Snowmaggedon. What about this weather?

Anyone got frozen pipes?

 

A bit personal m8. I mean I'm getting on, but I can still get up to mischief.

 

Yes but I think they’re a relatively newish thing anyway.

 

m5 motorway through somerset is just a white strip, bob hope and no hope of anything driving on it, a tank maybe...

 

Today I’m ashamed to admit that I have been added to the ‘car crash snowy day statistic’. Driving the wife back from hospital and you’ve guessed it an invincible BMW 4x4 driving too fast towards my stationary car. He jammed on the brakes and I watched him skid and swerve for 35 meters into me.

Of course he denied any wrong and after swapping details left me changing a tyre on my broken vehicle before I realised that the steering was shot and it would no longer drive in a straight line. Three police cars turned up and didn’t even get out of their cars! After two and a half hours the recovery truck couldn’t get down the lane so I parked up safe as I could and walked/ran home.

I was surprised how many people stopped to offer help and one nice lady dropped the misses and dog back home while I waited for the recovery truck to not arrive. Luckily I was dressed like an Olympic skier and was toasty warm.

Irritated by 5 hours wasted this afternoon, embarrassed at becoming another stat and will be very annoyed if the insurance thinks that I am in any way to blame.

Wish I hadn’t ridiculed the weather a few posts back!

 

My car (Mercedes c class) is lovely but faking hopeless in the snow/sleet/slush

I've had to bloody leave it at work and get a taxi home tonight. Gawd knows when I'll be able to repatriate it!

 

Yes!

Had to go up a step ladder and tip boiling water from the kettle over our waste pipes and then listen to the 'clunk clunk' as the ice cubes went down.

 

No.. and we've had temps minus 10 or lower for 3 days straight (wind chill minus 20 ish) Plus 30 cm's of snow. Just like we get every winter.

I dont even know what this thing is that's all over Facebook that you have to go out and pour boiling water on? I think they build houses differently in Norway.

 

We also now have fieldfares. Never before. I feel like I’ve joined a club.

 

Yes frozen pipe here too!
Can't reach pipe without a ladder so waiting for Chris to arrive.
I have disconnected the pipe though which was quite exciting,remembered to put a bowl under it too!
More snow due by 3pm they say.

 

4matic for the win. Even on summer tyres the Meistermobile ploughed on regardless. People just need to remember to take it easy leave extra time for breaking, using the engine to brake where possible. Straight line traction is not an issue it's corners and braking where people come unstuck.

With your S I'd heartilly recommend some winter tyres good for up to 7 degrees c

 

Now your eyes have been opened there's no turning back. You'll be driving 150 miles to see a lesser spotted pipit soon.

 

Quattro - not the cheap one the proper torsen diff one - so one of the best 4x4 systems ever made, and pirelli p zero rubber bands, completely f****** useless in snow

20 year old Toyota rav 4 worth about £2.50 happily ploughing through 3 foot snow drifts and anything else in the way

 

So, it looks like no one's coming into work today because of the snow we're getting this afternoon - any old excuse eh? Had a look at various forecasts and it looks like we'll get a couple hours of light snow - when did everyone become so soft?

 

I've got two kids at home today when I'm supposed to be working, their respective schools were a bit premature with regards to cancelling school for the day.

 

Absolutely. Tyres make a huge difference. Nice and skinny with nobbles to cut through snow, fat and slick for dry conditions. Unfortunately the weather in this country is so variable you can't keep changing tyres on a daily basis to suit the conditions so you need to make a compromise.

Try taking a corner at 60mph in the Rav 4 in dry conditions and it's equally useless as a Quatro with low profiles in the snow.

What we really need is one of these for the 3 days of snow we get each year.

 

Main roads are clear and not even damp in meister manor this morning. We are due some snowfall about lunchtime but shouldn't be enough to cause any chaos.

 

Skinny? Ive never seen a skinny winter tyre here in Norway.. nor one with "Nobbles" on come to think of it.

A bit more of a tread maybe but the winter tyres we use are effective because they have a softer rubber compound. Some, like mine, have metal studs in but you wouldn't be allowed those. We shift on to winter tyres in October/November time and back again April/May.

 

Our kids' nursery has decided to bin off the day due to 'local advice' about the weather. Naturally, they're not going to refund our fees paid in advance for today as the owner says its force majeure. That's despite the fact there's not been a flake of snow overnight, we're only on the standard 'yellow warning', the roads are considerably clearer than they were yesterday and they've been open all week so far. Me thinks they just wanted an all-expenses paid Friday off. I could cope with them being closed if they at least refunded the fees they'd charged for the pleasure.

 

Next time you're invoiced deduct 1 day and explain why you did.

 

We pay in advance so really we're asking for a refund. I expect if I don't pay it they'll just kick out the kids - which will annoy Mrs UEA more than the £100 is worth. My experience of the whole nursery sector is that it's a licence to print money, they just have you over a barrel. But maybe that's a point for the 'things you hate' thread!

 

Snow tyres are different to winter tyres, sometimes called ice cutters, skinny to cut through to the road surface below like this:

 

Those are for going fast on snow.. which is a really poor idea for the average British driver in snowy/icy conditions.


No one, not even in Norway, has those for regular road usage.

 

Live in Sussex and roads deserted today, one of easiest commutes to work ever. People so pathetically soft these days

 

About a foot of snow, perhaps a bit more, in Bristol. Snowing hard now (Friday lunchtime).

 

So after our experience yesterday, the father-in-law (the one who got stuck in snow on the M25 in December). He has said he’s going out today because his windscreen wipers aren’t working. Now this isn’t really not working, it’s just that the rain sensor is a bit flaky and doesn’t work to his liking and he wants a row up with the dealership, that is his sport. Grrrrrrr!

 

A foot of snow? You mean drifts a foot deep yeah?

 

1) How old is the car?

I ask because obviously if the car isn't that old the part may be under warranty.

2) Has he had the front windscreen replaced?

Last year my front windscreen cracked so Autoglass replaced it but they didn't position the sensor in quite the right place and the wipers were a bit erractic afterwards, until they rectified it a few days later.

3) Is there ice covering the sensor?

Is he a pillock? Irrespective of the other points I think he must be a bit of one for going out for no reason other to have an argument.

 

Been very heavy snow in Tring for an hour now. Wouldn't want to be out in this.

 

I mean drifts, yes. They may be more than a foot deep actually, perhaps 18 inches.

Still snowing hard. Has been for about three hours now.

 

Are you a postman?