22.11.2024 Well, that was stupid!

 ~o~

  Friday 22nd 31F/0C. Breezy, overcast and snowing steadily. Perhaps 2cm of new snow lying after it mostly vanished yesterday.

 Up at 7.50 after a "busy" night. Topping up the fire bucket at hourly intervals. My own fault for having a small beer followed by coffee after dinner. Will He never learn? 🙄

 I need to shop but don't want to risk driving on snow again. Not even into the village. The problem is not my driving slowly and carefully. It is being caught by speeding traffic on winter tires. Then being pushed along by tailgaters. As occurred yesterday.

 There were several cars and vans driving at "normal" speeds 80kph/50mph + on snow covered roads yesterday. While I thought 40-60kph/25-40mph was much safer given the minimal adhesion of my Hankook tires. It wasn't the driving but touching the brakes. Or attempting lower gears which quickly found my limits of grip. So I used engine braking and stayed in top gear to minimize the risk. 

 I haven't ridden the e-bike on lying snow.  Though I have ridden in falling snow on my way back from the city. Thus I have no useful data on tire grip. Which is normally superb on wet or dry roads. There is other road traffic to contend with. While I would be riding at a low speed. Increasing the risk to them and myself.

 I could ride the trike but it needs work to put the dropped [racing] handlebars back on. I changed the stem to fit the straight bars but all the cables were far too short. I could ride it, as it was, but that means stretching to reach the hoods. Not insurmountable for such a short ride but uncomfortable. 

 I have ridden many miles on snow but would usually pull off when traffic approached from the rear. Not always easy when the snow ploughs have raised a ridge right in the cycle lane. There are no cycle lanes or paths on the road to the village. So I would be forced out into the traffic lane. With very few options to pull off.

 Or I could walk to the village. It's 5km or three miles away to the supermarkets at the bottom of town. About an hour each way in these difficult conditions. Fifty minutes walk on dry roads. I have high visibility jackets and will give the traffic lots of room to pass safely. As I do under normal conditions on my walks. I'd wear my winter walking boots. No problem walking on snow. As I have done so often in the past. 

 Getting in the way of traffic. Or demanding my bit of the road. Could easily push them beyond their safe driving skills. Particularly on slippery roads. So I need to be able to hop onto the verge. There should be little traffic in these conditions. Even less mid morning. I'll walk along the drive to the road. To check road conditions.

 I don't have a rucksack. Though I could take normal [cloth] shopping bags and hope to find a rucksack in the charity shop. To get home more easily once laden. There are usually kids school rucksacks for sale but larger models are harder to find on a chance visit. I could look in as I pass on my way down to the shops. Then shop appropriately. 

 I have just remembered. I have the yellow PVC duffel bag from the trike. It has a shoulder strap. So would be easier to use for shopping. No, it is heavy and the shoulder strap was removed years ago. To fix the bag more neatly on the trike rack. The tape handles will be filthy after years of being wrapped around the trike. So would ruin my bright yellow/green jacket.

 Now I have found the sports bag. Which I bought to carry my clothes to the city for my visit. Grey, so not high visibility, but my jacket will still be seen. The bag is light and roomy. So I can fit plastic carrier bags in there. To stop things moving about and protect things from the wet. It has a sensibly wide shoulder strap too. I'll probably walk. 

 I walked the 200m to the road. Which  doesn't look ploughed or salted. Only the traffic causing the usual darker ruts in the lying now. The wind was driving the snow into my face. Making it uncomfortable without shielding glasses. I'll need my waterproof trousers too.  I'll leave after morning coffee. I left a 10.30. Just a salting lorry passed. Though it had no snow shovel on the front.

 Walking to the village was one my most unfortunate decisions. Not because of the distance. Or even the weight of shopping I brought back. The problem was that Danish drivers on autopilot don't recognize pedestrians. I was repeatedly sprayed from head to toe with filthy slush. As numerous drivers drove through the ridge of filth. Had they kept to the dark lanes of clear road it wouldn't have mattered. The spray there was minimal. 

 Being splattered by wet slush was an entirely other matter! I retreated to the back of the verge as each vehicle approached. This was enough for most drivers to stay in lane. Too many, however, chose to swerve wide. So that I was splattered yet again! 

 The first time it happened I had my coat open because I was too warm. So my jumper was wet through to my t-shirt. My hands were wet too. So I couldn't put them back into my gloves. So my hands were frozen and getting worse. As the wind blew across the snow covered fields.

 I should have driven there. Or even ridden the e-bike. Two scooters and a moped passed. They seemed to be doing okay. There were no rucksacks in the charity shop. Not that it mattered. I swapped shoulders with the strap at intervals. It snowed, rained and sleet fell going in both directions. 

 Only one in 100 of the houses with pavements outside had cleared them of snow by 11.30. The time I arrived at the village. Perhaps twice that number were cleared by 13.00. It is a legal requirement to keep the pavements clear. Just as it is a legal requirement to keep below the speed limits. If they fitted speed cameras widely in Denmark. They could repay the national debt for most of Europe in under a year. Judging by the vast number of home owners, not clearing their pavement, a hefty fine should be introduced. Presently a measly 150-200 kroner. Somewhere around £16-22 British pounds equivalent. 

 Dinner was cheese on toast. It was overdone trying to get the tomatoes to cook.

    

 

 ~o~