Last night...
Jan. 29th, 2004 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaWe left work, driving circumspectly, in a bit of snow. We proceeded normally, if cautiously, until we reached the A4074. Then we sl-o-o-o-wed. And stopped.
Stop. Stop. Move forward ten yards. Stop. Move forward one yard. Stop. Start. Wheelsslipskid. Move forward five yards. Stop. Start more carefully. Wheelsslipskid. Stop. Start even more carefully. Move forward half a yard. Stop.
Frances got out and brought us a snowball back. It was ideal snowballing snow, just lying about on the ground. Going to waste :(
After half an hour or so of such fun,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ao_lai rang the other carload to warn them to take an alternative route. We considered bailing out down a sideroad, but doing similar things in the past has taught me that you're actually likely to run into the same jam (or a related one) again, somewhere else. And I was concerned about the state of small roads, since the reasonably major road we were on was ungritted and mildly treacherous.
*thwap*
I look up in surprise. A snowball has just hit the windscreen in front of me. Everyone else refuses to believe me.
*thwap*
A second snowball, unmistakeable.
Toby and Ao_lai did the sensible thing, and rose above it. Frances and I leapt out and returned fire at the bunch of kids standing at the top of the bank. Sadly, we were hampered by having to throw up hill, but they ran away: moral victory.
By this time, the traffic was sufficiently stationary that even though I was driving, I wasn't at all worried about getting out of the car to hurl snow around.
We receive a call fromonebyone, in the other carload. They'd ignored our advice, and were now stuck in the same jam.
We play I-spy. We consider making a snowman, but Frances reports the snow has got too cold and gone all powdery. Very, very occasionally, we slither foward over the solid ice for another few yards.
We receive a call from Onebyone. They took the sideroad option, successfully, and can report that the A4074 is clear after the Mongewell Roundabout (isn't that a great place name?) No marks to me for deciding to sit it out, then :(
A hectic discussion ensues: Ao_lai on the phone to Onebyone, who is relaying instructions fromzandev (the driver), and Toby in the back trying to make sense of the directions on the map.
We turn round, no doubt utterly confusing the car behind us, and head back to the previous turning to get off the A4074. A period of confusion ensues while I'm not entirely sure whether we're following the route Toby's found on the map, or the route the other car took - map would be more sensible, but Onebyone's instructions contain information about further jams, sadly not marked on my atlas.
Some false casts, and another phone call, and we're on course. Kind of. I am forced to assume that one or more of the following is true:
Suffice it to say that the route, down white (in the OS Map sense) roads, featured a lot of first gear, considerable slithering, sliding and skidding, and a certain amount of cursing.
And, as promised, we ran parallel to the clearly-still-stationary A4074 for a while, utlimately rejoining it after whatever the hold-up was. (An accident, we presume, though if anyone can tell me more exactly I'd love to know).
Reached home just after 9:30: nearly four and a half hours to drive Reading to Oxford.
And you know what, Onebyone? I still love snow.
Stop. Stop. Move forward ten yards. Stop. Move forward one yard. Stop. Start. Wheelsslipskid. Move forward five yards. Stop. Start more carefully. Wheelsslipskid. Stop. Start even more carefully. Move forward half a yard. Stop.
Frances got out and brought us a snowball back. It was ideal snowballing snow, just lying about on the ground. Going to waste :(
After half an hour or so of such fun,
ao_lai rang the other carload to warn them to take an alternative route. We considered bailing out down a sideroad, but doing similar things in the past has taught me that you're actually likely to run into the same jam (or a related one) again, somewhere else. And I was concerned about the state of small roads, since the reasonably major road we were on was ungritted and mildly treacherous.*thwap*
I look up in surprise. A snowball has just hit the windscreen in front of me. Everyone else refuses to believe me.
*thwap*
A second snowball, unmistakeable.
Toby and Ao_lai did the sensible thing, and rose above it. Frances and I leapt out and returned fire at the bunch of kids standing at the top of the bank. Sadly, we were hampered by having to throw up hill, but they ran away: moral victory.
By this time, the traffic was sufficiently stationary that even though I was driving, I wasn't at all worried about getting out of the car to hurl snow around.
