Driving on ice

oeb

Hey guys, I think it might be worth while to have a thread on driving on ice. Alot of people (myself included) don't have a whole lot of experience of it, and I know the roads down here in the South West are a bit deadly at the moment.

So, anyone here have any tips? I have been keeping the gear low and the speed down and leaving as much space as possible between myself and the car in front. Any time the car started sliding this morning I would accelerate out of it rather than trying to brake. Am I doing anything wrong?

It's great down here, the council grit the roads about 11am after everyone is gone to work/school.

Edit : I have decided to add other peoples good advice to the first post here so people can get it at a glance.

kbannon wrote: »

I think most of the time you will be driving on a clear road and come across patches of ice. You possibly have little chance of recovery if you are taken by surprise.
However, for driving on ice/snow, I think the advice is for a high gear (as high as practically possible) and low revs unless you are going uphill (where obviously you may need a low gear).
Avoid sudden sharp braking - ease the brakes in - which should be doable because you are driving slowly and keeping a safe distance from the car in front.
If you find yourself skidding then you should:
* stop braking (and if you really need to stop then reapply and continue until you get traction)
* steer into the skid


Get a 4*4!

Ferris wrote: »

Basics for driving on Ice:

-Leave extra time for journey and drive slowly.
-Increase the distance between you and the car in front.
-In sunshine beware of shadowed areas under trees/hedges, likely to be icy.
-If the car slides under braking pump the brakes (if you dont have abs which will do this)
-If the car slides under acceleration gently feather (ease off) the throttle and steer into the direction of the slide.

andrewh5 wrote: »

Avoid harsh accelleration and braking.
Never assume a road has been gritted.
If you start to skid, come off all power, go nowhere near the brakes and steer gently into the skid.

Remeber that black ice just looks like a wet road!

BrianD3 wrote: »

The idea is not to get into a skid in the first place rather than trying to accelerate, steer or brake your way out of one. Minimal and very gentle use of all controls. Slow right down. Leave a huge gap to the car in front, your stopping distance may be 10 times what it is in dry conditions.

Re: driving in as high a gear as possible. Bad idea a lot of the time as if you come onto any sort of downhill section the car will speed up and start to get away from you, you'll then need to use the controls to correct this. Most of the crashes I see in icy conditions are due to people letting cars run too fast down hill or approaching T junctions/roundabouts too fast. Combine the two (a downhill approach to a T junction with a main road) and you have great potential for fun and games.

In general hilly, uintreated roads should be avoided. Pick a different flatter route if possible

Because they're not insulated by the ground, bridges will generally get more frosty than the rest of the road. Concrete surfaces also seem to get more slippy than bitumen surfaces

During the day after a frosty night shaded areas may not thaw out as well as exposed areas. But at the same time shaded areas probably won't frost up during the night as much as exposed areas. So you need to watch out for both shaded and exposed parts.

listermint

oeb wrote: »

It's great down here, the council grit the roads about 11am after everyone is gone to work/school.

Council workers get out of bed before everyone else.... are you mad

i think your doing all the right things there

seamus

Keep the gear high when driving in ice afaik. Less torque - less slippage. Start in second instead of first if moving off on an icy/snowy road.

I haven't much experience with the whole thing, but for some reason accelerating out of a slide doesn't seem right to me as it will just cause your wheels to lose grip.

oeb

seamus wrote: »

Keep the gear high when driving in ice afaik. Less torque - less slippage. Start in second instead of first if moving off on an icy/snowy road.

I haven't much experience with the whole thing, but for some reason accelerating out of a slide doesn't seem right to me as it will just cause your wheels to lose grip.

The whole idea is spinning wheels allow for more traction than stationary ones.

TestTransmission

I had a bad spin this morning on the way to work,when I had to brake hard due to some impatient driver :mad:
Landed 2 inches from a wall,first time to ever happen me...wasnt the nicest experience.

Seth Brundle

I think most of the time you will be driving on a clear road and come across patches of ice. You possibly have little chance of recovery if you are taken by surprise.
However, for driving on ice/snow, I think the advice is for a high gear (as high as practically possible) and low revs unless you are going uphill (where obviously you may need a low gear).
Avoid sudden sharp braking - ease the brakes in - which should be doable because you are driving slowly and keeping a safe distance from the car in front.
If you find yourself skidding then you should:
* stop braking (and if you really need to stop then reapply and continue until you get traction)
* steer into the skid


Get a 4*4!

