An Advantage Of Living In A City
I’ve lived for forty years of my life in the country, where of course in weather like this you have to clear snow, so you can get into your house.
I’ve just walked down the road to get my paper and on the other side of the road, three workers from Hackney Council are clearing the pavement. They have a rather nifty pair of grit spreaders!
A Pair Of Nifty Grit Spreaders
I suppose to be fair to the Council, they spent a lot of money replacing the pavements last year and they’re only protecting their investment. And helping the residents’ balance!
Meandering Through The Snow
Today, I wanted to do two things.
First, I was going to Broadway Market to track down an old friend of C’s, who I knew had a relative with a shop there.
And then I was intending to go to a restaurant called Pappagone in Stroud Green Road to have lunch with an old friend.
I intended to get to Broadway Market by taking a 236 bus direct from Newington Green, just up the road from my house. As you an see, it was snowy, but the conditions weren’t too difficult.
Newington Green In The Snow
The 236 is rather an untypical London bus, as it more like a country bus, that meanders around various communities as it goes on its way. It was full and comfortable an d got me safely to Broadway Market, although it probably took longer than normal due to the weather.
I didn’t find C’s friend, but I met a man who knew her and gave him my card before returning to the bus to take it all the way to its terminus at Finsbury Park station. but the stop was closed due to roadworks and I couldn’t get to the next one, before the 236 bus arrived. Then a 394 bus arrived going the other way and I decided it was better to take this to Angel station. I didn’t get that far, as the roads were slightly blocked and I then swapped to a 271 to take me to Highbury and Islington station, which would enable me to take one stop to Finsbury Park station. From there I intended to walk up Stroud Green Road
If it all sounds complicated, you have to remember that South Hackney is mainly densely packed buildings, with few main roads. Hence the meandering routes of the buses.
It might have been better, if the Chelsea Hackney line had been built after the Jubilee line as was originally planned. But not that much better, as there is no direct Underground connection between Angel and Highbury and Islington stations.
At Finsbury Park station my troubles weren’t over, as there was no staff about to tell me how to get out in Stroud Green Road and the sign had been obscured by a notice board. I also had the disadvantage, in that although I’ve changed trains at the station many times, I’ve never emerged above ground there. Eventually, i found my way and walked up the road to Pappagone.
Up Stroud Green Road In The Snow
The weather wasn’t too bad, but I could have taken a bus up the hill if I’d needed to.
I had some very good gluten-free pasta at the restaurant and after a couple of hours or so, we took the 210 bus to Archway, where she went home and I took the Underground.
A quick change at Angel station onto a 38 bus and I was on the last leg home.
This trip illustrates how London or in fact any other city with a decent public transport system generally copes well with snow, as you can change your plans according to circumstances.
I always remember as a child, that the buses then, didn’t perform as well as the modern ones, which have most of the weight over the driving wheels and better tyres to boot. I saw a couple of New Buses for London and they seemed to be coping well, but strangely they had more snow on the roof, despite it being more curvy than the older buses. Perhaps the roof is better insulated!
They Don’t Just Rescue Dogs
The BBC is showing this news story about rescuing a dog from the icy waters of Lake Erie.
Many years ago, I visited one of our Artemis clients on the shores of Lake Michigan. I’m not sure of the time of year, but it was very cold and there was snow everywhere, when we flew into Benton Harbor. I remember the guy at Hertz had got all the engines of the cars running in the parking lot.
The client I was visiting was the nuclear power station called AEP Cook. I’ve been over several nuclear power stations and together with the old Sizewell A, this was the one, that was run in the most professional manner.
I remember asking whether they got any problems with the locals. The answer was that because waste heat from the power plant, in the winter, the ice tended to melt and the warmth also attracted the best fish in Lake Michigan. So regularly, they had hauled fishermen out of the water, who’d fallen through the ice.
Some people need their heads examined.
