The White Stuff has Arrived...

[bricol]

I am amused at the "where's the gritters" comments I see every winter.

Local facebook full of such - it seems the bare minimum requirement is a gritter on standby on every single road, able to do multiple passes every hour every day - regardless of the gridlocked traffic, as gritters can slide up the gaps between lanes of vehicles, ignoring the many hundreds of miles of roads in the area.

Forgetting someone would need to pay for the vehicles, the grit, the maintenance, the storage, find drivers etc . . .

Local council point out they are trying keep the main routes clear, when they do so they will move down the priority list to successively minor roads - the weather conditions here meaning they aren't getting to the lower priority routes very soon or often.

The usual thing of course, there has been a gritter - 5am before they staggered to a window around 9am . . or in the evening, when the curtains are closed, the TV is on full bore.

Current winge seems to be reduced rubbish collection - part of that being some of the drivers are driving that gritter up and down their road every hour . . .

 

[bricol]

Every time I go out in the cold I think ‘tomorrow I’m gonna have me a look and see what air flow I can cut off’. And after 8 years I’ve still not done it…….

Mate with a VW diesel van did it with his, used to take 5 miles driving to get to temp, so he went in and filled no end of gaps around the engine bay and radiator. Now it takes a mile to get to temp.

My Lancia is usually pretty close to warm by time I get to work, 13 miles away. The 6 ltr V8 in the Dodge needs the heat turning down by the end of the road

 

[Blobber]

I am amused at the "where's the gritters" comments I see every winter.

Local facebook full of such - it seems the bare minimum requirement is a gritter on standby on every single road, able to do multiple passes every hour every day - regardless of the gridlocked traffic, as gritters can slide up the gaps between lanes of vehicles, ignoring the many hundreds of miles of roads in the area.

Forgetting someone would need to pay for the vehicles, the grit, the maintenance, the storage, find drivers etc . . .

Local council point out they are trying keep the main routes clear, when they do so they will move down the priority list to successively minor roads - the weather conditions here meaning they aren't getting to the lower priority routes very soon or often.

The usual thing of course, there has been a gritter - 5am before they staggered to a window around 9am . . or in the evening, when the curtains are closed, the TV is on full bore.

Current winge seems to be reduced rubbish collection - part of that being some of the drivers are driving that gritter up and down their road every hour . . .

On our local TV the other night the local council reckons it' costs 25k for every truck per shift

 

[Gragson]

On our local TV the other night the local council reckons it' costs 25k for every truck per shift

Seen loads here, got fair bit of grit on backseat and some on me chops when turning left and gritter boy zooming down right lane, serves me right for having window all way down at -3 but glad I caught some of that 25k

 

[bricol]

On our local TV the other night the local council reckons it' costs 25k for every truck per shift

Ouch! Sounds a lot.

Apparently Bradford is trialling an all electric gritter this year - potential savings of 0.13p a mile . . a range of 170miles, enough for the city centre area apparently..

Local primary schools have been in a competition to name five new gritters - there are some good names!

Bearing in mind where the Brontes come from . . . "Wuthering Ice".

Some must have been looking at Egypt - "Clearopathra" (there is actually an area of Bradford called "Eygpt" but this school was nowhere near it)

 

[Farside]

Do you find your lovers locally or go through Tinder

Just find a big prop forward.

 

[Blobber]

Seen loads here, got fair bit of grit on backseat and some on me chops when turning left and gritter boy zooming down right lane, serves me right for having window all way down at -3 but glad I caught some of that 25k

Thatl learn ya, you need to give up the fags

 

[Gragson]

to give up the fags

Guilty, good spot

 

[Nomad]

Info about the electric snowplows at Bradford credit to @bricol for mentioning it
https://transportandenergy.com/2025/01/06/bradford-council-adds-100-electric-gritter-to-fleet/

It will be interesting to see how they perform as winter hits EV performance from several angles: increased power use for heaters etc, reduced battery performance when it's cold, and some EV batteries won't take "fast charge" if they're too cold.

 

[gaz1]

Ouch! Sounds a lot.

Apparently Bradford is trialling an all electric gritter this year - potential savings of 0.13p a mile . . a range of 170miles, enough for the city centre area apparently..

Local primary schools have been in a competition to name five new gritters - there are some good names!

Bearing in mind where the Brontes come from . . . "Wuthering Ice".