Ferris

oeb wrote: »

Hey guys, I think it might be worth while to have a thread on driving on ice. Alot of people (myself included) don't have a whole lot of experience of it, and I know the roads down here in the South West are a bit deadly at the moment.

Great idea for a thread - might end up with too much info.

Basics for driving on Ice:

-Leave extra time for journey and drive slowly.
-Increase the distance between you and the car in front.
-In sunshine beware of shadowed areas under trees/hedges, likely to be icy.
-If the car slides under braking pump the brakes (if you dont have abs which will do this)
-If the car slides under acceleration gently feather (ease off) the throttle and steer into the direction of the slide.

Can't think of any more

Seth Brundle

Watch & Learn!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDrjP94bJIY

(in fairness they have studded tyres)

andrewh5

Look well ahead especially for areas in shade as there may be ice patches there when the rest of the road is ok.
Avoid harsh accelleration and braking.
Never assume a road has been gritted.
If you start to skid, come off all power, go nowhere near the brakes and steer gently into the skid.

Remeber that black ice just looks like a wet road!

John Mason

this should be taught as part of the driving test.

i didnt drive this morning because the road were like glass around my place, i have no idea how to drive on ice

thanks for the advice. i will be emailing this around

--amadeus--

oeb wrote: »

Any time the car started sliding this morning I would accelerate out of it rather than trying to brake. {[UOTE]

Not a great idea to hit the gas TBH - ice on roads is often patchy and if you have the wheels spinning hard on ice and suddenly get traction then who knows where you'll wind up!

Road diving on ice isn't like racing or rally driving where you powerslide to keep pointing in the right direction. As has been said keep all inputs very gentle and very smooth and if you do start to slide then steer into the skid and use gentle dabs of throttle or brake as required. And preventative maintenance is vital as you head into winter: good tires = better traction!

peasant

kbannon wrote: »

Get a 4*4!

just on that note ...a 4x4 on ice isn't necessarily an advantage.

Yes, it may loose traction a fraction later than a 2WD, but when it does it usually goes over all four wheels and is a lot harder to get out of a slide as the inertia in the drive train keeps all four wheels blocked. You then need a good, ice free patch to get traction back.

craichoe

You don't drive on Ice, period, if theres no Friction then theres no control.

Don't bother chancing it, try to stay at home, or get a Tram/Train to work.

seamus

oeb wrote: »

The whole idea is spinning wheels allow for more traction than stationary ones.

Not exactly, it depends on circumstances. There's a thing called the "friction coefficient" which is a measure of the amount of force required to initially overcome the force of friction. We've all experienced this when we're trying to push or pull something heavy - the initial push is the toughest, after that it's easier to move.

In terms of tyres, imagine you park a car facing up a steepish icy hill. With the car stopped, it may not move on the ice, the force of gravity is not enough to overcome the friction coefficient. However, if you hit the pedal and spin the wheels, you overcome the friction coefficient (and melt the ice under the wheels) and you may start sliding backwards. In this case spinning wheels have less grip than static ones.

How this works in a moving situation though I'm not too sure, I'm not an engineer.

BrianD3

Any time the car started sliding this morning I would accelerate out of it rather than trying to brake

As already stated, this is not a great strategy (unless your name is Sebastien Loeb )

The idea is not to get into a skid in the first place rather than trying to accelerate, steer or brake your way out of one. Minimal and very gentle use of all controls. Slow right down. Leave a huge gap to the car in front, your stopping distance may be 10 times what it is in dry conditions.

Re: driving in as high a gear as possible. Bad idea a lot of the time as if you come onto any sort of downhill section the car will speed up and start to get away from you, you'll then need to use the controls to correct this. Most of the crashes I see in icy conditions are due to people letting cars run too fast down hill or approaching T junctions/roundabouts too fast. Combine the two (a downhill approach to a T junction with a main road) and you have great potential for fun and games.

In general hilly, uintreated roads should be avoided. Pick a different flatter route if possible

Because they're not insulated by the ground, bridges will generally get more frosty than the rest of the road. Concrete surfaces also seem to get more slippy than bitumen surfaces

During the day after a frosty night shaded areas may not thaw out as well as exposed areas. But at the same time shaded areas probably won't frost up during the night as much as exposed areas. So you need to watch out for both shaded and exposed parts.

biko

Steer in the direction you want the car to go.
Any sudden movement of the front wheel will cause them to slip.
Just calmly steer and release accelerator.
Small pumping motions on the brakes.

