despite the red warnings yesterday work remained open,
yet today, they have announced we are closing at 2pm
jeeeez i dunno
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
"Severe weather warning"
(7466 posts)-
Posted 7 years ago #
-
“
"Throughout today and into tomorrow morning, the clear and unequivocal advice for people in affected areas is not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary to do so" - @JohnSwinney
“
Posted 7 years ago # -
“
@edintravel@ShonaAn04922892 Hi, we are running Trams from every 25mins at the moment.^DL
“
Posted 7 years ago # -
Makes you wonder how we just managed to get on with it in the days when this was really only situation normal for winter and a gritter lorry was an open bed truck and two guys with shovels throwing stuff out the back.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I was panic buying a bag of frozen veg Mrs Garto voicing her disdain. However she has scoffed the very thick soup I made with it. But like an earlier recipe I proposed just with peas but not as sweet.
Fry up an onion with some cumin seeds. Add a bag of Scotmid frozen veg (peas carrots green beans, sweet corn), I added some grated carrot as had scabby carrots in fridge. 2 litres of veg stock, cook a while then blitz with hand blender. Enjoy.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@gembo mmmmm. I've had a nap (sinuses, revenge of) and heated up leftover veggie chili. Coop dark rye bread and some Greek yogurt. Feel more human now, but outside the wind has picked up and is making it a bit blizzard. Office now closed till 10am tomorrow!
Posted 7 years ago # -
"my philosiphy is hide biscuits everywhere in the house"
Make sure you put them in sealed tubs. Otherwise mice will have eaten them before you remember where you hid them.
Went to shops, food still available, larder now fully stocked (just in case); wore gaiters to stop snow/slush getting into boots; obligatory snowman building in the back green with youngest today; teenager is out with his mates snowball fighting again; just finished clearing footway outside the stair, as no-one else bothered (it says in the title deeds we are supposed to); now another blizzard has hit, total whiteout; will shortly start making leek and potato soup.
Schools off again Friday. Will I make into work tomorrow? Anyone's guess at the moment.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I was about to take the kids out to freeze for half an hour and let them run off steam but the blizzards started again and they seem less than inclined to leave the house.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Blueth, the main problem is car dependency. Folk live much further from place of work than they used to (because car means they can) so when snow hits, lots of things are disrupted
Also I think lots of workplaces are shut down as a precautionary safety measure (including railways) - just in case. 30 or 40 years ago, they'd have just kept going maybe.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I had a pleasant wander from Morningside into town earlier given that Heriot-Watt is closed today (and tomorrow too as it turns out). The snow on the towpath was more compact than on the pavements but it was quite manageable compared to January's ice. Spotted three MTBers. 36 and counting on MMW when I passed around midday...
Posted 7 years ago # -
Folk live much further from place of work than they used to (because car means they can)
Folk also live much further from place of work than they used to because of extortionate house pricing.
My employer stops for no-one, not even ten inches of snow in the car park. Bah. I gave up at lunchtime and cycled back to my parents house. The heating system at my house is about to run out of fuel.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Long Dalmahoy road was not great this morning a bit better now but narrower than normal. I wore my snow spike over shoes in case had to push but did not. I went to the 3 scotmids in ballerno/currie to buy veg and bread but shelf's were stocked like soviet union. I nearly bought a bag of frozen veg but decided not to as my bike was already overweight. Its always overweight when on winter tyres. I also meant to look for payphone as my work has a chargeable weather line we are meant to phone but my phone blocks premium numbers.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I also meant to look for payphone
Map of nearby payphones here: http://overpass-turbo.eu/s/wCX
Generated from openstreetmap, so might be out of date/slightly incorrect, but hopefully still useful.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Tesco on Earl Grey St still had milks if anyone needs to lactically panic.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"because of extortionate house pricing"
Sure, but in order to get "value for money" housing a car is necessary in the majority of cases. Car free living only possible where there are decent public transport links, which rules out much of the suburban, dormitory and semi-rural commuter belt.
When kids arrived we could have joined the mass exodus of families to Barrattland in Fife or Midlothian, and purchased a 3 or 4 bedroom house with garage and garden for not much more than the cost of a flat in Edinburgh. That would have meant buying a car. We decided to stay in the city instead. Most folk wouldn't do that, but it's all about choices.
You pays your money and you takes your choice as the saying goes...
Posted 7 years ago # -
@ed1 I do not want to start a stampede but a delivery lorry has just made it to Scotmid in Balerno. Slight demarcation issue about unloading it - all staff frazzled by the public demanding they magic up stuff to panic buy.
Took oldest bike I have which was m original commuting bike down WoL path. Single lane of navigable compacted snow till Currie when carriageway widens. You lose concentration you are in the fluffy stuff.
Might be ok dependent on snowfall. Also if ices over will be Cresta Run.