We receive a call from
onebyone, in the other carload. They'd ignored our advice, and were now stuck in the same jam.We play I-spy. We consider making a snowman, but Frances reports the snow has got too cold and gone all powdery. Very, very occasionally, we slither foward over the solid ice for another few yards.
We receive a call from Onebyone. They took the sideroad option, successfully, and can report that the A4074 is clear after the Mongewell Roundabout (isn't that a great place name?) No marks to me for deciding to sit it out, then :(
A hectic discussion ensues: Ao_lai on the phone to Onebyone, who is relaying instructions from
zandev (the driver), and Toby in the back trying to make sense of the directions on the map. We turn round, no doubt utterly confusing the car behind us, and head back to the previous turning to get off the A4074. A period of confusion ensues while I'm not entirely sure whether we're following the route Toby's found on the map, or the route the other car took - map would be more sensible, but Onebyone's instructions contain information about further jams, sadly not marked on my atlas.
Some false casts, and another phone call, and we're on course. Kind of. I am forced to assume that one or more of the following is true:
- Zandev is a better driver than me
- Zandev has a better car than me (well, that's certainly true, though I'm not sure whether it's relevant)
- The roads had iced over considerably more in the intervening hour
- They were trying to kill us
Suffice it to say that the route, down white (in the OS Map sense) roads, featured a lot of first gear, considerable slithering, sliding and skidding, and a certain amount of cursing.
And, as promised, we ran parallel to the clearly-still-stationary A4074 for a while, utlimately rejoining it after whatever the hold-up was. (An accident, we presume, though if anyone can tell me more exactly I'd love to know).
Reached home just after 9:30: nearly four and a half hours to drive Reading to Oxford.
And you know what, Onebyone? I still love snow.
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Less of that first gear!
Date: 2004-01-29 05:58 am (UTC)And we weren't trying to kill you, honest. If we did, who'd warn us about traffic jams?
Re: Less of that first gear!
Date: 2004-01-29 06:00 am (UTC)Down S-bends, on hills?
Er, I think I'll walk, thanks :)
Re: Less of that first gear!
Date: 2004-01-29 06:03 am (UTC)At least you didn't have
Re: Less of that first gear!
Date: 2004-01-29 06:10 am (UTC)Re: Less of that first gear!
Date: 2004-01-29 06:23 am (UTC)Re: Less of that first gear!
Date: 2004-01-29 06:38 am (UTC)Anyway. It's old hat to proceed along the road in the same direction as the car is pointing. (Just don't mention Howard Street. Ahem.)
Re: Less of that first gear!
Date: 2004-01-30 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-29 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-29 09:29 am (UTC)In the course of finding the route we did finally take we came across another traffic jam, and on turning back found a car in the hedge that hadn't been there a few minutes earlier.
So, yes the roads were very nasty. It was icing up significantly with time, so I suspect the roads were indeed rather more icy for you than me. However, I had the added problem of a idiot in an SUV sitting on my bumper for much of the white road part. :(
The ironic thing is that I had specifically discussed with my passengers the fact that I really didn't want to be driving on minor roads. For this reason I was going to go through Henley, but gave up when I saw the traffic jam going that way.
Re:
Date: 2004-01-29 09:36 am (UTC)I got an over-friendly double artic nuzzling up to my rear bumper, but fortunately that was when we were back on a main road again. Wouldn't have liked to tackle that South Stoke road with company.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-29 09:32 am (UTC)This morning the news was listing the A4074 around where the jam was as being closed due to a jackknifed articulated lorry. This may be the same thing that was causing the problem last night.
Re:
Date: 2004-01-29 09:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-29 10:56 am (UTC)Admittedly, this was due to (a) waiting 20 minutes for one of my neighbours to climb the hill in his Volvo, and (b) chickening out of the single-track roads and sticking to the A4 through the centre of Reading.
Back this evening without incident, but the hill on the estate still seems treacherous, so tomorrow morning might be interesting again. However, the rush at work is over, so if it's bad I might "work from home".
no subject
Date: 2004-01-29 11:08 am (UTC)You'll be pleased to hear that my journey home last night (from one side of Reading to the other) was no worse than usual :-)
Re:
Date: 2004-01-29 11:15 am (UTC)And, should it remain icy for any period of time, I'd like to make it perfectly clear that if you find that someone has sandpapered all the grip off the soles of your trainers, it'll be absolutely nothing to do with me. OK ?