Ice_Box

A friend of mine once told be that he switched off the traction control on his car when a few flakes of snow started hitting the windscreen as they told him in the garage to “switch it off in snow”. He said he didn’t notice any difference. I used to think he was a clever man.

If you have ESP / traction control on your car then DO NOT switch it off. Switching off ESP does not make the car go faster. ESP stops you from hitting ditches and other cars and pedestrians. IF you approach an icy bend in the road, ESP will detect a skid and it will apply brakes automatically. If you are turning left then it will apply the brakes only on the left hand side of the car which will pull you safely around the bend. Check out youtube for some examples of ESP.

If you get stuck going up a hill due to heavy snow on the ground then maybe you could switch it off there for a few minutes as the ESP can get a bit over excited and stop the car moving completly. Just make sure you switch it on again once you get going.

On top gear they regularly switch off ESP when going around a track. This is fine as you may want a bit of understeer and oversteer or maybe you want to do donuts or something. You do not want this to happen around an icy public road. I remember Clarkson once said he would never ever switch off traction control on a public road.

Drummerboy2

I seen the aftermath of 5 different accidents on the M1 between Dublin and Drogheda yesterday morning. In one incident a woman was being cut from her car while her children were receiving oxygen in the back seat. Very sad. But whats really annoying is that there were people flying along in the outside lane despite the conditions. Lunatics.

mickdw

Driving in snow requires the use of a certain amount of good sense and concentration as a start point. Its no good going along on the phone or messing with cds etc. You need to concentrate,concentrate concentrate.
All the stuff mentioned above from using low revs to keeping huge distance between cars is of course right but there are other things which I would add.
There is an argument for using low gear and lots of revs in certain conditions. One such condition would be on slush in my opinion. When on this surface, if the wheels are just rolling over this loose wet snow they will not push through it to the grip on the road, whereas with revs and wheel spin, you will get much more feel or whats happening and you will get the tyre onto the road surface.(front drive moreso) You should be able to realise fairly fast when this is a suitable style to use. It is certainly not to be used on hard ice or on deep snow.
In general, brake in straight lines before the corner. Most people say dont brake but you will certainly get a feel for the road if you brake in a straight line well before the corner. you will know if there is any grip or not. I guess a certain standard of driving is required to drive like this as the car may break away for a second if the grip was poor but it does keep you in touch with what the road is like. Obviously get off the brake if the car goes away from you.

R.O.R

Drummerboy2 wrote: »

I seen the aftermath of 5 different accidents on the M1 between Dublin and Drogheda yesterday morning. In one incident a woman was being cut from her car while her children were receiving oxygen in the back seat. Very sad. But whats really annoying is that there were people flying along in the outside lane despite the conditions. Lunatics.

Herself was on the way back from tha Airport to Drogheda yesterday morning (about 10 ish I think) and got stuck in a huge tailback because of the accidents on the M1. She said most of the cars involved were pointing in directions that cars really shouldn't be pointing in.

Black Ice? If so, why the hell wasn't it gritted? Wasn't as though it was a surprising cold snap!

peasant

The thing with driving on ice is that you can't, really.

If you put a car on an ice rink, you may just about manage to get it moving, but as soon as you give it some steering input, step hard on the gas or on the brakes it's going to slide uncontrollably and unretrievably until it either hits something or stops by itself.

So if the roads out there are solid ice ...don't even think about it.

If you hit an icy patch, the trick is to remove all forces off the wheels that would cause them to lock up. You need the wheels to be rolling to find traction again.

So ...no hard braking, no hard steering, no hard acceleration. Gently, gently does it. Sometimes you may even have to hit the clutch to take the engine (braking) force off the wheels so that they may find some traction.

But gently gently only works if you weren't going at a high speed in the first place ..so read the road, be prepared for the worst and drive accordingly.

Quazzie

I had a full 360 spin this morning, and it was on the straightest section of my drive to work. Scary as hell. I thought when I first left my house it was gonna be fun and I was drifting around in my estate. The back road to work was 10 times worse though for some reason.

After the spin I was worried I'd have to go back over it all again to go home and change my boxers!!!:eek: Luckily I didn't:cool:

kayos

Many years ago when I was learning to drive I thought my father had a death wish when one very icy Christmas day he took me out to teach me the basics of driving in icy weather. Nerve racking exp but it really did stand to me since. His tips where high gear, low revs, light on the feet and light with the hands.

