Friday, January 20, 2012

Slip sliding away ...

I love Fridays.  Fridays find me in Halifax for the "Lunch Bunch Choir".  A drop-in choir of people who just love to sing.


After an invigorating singing session, followed by a coffee with friends, I returned to my car to find that it was snowing fairly heavily.  The snow was sticking to everything.

The view from inside my car.

Because the temperature was just at the freezing point,  the falling snow compacted on roadways, and compacted snow became ice.


I slowly puttered about town on a few errands.


All the while, the weather worsened, and the roads became more treacherous.  Traffic was at a crawl, wherever I went.  It was easy to take these pictures, as most of the time I was at a dead stop.

Look closely at the road in front of my car.
That is ice.

I had promised to pick up my daughter, at 5 o'clock at her work in Bedford.  I left downtown at 4 p.m., giving myself an hour to make a trip that usually takes 10 minutes.  I soon found the traffic was stop and go.
Actually, it was more like stop and stop traffic.  We would sit for 2-3 minutes, then move two car lengths, then sit for 2-3 minutes.


The following photos were taken while I was travelling at around 5 kph. Much of the time, my speedometer didn't even register that the car was moving!

Isn't the shiny, black ice pretty ?


In the end it took me almost two freakin' hours to cover around  12 km. !

I kid you not !


Once I reach Bedford, we had to turn around and head 25 km. back home, to Eastern Passage.

That half hour drive took well over an hour.

All told, I had spent OVER three hours, travelling about 35 km !

Pretty much the worst drive of my life.

Glad to be home, in my jim jams, and ready for bed.

'night.

Safe travels.

6 comments:

  1. Holy Moley Sybs! What a nightmare. Happened to me once here is sunny UK. It took me 8.5 hours to drive my usual 30 minute journey home from work. Another reason to be glad I've retired! Take care out there
    Vicky xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure glad I wasn't driving around Hfx. We were in Greenwood when the snow started to get heavy,and the road up the mountain wasn't that great.We got home safe, as I'm glad you did.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lynne, if there is a contest, you totally win ! 8.5 hours for a 30 minute journey. What a nightmare.

    Glad you got home safe and sound Bonnie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am trying to get out of the Upper Peninsula tomorrow and there are dire snow and freezing rain and wind warnings. Please no nightmares...

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is nothing pretty about black ice as far as I'm concerned - its way too dangerous. You still carried on driving through all of that? You deserve the GOOD MOTHER award. I hope your daughter appreciated it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. dearrosie, I got a "thanks" ... You mustn't encourage me, I'm still in the mommy martyr phase ...

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by. I really do love to read your comments.