It seemed that we had escaped the worst of the winter storms which were battering much of northern Britain last week. We had heavy squally showers, intermittent high (but not gale force) winds, & no snow to speak of.
Friday morning’s local weather forecast foretold of showers, possibly falling as snow on the highest ground but dying out during the afternoon, with little wind. A cold night though, with temperatures dropping below freezing.
We were in for an unpleasant surprise.
Just before I left home the presenter on local radio warned of ice on the road the bus takes, but five miles further up. Take care, he said, cars are sliding all over the place.
Getting up the hill was more of a challenge than I had expected – the latest shower had been of that wet sleety stuff, which was still lying on the surface. For once I was happy to think that the bus might be a little late.
By the time I reached the road the sky had turned black & heavy sleet was falling again. I stood in the bus shelter reviewing my options for when it stopped; on the whole best to go & do the planned shopping, or else the Christmas timetable will be out of kilter, but then come straight home. Traffic was still moving (some much too fast for the conditions), the sky was brightening, even showing some patches of blue, a shaft of sunlight silvering the bottoms of some of the clouds.
But no bus came.
The major problem seems to have been in Buxton. Though high up (1000 ft above sea level) the town centre lies in a bowl – if you want to get out the only way is up, & in such slippery conditions it is all too easy to slip & slide or, if you are very big & heavy, to gain the necessary traction. So everything grinds too easily to a halt.
There was also mention of one road being closed by the construction of the new Nestle pipeline, but that may just be locals too ready to blame everyhting on a controversial issue.