Tyres are ancient but might have slime inside. I cannot remember.
Snow falling vertically now, this morning was horizontal east west
Posted 7 years ago # -
"Folk also live much further from place of work than they used to because of extortionate house pricing."
I'm not sure that Edinburgh has ever been affordable for people on average salaries. I bought my first flat in 1990 and Edinburgh was too expensive then. I remember looking at a studio flat in Gorgie that was £32K, a 1/3rd more than the £21K I could get on a (100%) mortgage starting out at the time.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"You pays your money and you takes your choice as the saying goes..."
Yep, not as simple as it seems.
Around the same time as we bought our 3 bed "bit of a split up victorian villa" here, a mate and his wife decided to move out - and bought a 4 bedroom brand new detached in Newtongrange for the same cash.
I understood his choice, he had twins and we only have one. However he does always have transport problems in this weather and a commute time that boggles my mind.
I have a number of friends who have variously lived in Livingston, Fife, Midlothian etc and have always been surprised at how expensive the properties actually are - given the lack of amenities (in my mind) compared to living in town.
IIRC correctly, council tax in West Lothian was more expensive than Edinburgh too.
Posted 7 years ago # -
“and have always been surprised at how expensive the properties actually are - given the lack of amenities (in my mind) compared to living in town”
There you have it, different people have different parameters/priorities.
One of mine has always been ‘don’t live too far from work’.
I’m not going to pretend I believe the housing ‘market’ is “efficient” or that people (always) get what they pay for.
We’ve had threads before suggesting that there are ‘more affordable’ houses in Edinburgh. Some are in areas that some people are reluctant to live in - school catchment areas being one factor.
In the context of this thread, living somewhere it’s hard to commute from is foolish BUT how many days of serious disruption have there been in the last ten years?
Posted 7 years ago # -
I know a Young fellow who commutes from Newtongrange to Livingston by bike every day. He is iron man type. Not the loveliest Commute.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"BUT how many days of serious disruption have there been in the last ten years?"
Hardly any. Last time I could not get into work because of weather was quite some time ago. IIRC it was high winds rather than snow. My commute is an inter-city rail journey. In 2010 snowmaggeddon trains were running a half service, but they were running fine.
Oh and drifting back further on topic, spotted a Land Rover ambulance on a call out in Abbeyhill colonies half an hour ago. Shows the weather is a bit exceptional just now.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Think it was 2010 I was still running then and ran into work down the middle of the road. No traffic, occasional bus but often I was between stop so ended up running all the way. We were based at chesser then though. The slush when the snow melts is far worse,
Posted 7 years ago # -
For all weather / all year longer commutes, buying an e-bike does not make you a 'bad person' - any more than owning a car makes you a 'bad cyclist'.
Out of town savings on property could be used to equip a household with something like a car replacement for one person - or if it was an easy to adjust model could be shared.Was thinking this when going up to Greenbank area to collect a stranded friend luggage. She resisted the temptation to stand on the rack! Her wheelie suitecase just couldn't cope and Uber would not come onto these side roads.
Nothing as bad as what @baldycyclist experienced but my multi-track solution with Steps was a whole lot of fun.Felt guilty though as I am fit enough to ride without electric but this way I had enough power to get through the slush walls onto quieter routes. Anyway I'm sure general public just sniggered while they trudged along the edges of roads with no taxis or buses in sight.
Future transport may have a place for this sort of 'non'bike thing. Better than a Sinclair C5 - honestly!
Energy used to build this is miniscule and you can hook two together so you could give someone a lift or bring a solo one up. A lot of fun... German design with Japanese electrics and gearing.
Todays cycle number was 64 when I went by. Not surprising as very heavy snow on path.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago #
-
How's the trike's steering in these conditions? On a standard two-wheeler tourer it's useful to be able to switch between standing-sitting pedalling and shifting weight forwards and backwards, depending on which wheel needs it.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@wingpig - with a differential a Hase centres pretty well. My demo is only single wheel drive at moment - albeit to a 60mm wider Big Apple on lower pressure.
On main roads you had to steer out of the effect of one wheel hitting a drifted bit. Quite safe and lot of fun really.
Worst bit was Tarvit Street where there is currently so much snow it really needed Winter tyres (I do have so may fit). Once through there it went along Gilmore at a fast lick and slalomed down Viewforth to shop.Posted 7 years ago # -
loving the pics
if i owned a trike id end up with 3 punctures!
Posted 7 years ago # -
@rider73
Trike tyre security. Like you I thought that would be an issue but not that bad. Then again you're higher mileage etcThere are more tyres to go wrong on a trike but each has a lesser load chance of pinch flat etc. Big Apples are tougher than you might think but on an e-trike you could run the heavier 47mm pluses as it's not your own energy solely making wheels go round.
The Hase is a bit Pashley-esque but doesn't overturn so easily!Posted 7 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
