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Nov. 23rd, 2024 04:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
We got the bus into town to meet friends.
The bus skidded sideways on the snowy road, tried a couple of times,
and then gave up.
Which is why you can see Jane and Gideon trudging towards me as we
head to a nearby cafe to recover.
Original is here on
instagram.
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Date: 2024-11-23 12:39 pm (UTC)Little sign of hin down here.
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Date: 2024-11-23 12:41 pm (UTC)Gideon got quite upset at cold feet, but we survived.
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Date: 2024-11-23 12:50 pm (UTC)Wet and windy in Swansea. Definitely no snow! But please borrow some of our rain.
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Date: 2024-11-23 04:34 pm (UTC)Those tire marks are scary. The other thing to factor in is the existence of snow tires, which I wonder if city dwellers in Scotland use at all.
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Date: 2024-11-23 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-24 05:46 am (UTC)I DID have All-season "mud and snow" tyres on my last UK car before I moved to Germany. I had zero problems driving, no slips and the ABS/traction control never even kicked in - where others were clearly struggling. But I did have decades of motorbike experience in all weathers, including the R1, which slides by default on pretty much every surface AND I NEVER EVEN NOTICE.
Here in Germany, winter tyres are insisted upon by insurance companies and garages even store your other tyres for you if you don't have room)
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Date: 2024-11-24 10:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-24 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-27 03:21 pm (UTC)I couldn't find comparable figures for the UK and Germany, but that was about what I thought. 40-50years ago I might have said that much for the English Lakes, and maybe for Aberdeen in the late eighties/early nineties, but one week would be the absolute max for most of the UK this century.
We really don't get enough to consider snow tires.
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Date: 2024-11-27 03:50 pm (UTC)I'm talking about WINTER tyres. For wet, cold, frosty, icy and, yes, also somewhat snowy conditions. But not special snow tyres. They are superior in grip and braking distance in anything except hot dry weather. Maybe even hotter than Scotland generally gets in summer. But I dunno. Have to check the specs.
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Date: 2024-11-24 10:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-24 11:47 am (UTC)(It takes like half an hour if you have a jack and a good long handle for a wheel nut socket. Or a garage does in 5 minutes for you).
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Date: 2024-11-27 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-27 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-27 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-24 05:39 am (UTC)Or, more likely, there's sheet ice under the snow. Which sucks. Always. Hope the cafe made up for the unexpected walk
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Date: 2024-11-24 07:44 am (UTC)Just a layer of entirely fresh snow that meant that there was no traction at all on a slope.
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Date: 2024-11-24 08:56 am (UTC)I don't know, but I would imagine that electric buses might fare better in slippery conditions if they allow continuously variable power. Maybe not.
Berlin has few hills and also lots of trams (at least in the East). Which I think do better in the snow?