blast

We had a huge downpour of snow last Friday night, and the although there's been very little new white stuff coming down from the skies since, the sub-zero temperatures have made a welcome thaw nigh on impossible.

Although I don't live in Crosby anymore, I've done a few more chippy runs in the run-up to Christmas and the icy roads around the town make one take one's life in one's hands.

On Radio Merseyside there's been a debate on why so few, if any, of the roads between Crosby and Southport, all under the jurisdiction of Sefton Council, have been gritted - or not as the case may be?

Two of the major routes through Crosby - Moor Lane and Edge Lane - remain ice-rinks. Whereas most of the main routes through Liverpool are pretty clear.

I went up to Southport last night to drop some presents off at our kid's, and visit Mum. It was a fairly uneventful journey there and back to be honest - but it took double the time, and ten-times the concentration due to the icy conditions - to complete the journey.

I know councils can't cover absolutely every eventuality. But Sefton Council knew this snow was coming and did bog-all with their three (yes, just THREE) gritting lorries. I have reliable reports the gritters were just driving about to show their faces, yet weren't spreading any grit. The best rumour going about is Sefton Council SOLD their supply of rock salt during last summer to another authority. How mental is that?

The other side of the coin is once you get used to driving in the ice and snow, it can actually be quite a blast! Handbrake turns and gearbox braking are challenges I don't get to practice much. Anya has performed fantastically through this period - the slippery surfaces have presented little problem for my brilliant little Volkswagen.

Our street in Fazakerley is dreadfully bunged up with snow. Technically it should've been gritted as it's a bus route, but we must've been an oversight?

So although I'll be glad to see the back of the snow soon, part of me's gotten quite used this extreme weather. I didn't even feel that minus 17 in Crosby last week.

Probably because I wasn't there!