Ice Ice Baby
Dec. 24th, 2009 07:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slycatI don't normally write about the weather because it's not really a novelty to get snow or cold weather here. It happens most years during winter... however yesterday's weather was exceptional. Basically in the early hours, it rained rather than snowed and because the ground temperature must have still been below freezing, the rain instantly formed sheet ice over everything.
So, when I went to walk to the train station yesterday, there was pretty much no traction on the ground for my entire route. What would normally be an 8 minute walk took over 25 minutes to complete. Right outside my house is a downward slope to the road and I had no choice but to slide down. I had to be exceptionately careful while walking to stay upright. At one point, there's a fairly steep hill I had to climb but there was no chance of just walking up it... I had to literally pull myself up the hill with the aid of the chain fence to the side of the pavement. I fortunately only fell over once but this was at a point where there was nothing to prop myself back up with so I just had to kind of shuffle forwards... most humiliating. And of course there was someone around to witness my mishaps. In all, I'd say that was my most terrifying walk to work I've ever had to make!
When I did finally make it to the train station, I found the trains weren't going anywhere as the tracks were too slippery. There was a train which was just outside the station which was clearly trying to move but it's wheels were spinning and sparks were flying out but it was going nowhere. The announcement system strongly advised people to reconsider travelling and go home if the journey wasn't essential. However after an hour, a train finally arrived and I was able to get to work. I was the only one who managed to get into work in my department as my other colleagues either couldn't get in or weren't due in until later, so yesterday was a very busy day at work.
Over the course of the day, the ice had melted to make way for normal rain, something which was of great relief. However when I was waiting for the train home (the train having been delayed 30minutes) the heavens opened and there was a fierce thunderstorm going on, with lightning striking not too far away and hailstones. Lots and lots of hailstones. By the time I had got to my destination train station, the ground was covered with a thick layer of settled hailstones. Fortunately they weren't slippery as I feared, only crunchy so I didn't have the problems getting home that I did getting there.
Now this weather was all kinda exceptional and certainly not the norm for the UK but it made me think that if this was December, January is usually worse. So I did a bit of hunting on the internet and came across these rather nifty snow spikes. I've bought a pair so hopefully I won't ever have to slide my way to work again!
So, when I went to walk to the train station yesterday, there was pretty much no traction on the ground for my entire route. What would normally be an 8 minute walk took over 25 minutes to complete. Right outside my house is a downward slope to the road and I had no choice but to slide down. I had to be exceptionately careful while walking to stay upright. At one point, there's a fairly steep hill I had to climb but there was no chance of just walking up it... I had to literally pull myself up the hill with the aid of the chain fence to the side of the pavement. I fortunately only fell over once but this was at a point where there was nothing to prop myself back up with so I just had to kind of shuffle forwards... most humiliating. And of course there was someone around to witness my mishaps. In all, I'd say that was my most terrifying walk to work I've ever had to make!
When I did finally make it to the train station, I found the trains weren't going anywhere as the tracks were too slippery. There was a train which was just outside the station which was clearly trying to move but it's wheels were spinning and sparks were flying out but it was going nowhere. The announcement system strongly advised people to reconsider travelling and go home if the journey wasn't essential. However after an hour, a train finally arrived and I was able to get to work. I was the only one who managed to get into work in my department as my other colleagues either couldn't get in or weren't due in until later, so yesterday was a very busy day at work.
Over the course of the day, the ice had melted to make way for normal rain, something which was of great relief. However when I was waiting for the train home (the train having been delayed 30minutes) the heavens opened and there was a fierce thunderstorm going on, with lightning striking not too far away and hailstones. Lots and lots of hailstones. By the time I had got to my destination train station, the ground was covered with a thick layer of settled hailstones. Fortunately they weren't slippery as I feared, only crunchy so I didn't have the problems getting home that I did getting there.
Now this weather was all kinda exceptional and certainly not the norm for the UK but it made me think that if this was December, January is usually worse. So I did a bit of hunting on the internet and came across these rather nifty snow spikes. I've bought a pair so hopefully I won't ever have to slide my way to work again!
