

Ray

[Kristofor]

I can understand choosing not to have enough plows for the streets (I don't approve, but I can understand how you get there), especially in a relatively warm area where the chemicals can do their thing fairly effectively. But the impact (complete shutdown?) on the trains seems odd.

I've never actually watched how they clear the light rail line so perhaps that requires more specialized equipment, but the normal trains (heavy rail?) seem to plow/blast through moderately deep snow and drifts many feet tall without much of a problem (momentum/speed advantage?)... Even if it did require a special commuter line clearing train it would seem like a good investment per person moved and the fact that you may only need to clear 10's-100's of rail lines compared to 10,000'-100,000's of roads...

[Black wallnut]

I'm with you herb! I think Pittsburgh and New York should adopt this strategy! I think I'll wait out the snow storms here, so I'll leave the pub somewhere around April.

Why not the embarassment of our state Seattle adopts this policy! Sheesh

Glad you can get around, Ray. In my area lots of folks just shift the transfer case into hi-four and keep motoring.