I wish they would start using available tech and introduce a driving simulator section where they could teach and test people on these rare-ish but important situations to know how to handle.

As for the roads not getting gritted till after 11, I was on the road and was stuck behind a gritter at around 6am….and had a tailgater up my ass while stuck behind it…. Some people really need a slapping with the way they drive at the best of times but in the worst they need to have the car taken from them.

Steve

The top three most important things to remember on ice are:

1. you have no brakes.
2. you can't steer.
3. you have no brakes.

All good advice given so far, one thing I'd like to add is if you do go over a patch of black ice, you are pretty much a passenger until you come out the far side and regain some grip. Don't try to steer while still in the ice, this can cause a violent swerve when you do regain grip.

Best advice to anyone new to it is find a quiet road and practice driving and manoeuvring without using any brakes. Use gears and clutch to control speed. Imagine you are driving with a nearly full glass of water on the dashboard and you aren't allowed to spill any (in fact you can try this but use some cling film over the top to stop spills)

As was said, brake always in a straight line well before a corner, I usually brake to the point of skidding to test grip levels well before I need to.


edit: Just to add: In Dublin, they seem to grit / salt the night before if any frost is expected, maybe it's different around the country though.

GreeBo

mickdw wrote: »

There is an argument for using low gear and lots of revs in certain conditions. One such condition would be on slush in my opinion. When on this surface, if the wheels are just rolling over this loose wet snow they will not push through it to the grip on the road, whereas with revs and wheel spin, you will get much more feel or whats happening and you will get the tyre onto the road surface.(front drive moreso)

Would just driving slowly (20kph or less) with low torque not make more sense? Why would you want to have spinning wheels in wet, slushly, icy conditions?

e.g If I need to walk across an ice rink in normal shoes I will walk as slowly as possible, with my feet as flat as possible. If I have skates on then I can do what I want.
Driving in a normal car on public roads is me with shoes on. Private roads/track with equipped car is the time for spinning wheels etc IMO.
Im not trying to win, Im trying to survive.

Boots2006

Ice_Box wrote: »

A friend of mine once told be that he switched off the traffic control on his car when a few flakes of snow started hitting the windscreen as they told him in the garage to “switch it off in snow”. He said he didn’t notice any difference. I used to think he was a clever man.

The reason for switching off ABS in snow is that it allows the wheels to lock up, and dig into the snow, the snow backing up in front of the wheels will stop the car faster. I reckon you'd need 2 or 3 inches of snow for it to work.

If the ABS is left on, it will not lock the wheels, and it will take longer to stop (but you'll be able to steer in the meantime).

Either way, if I had ESP on the car, no way would I be switching it off in icy weather!

pburns

craichoe wrote: »

You don't drive on Ice, period, if theres no Friction then theres no control.

Don't bother chancing it, try to stay at home, or get a Tram/Train to work.

Are you a student?
Don't think this is practical in the real world.

Just got to reduce speed and be REALLY gentle with applying power, steering inputs etc. No need to crawl at 5mph though, some nervous ninnies really SHOULD stay home in bed - they cause an obstruction. As as someone said concentrate, concentrate, concentrate - it's quite draining actually.

I have 4wd car but to be honest it doesn't seem drastically stickier than a FWD - maybe I'm wary of becoming overconfident with it.

kluivert

Soem great advice there. Here is my 2 cents.

If its really frosty and icey out this weekend, get yourself down to an empty car park industrial park or somewhere off the road with loads of space.

Warning: Make sure the place is empty or your no where near any other cars and people.

1. Drive the car in different gears, get a feel how the car losing grip under acceleration.
2. Drive up to 30mph and brake hard and feel how the car re-acts.
3. Try a couple of hand brake turns, again learning how the car re-acts. As the back end swings out, counter steer into the skid to straighten it up.

There is no practical point in people learning what to do because when it happens and it happens very quickly, it can be hard to remember what to do, so imo practice practice practice.

I done this morning in the car park at work, its a massive warehouse car park mainly for lorries loading, so there was planty of room, I was glad i spent ten minutes throwing the car around the icey car park learning what its like to lose control.

I think this should be made mandatory in the driving lesson, go to Mondello for a Saturday and get shown how to control the car properly.

They do it in Sweden and actually looks great fun, they start learning at 16.

Please do not act like an ass doing dough nuts and hand brake turns. I mean this from an educating point of view.

peasant

Is this the time to show this again?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-roeYQPscSc

I think it is

craichoe

pburns wrote: »

Are you a student?
Don't think this is practical in the real world.