Some must have been looking at Egypt - "Clearopathra" (there is actually an area of Bradford called "Eygpt" but this school was nowhere near it)

Info about the electric snowplows at Bradford credit to @bricol for mentioning it
https://transportandenergy.com/2025/01/06/bradford-council-adds-100-electric-gritter-to-fleet/

It will be interesting to see how they perform as winter hits EV performance from several angles: increased power use for heaters etc, reduced battery performance when it's cold, and some EV batteries won't take "fast charge" if they're too cold.

i can tear that one a new one at high speed

but since ive been to the depo they couldnt even keep 100 gritters at the grounds they have and certainly not at the bottom of denholme the gritter sand collection as its top of thornton rd to denholme area you know roughly bricol
its more denholme area

so someones telling porkys thats for sure but i presume its 100 electric carts for the clean up of the town center

the electric brushes and the electric waste collections the electric sweepers oh and the loverly electric waste pickers pull cart

as goes for the electric rd sweepers the white areas are neglected whilst other areas see that vehicle everyday i know because ive seen it

 

[redlig]

i already did so by digging out there paths for my local ones

but ive caught a cold for it and lungs are still full of phlem but i sweated most of it staying wraped up to hell

this year is the worst ive seen my local rd its like the council gritters cant be bothered to grit the rds

and now its deadly with pure ice on our rd alone ive only seen the gritter 3 times and 2 of those times during the day with one pass and a scrape and then another hardly any grit on the rds

its like they havent bought any grit to clean the rds whilst funding there pedestrian pathways for the town center

as goes for the pathways our was well cleaned by the gritters as the sand salt mixture landed on the causeway so helped to clear that as well

If the council don't grit the roads and someone has a woopsy the car drivers insurance pays , if the council don't grit the pavements and someone has a woopsy the councils insurance pays .

 

[brewdexta]

Look like it hit -6c last night, but the forecast was -10c.

-10c was probably down in the valley, where I left the car so I can get the kids to school...

Our hill is 25% in places, not good when the gritter can't make it because of all the cars parked in the valley. I've parked in a pub car park, one of the few that haven't been sold off for development

Just sent the dogs in to wake up the little darlings so they can walk down the hill in the cold, they were delighted

 

[Onoff]

Unpleasant driving across the North Downs to Sevenoaks this morning:

 

[bricol]

i can tear that one a new one at high speed

but since ive been to the depo they couldnt even keep 100 gritters at the grounds they have and certainly not at the bottom of denholme the gritter sand collection as its top of thornton rd to denholme area you know roughly bricol
its more denholme area

so someones telling porkys thats for sure but i presume its 100 electric carts for the clean up of the town center

the electric brushes and the electric waste collections the electric sweepers oh and the loverly electric waste pickers pull cart

as goes for the electric rd sweepers the white areas are neglected whilst other areas see that vehicle everyday i know because ive seen it

errr . . one, 100% electric gritter. Not 100 gritters.

According to the council website, they have 24 gritters in total. Which of course on a snowy icy day might be too few . . . but usually the other 364 days a year is 24 too many.

 

[MattF]

Look like it hit -6c last night, but the forecast was -10c.

It has been a bit nippy overnight. I've actually been wearing my jacket/coat.

 

[Erie Fred]

Look like it hit -6c last night, but the forecast was -10c.

View attachment 480008

-10c was probably down in the valley, where I left the car so I can get the kids to school...

Our hill is 25% in places, not good when the gritter can't make it because of all the cars parked in the valley. I've parked in a pub car park, one of the few that haven't been sold off for development

Just sent the dogs in to wake up the little darlings so they can walk down the hill in the cold, they were delighted

Give them a sled ?

 

[brewdexta]

Give them a sled ?

Nah, the two hair pin bends with steep drops to the scrap yard below would probably upset them.....

 

[Keith 66]

No snow down here on the Thames delta, not even a frost this morninng.

 

[premmington]

No snow down here on the Thames delta, not even a frost this morninng.

Minus 2 - in East Anglia.

 

[bricol]

I'm still traumatised by walking the couple miles to primary school in cold wellies and the uniform short trousers in 1979/80 - my mum didn't feel the need to equipment with unnecessary long trousers until I needed them . . .

Wellies weren't tall enough for the depth of snow, so cold, wet, toesies . . .