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IT’S TRUE!
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Nursing slightly tender back from snow shovelling. Bend the knees.
Doubt cycling makes you more or less likely to shovel.
I go down the way to my elderly neighbour's and the crossing, I do this with the weeding too. Kept pavement clear after my shovelling caused tiny avalanches. But tend not to go up the way to my younger neighbour's.
We have the wee tractors. Indeed they made an ice wall we had to climb when going for a walk (where they stopped). Nothing like the very solid barriers that the road snow ploughs do.
Roads need cleared first so that the drivers who ignored the red warning can get to where they abandoned their vehicles?
You'd think, if they were more likely to shovel public snow, they'd also be more likely to brush glass off cycle paths, kick dog-sticks off cycle paths,trim back foliage and hoick away fallen branches.
I had a bad experience last time (2010) when I cleared a large section of our road (it's a small road where in theory pedestrians and drivers share access but these days drivers often roar down the 50m expecting peds to jump into gardens). None of the neigbours joined in but it was good exercise. Then the following days one of the grumpier neighbours growled at me when the clear section turned to black ice. This time he cleared a section but none one else did (and it's not iced up).
In Dalkeith there was quite a mix of council and volunteer clearing and a lot of sections with no clearing at all. The latter resulted in either very choppy snow (possibly after the snow plow) or smoothed down pretty skiddy snow. Neither ideal.
“when the clear section turned to black ice“
Unless temperature guaranteed to stay above freezing needs salt/grit too.
I guess that's where the council has the benefit unless there's a grit bin nearby
This Tweet is a sad reflection of people's transport priorities:
An observation from bungalopolis. The clearing of one's own drive as far as the road and then giving up.
https://twitter.com/cocteautriplets/status/970312209715867650
I agree with amir.
Clearing the pavement can often make things worse.
If you must clear the pavement:
- Put salt / grit down immediately afterwards. If salt / grit not available - DO NOT CLEAR
- Only clear a strip the width of a snow shovel, leaving a decent width of contiguous snow for sledges, cross-country skiers, etc.
Nothing is more annoying than having to get the children out of a sledge just to cross a 5m section of completely cleared pavement. (Repeat x number of times)
Also, if the cleared section does then ice, there is still the strip of snow to walk on
I did clear a large section of pavements to the school on our street - I am aware that there is some disagreement about this. I use a stiff brush after clearing to try and mitigate the black ice problem.
My thoughts are that now the snow is retreating, and the surfaces become icy and uneven they are really perilous for older folk - also for those of us that still have to take a buggy along with the older kids to school drop-off it is really handy not to have to push the buggy through the snow. I entirely agree about the strip rather than the entire pavement. Having cleared a strip of our side of the street, I then spent longer clearing the large chunks of ice into the gutter to allow the remaining snow strip to be passable too. I did get a row for shovelling snow (not ice) and hitting someone's car - I was not all that sympathetic.
It was fine to shovel snow yesterday afternoon as temps were rising and staying upo through the night. Otherwise I have used househld salt which is a bit of an expensive way of doing it but no grit bucket near me
I'll let you draw your own conclusions on this one - round where I stay in Currie, the majority of the pavements have at least a strip cleared in front of most, but not all, houses.
Driving down Ravelston Dykes yesterday, I noticed that there seemed to be no pavements cleared in front of any house for the whole length of the street - with the exception of the bits between driveway and road.
I did the whole area in front of my house, though didn't leave a strip of snow, my pavement isn't wide enough anyway. Although but the time I got round to it, the snow cover was compressed ice and clearing a shovel width wouldn't have been possible as it broke away in chunks. I did salt it though but given the temperatures it was a belts and braces.
Most of my street is uncleared, not even driveways. But the council sent a plow down to enable school access so I suspect most people walk on the road.
In the People's Republic of the Abbeyhill Colonies, we've cleared long strips of pavement. However, Holyrood Park is: totally clear for cars; horrible for pedestrians; pretty impossible for cyclists heading uphill. It crossed my mind this morning that a few people with shovels could clear the path in an evening. Any takers?
“Any takers?”
The thaw is on.
You could spend your time complaining to all and sundry.
Councillors and those who live/work by the Park, MSPs and the Queen!
Nice neighbours on one side cleared and gritted their section of the pavement. I did a strip in front of my place. By then it had thawed slightly so came up in slabs like home-made toffee. Sprinkled on some household salt afterward including some quite pricey sea-salt as had run out of the Asda kind.
Unfriendly neighbours on the other side did no snow clearing.
Meanwhile the garages on the other side of the street were doing a full clearance with hefty broom and a bin thing on wheels. They half buried a parked car in dirty snow.
chdot: That'll be happening too! I was quite grumpy this morning, pushing my bike uphill through slush while the cars rolled on by.
@c30c60 - I might manage to help this evening. Not sure on timing though, and would need to borrow a shovel.
Lots of selfish idle toads round where I stay in Greenbank. Clearing a small path to the car but nothing else. Parking up on Greenbank Drive (side street snowy thus making that essential car journey difficult) making the road there narrow. Neighbour and I cleared and salted our area and part of the street but nobody else bothered. In town there are stretches of Stafford Street which are covered in snow/slush/ice but offices have not bothered clearing. I think it used to be a by-law many years ago that you should clear the area outside your house/premises.
Frenchy: I've PM'd you.
" think it used to be a by-law many years ago that you should clear the area outside your house/premises."
In my case, upkeep of the footway outside the tenement is written into the title deeds (from C19th). Yet nobody did anything. I was fed up and did it myself.
Re: the clearing advice above, the trick is to do it mid-morning, and clear as thoroughly as possible any last bits of compacted snow. Even if temperatures are low, any afternoon sun will quickly remove lingering wetness )on tarmac at least). Then if it freezes overnight there is no problem with ice. No need to grit/salt if the clearing is thorough enough.
Lots of selfish idle toads round where I stay
same here
i expect they were all too busy gorging themselves on stockpiled bread and pizzas
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