Just got to reduce speed and be REALLY gentle with applying power, steering inputs etc. No need to crawl at 5mph though, some nervous ninnies really SHOULD stay home in bed - they cause an obstruction. As as someone said concentrate, concentrate, concentrate - it's quite draining actually.

I have 4wd car but to be honest it doesn't seem drastically stickier than a FWD - maybe I'm wary of becoming overconfident with it.

No
I'm not a bloody student, but i have seen a 32 car pile up on a motorway due to ice, if theres no friction then a 4 wheel drive will make NO DIFFERENCE. Ice is Ice, if your on it your wheels do not have friction with the road surface. Snow is a different matter.

So i'll say it again, if POSSIBLE you should not drive in conditions whereby you cannot maintain control of your vehicle and when you hit ice you have no control, period, you'd be better off in a Hovercraft.

Biro

oeb wrote: »

The whole idea is spinning wheels allow for more traction than stationary ones.

No, that's not true. If you're in a FWD car, which most people are, then the most likely scenario is understeer in icy conditions. Stepping on the accellerator is the worst action you could take as you'll completely eliminate any grip under the front wheels. Similarly, braking would be counter productive at worst. Careful use of the steering is the best plan of action, steering into the skid then carefully out until you change direction. However, often you're a passenger in ice anyway so most of your actions are half chance.
If you're in a RWD car and are understeering then applying some gentle acceleration may kick the back of the car around a bit more for you, but it's chancy and shouldn't be attempted unless you're used to kicking your car sideways in wet conditions on a roundabout!
If you're in snow, then if you have no ABS then locking the front wheels can be the best thing as they'll gather snow in front of them which will eventually slow you down. If you have ABS then you're not going to stop in a hurry, so don't go quickly! High a gear possible is key.
Remember, if the conditions are that bad then don't go to work. If you think "I have to go to work" and chance it and crash, the end result is you didn't make it to work and your car is now broken and will cost you a fortune, or worse - you may be killed or kill someone.
Also worth noting that there are many plebs out there that are of 2 groups. A - the type who have no idea of the seriousness of the conditions, and B - the type who think they are a cut above and can control anything. Luck is the only thing keeping them out of the ditch. When you meet these just pull in and let them by.

Biro

Boots2006 wrote: »

The reason for switching off ABS in snow is that it allows the wheels to lock up, and dig into the snow, the snow backing up in front of the wheels will stop the car faster. I reckon you'd need 2 or 3 inches of snow for it to work.

If the ABS is left on, it will not lock the wheels, and it will take longer to stop (but you'll be able to steer in the meantime).

Either way, if I had ESP on the car, no way would I be switching it off in icy weather!

You can't switch off ABS on any car.

Biro

biko wrote: »

Steer in the direction you want the car to go.
Any sudden movement of the front wheel will cause them to slip.
Just calmly steer and release accelerator.
Small pumping motions on the brakes.

Don't do this with ABS.

Slig

4x4 doesnt work so great on the icy corners, helps on the straights but you seem to lose all traction when the steering turns. Dont brake or accelerate going downhill, select lowest gear and make sure there is nothing in front

galwaytt

craichoe wrote: »

Don't bother chancing it, try to stay at home, or get a Tram/Train to work.

meanwhile, back on earth..............:rolleyes::rolleyes:









btw, best thing for ice, outside of my old urquattro, this a.m. was.........having an automatic ! ! gently, gently, tippy-toe, tippy-toe - car 'adjusts' to suit.

Steerpike

craichoe wrote: »

You don't drive on Ice, period, if theres no Friction then theres no control.

Don't bother chancing it, try to stay at home, or get a Tram/Train to work.

Sadly, it's not an option for many in this country.

Quazzie

Damn I knew I should've gotten that tram that goes past my house....

...in Offaly

public transport is crap for most of the country

mumhaabu

This morning was fairly bad down my way so I took out the RWD Auto and it was a complete different experience. I kept the revs low and never had to touch a brake at all due to the automatic tranny. I then came on a slope where FWD cars were rising steam as the wheels spun and spun for traction to now avail. I accelerated slightly and the car crawled up the hill with ease. RWD cars really are very best and I doubt if I'd go FWD again.

cancan

Biro wrote: »

You can't switch off ABS on any car.

You can.
It's very complicated.
Pull fuse.

ABS leads to slower stopping times in snow.
In ice, it's a mixed bag.