That was also the trip, where we had lunch in a restaurant that reminded us of the Rook Restaurant sketch in The Two Ronnies. Except the ubiquitous element was beans, as that is the area of the United States, where navy beans are traditionally grown.
It’s Snowing in Manchester for a Change
Normally, it rains in Manchester, but tonight as I’m watching Manchester City play Fulham, it’s snowing.
Another disappointment for the Arabs, but at least it’s preferable to play in snow, than in forty degree heat, when they play the World Cup in Qatar.
A Previous White Christmas
All of this bad weather reminds me of a tale of getting home for Christmas in probably 1978. I say probably as the BBC have said that that was a very bad winter. Ian, one of our consultants, was working in Amsterdam and joined the exodus with many fellow Brits back to the UK on Christmas Eve at Schipol. But Heathrow was closed as many aircraft were frozen to the stands. More by luck than judgement BA were able to get a Tri-Star to Schipol after finding out that East Midlands airport was free of snow. The jet then did several shuttles between the two airports to bring everybody home, albeit not to where they wanted to go. BA also hired every coach they could find to complete the passengers’ journeys.
One version of the story says that the last flight came in at three in the morning of Christmas Day.
One gets the impression, that that sort of spirit no longer exists in our transport industry. Although as I said at the time, I’ll give credit to National Express East Anglia for getting me home on Saturday from Ipswich.
Not Many Takers for Boris’s Bikes
I took this picture in Bunhill Row in the City.
Boris's Bikes in the Snow
Only five of the bikes had been taken.
But then it isn’t good weather for cycling. I did see a few runners though!
Venice in the Snow
I’ve just looked at some of my Venice pictures from last year.
It was in early March, slightly earlier than now, and although it was cold, the sun was out and it was perhaps ten degrees or so.
But now on the news, Venice has been pictured in the snow. I can’t find any pictures on something like the BBC or the Times, but here’s a blog post from the 3rd March.
Venice looks really surreal in the snow. But then it looks surreal in good weather too! And the rain! I guess it just looks good at all times.
You can understand, why it was my late wife’s favourite city. And mine too!
An Afternoon Walk in the Snow
I took a walk this afternoon. It was cold and sunny.
The aim of the walk was to take a suitable picture for next year’s Christmas card.
Did I get the picture? Who’s to know!
An Elan on Skis?
I took the X-Type to Sainsburys this afternoon and the temperature gauge was showing minus eight. Don’t ask me what that is in old money, as I don’t do Fahrenheit.
It was probably lucky that I took the Jaguar as someone had got themselves stuck and needed a tow off the snow-covered grass. Not that the car would have been any good at it, as it wasn’t getting any grip on the ice, but I did have a tow rope, which meant that someone else in a Nissan Terrano could do the honours and remove the BMW.
Since the weather has got bad I’ve been alternating the two cars; the Jaguar X-Type and the Lotus Elan.
These pictures show the conditions and a couple of pictures to prove the Elan got safely to Newmarket and back.
By preference, I’d take the Elan every time on this sort of surface. Especially as the lane to the main road into Newmarket, hasn’t been gritted at all and is a fairly steep incline down and then up both ways. It’s also very much single track as the photo shows and you need to go slowly to avoid hitting someone going the other way, as hedges and a couple of bends make the road dangerous. In the last eighteen years, that I have lived in this house, I reckon that there have been about one serious accident a year. I’ve been hit thrice; by the postie, a lady who didn’t get over at all and a lunatic.
Today, I took the Lotus in with the top down and perhaps that was just too ambitious, despite the fact I was well wrapped up. What the car needs is a proper tonneau cover!
All of this shows, that if you take a modern car like the X-Type with lots of clever electronics and anti-lock braking, it is no better than a car which was designed with proper dynamics in the first place.
I should say that I’ve driven cars a lot worse on snow and ice than the Jaguar, but good dynamics are the key to everything, when it comes to roadholding on surfaces, that are good, bad or just plain terrible!
The Anonymous Widower 