Vain

Drove on some very bad roads this morning, my first ever time on ice. I just kept in the highest gear as possible and drove only 60kph was half an hour late for work but at least i got there with out anything happing. What shocks me most is stupid people passing out and driving up peoples rear end in this weather, AA road watch were warning people about the road i was driving on and yet with out fail they were people driving right up behind cars and passing out. The best tip i can give is stay well back from the car in front and use high gears and drive slow,

PattheMetaller

Watch out for the type of surface on the road. A surface dressed section would give you greater confidence than a smooth bituminous surface; the bituminous surfaces tend to have colder road temps than surface dressed. Doesn't mean a lack of ice though. That and shaded areas.

The local authorities use the met office and a series of weather stations along national routes linked to a computer when deciding to call out gritters. They can get it wrong though.

ShadowHearth

Well i had some fun today, had to turn off ESP just to get miving. Was unreal, car was parked near small hill.

rear wheel drive did not helped me alot aswell. I thought i will drop car and just get a taxi . But after i gone on major roads, it was not that bad, just had ESP flashing time from time

Back in lithuania, we have 2 sets of tyres, winter and summer ones. So winter ones have small spikes in them. Maybe we will need them here soon aswell . Tempretures are not that worm here lately .

endplate

My last car Golf the manual said to switch off the ASR in snow. I think it's a good idea to switch it off as it gives full control to the driver. The last thing you want going around a icy corner is electronic interference activating the brakes which could cause an accident.

Best thing is drive slow leave loads of room no sudden actions ie steering brakes throttle etc and keep in as high as gear as possible safe driving everyone

Steerpike

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Well i had some fun today, had to turn off ESP just to get miving. Was unreal, car was parked near small hill.

rear wheel drive did not helped me alot aswell. I thought i will drop car and just get a taxi . But after i gone on major roads, it was not that bad, just had ESP flashing time from time

Back in lithuania, we have 2 sets of tyres, winter and summer ones. So winter ones have small spikes in them. Maybe we will need them here soon aswell . Tempretures are not that worm here lately .

That's the thing here, ShadowHearth - the climate is such that it hardly justifies having two sets of tyres. How would those spikey tyres be in normal conditions?

cancan

Steerpike wrote: »

That's the thing here, ShadowHearth - the climate is such that it hardly justifies having two sets of tyres. How would those spikey tyres be in normal conditions?

Winter tyres don't have to be spiked.

And your normal tyres are not being used while the winters are on, so it really costs you nothing, as you are not wearing your normal tyres.

Try explaining that to the average motorist though.................

They'd rather drive around on a set of low profile nankangs through a blizzard, rather that buy a proper set of tyres...

There should be a winter tyre law - would save many lives.....

bmcgrath

craichoe wrote: »

You don't drive on Ice, period, if theres no Friction then theres no control.

Don't bother chancing it, try to stay at home, or get a Tram/Train to work.

Easy knowing you live in the city!!

Ever heard of the countryside???

peasant

bmcgrath wrote: »

Easy knowing you live in the city!!

Ever heard of the countryside???

The man does have a point though.

If it is really icy (i.e. black ice) the risks are very high. If not staying at home, at least don't put yourself under pressure and take it very, very easy ...stop for a while if needs be ...it may thaw.
Take the long way round that is likely to be gritted ...ring in, say you will be late.

I' m sure your boss will understand.

bmcgrath

peasant wrote: »

The man does have a point though.

If it is really icy (i.e. black ice) the risks are very high. If not staying at home, at least don't put yourself under pressure and take it very, very easy ...stop for a while if needs be ...it may thaw.

I' m sure your boss will understand.

Hah!
But lets say we had a week or two of frost...
"Hey boss I'm not going to work til it gets warm again..."

I can't see that working at all. Life has to go on.

galwaytt

I think we should all Protest !!

Yep, we should all get on to Gormless/40Watt and formally complain that the Green's have singularly misled us on the issue of global...warming..

Warm, my arse !

peasant

bmcgrath wrote: »

Hah!
But lets say we had a week or two of frost...
"Hey boss I'm not going to work til it gets warm again..."

I can't see that working at all. Life has to go on.

It doesn't usually freeze for days on end, does it?

bmcgrath

peasant wrote: »

It doesn't usually freeze for days on end, does it?

Hence I said "But lets say we had a week or two of frost..."
I didn't say that it does freeze for days. We all know it never gets that cold here for a long period of time.