This is rather embarrassing. With just a few inches of snow on the ground, we are effectively snowed-in at our house. Over the past week or so, Durham has been hit with rather severe amounts of snow for this region. Compared to back home, in the heart of lake effect snowland (Berrien County, MI USA), the snowfall here is nothing. But, in a land that is unprepared for snow that actually sticks on the ground, an inch or two can wreak serious havoc. We’ve laughed at all the crazy Brits and their inability to drive or otherwise negotiate a little snow over the past couple of weeks. Little did we know that a small amount would stop us in our tracks too.
Today was supposed to be the kid’s first day back at school after the Christmas break. Some snow and ice fell during the night, but it only accumulated about 3-4 inches where we live. As a family, we went downstairs, brushed off the car, and started to drive to school. The car park (= “parking lot” in American English) was a mess, as it hasn’t been plowed or shoveled at all this winter, but we’ve had no problems driving in it so far. I must say I was quite surprised to find so much difficulty in backing out of my parking space… but, eventually, we backed out and started heading for the road. We didn’t get far.
The small road just outside our parking lot hasn’t been plowed either. It’s a mess of slush, snow and ice with a gentle incline heading toward the crystal clear main road. With the condition it’s currently in, we had no chance to make it up the hill and out. So, we struggled with trying to get the car back into a reasonable parking space. That was a chore, too. In all, we wasted over an hour trying to get out, but had no luck.
I contacted my college to ask them to come plow. I guess that’s up to the County Council, and we’re very low on the priority list (though we have seen the adjacent hospital parking lot plowed 4 times in the last 3 days!). I also asked for some snow shovels. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for a shovel to arrive… but it’s no snow shovel. Instead of a nice wide shovel designed for removing snow, this is a simple square point shovel… it’ll take a long time to clear this parking lot out with that!
Anyways, it’s not a good day. I have been able to get some work done, but it’s hard to accomplish certain things when you’re stuck in at home. Austin has said that he wants to move to Florida, but I’m not keen on that idea. Luckily, the winters here are normally mild and the sun has finally come out today. I hope the snow melts enough that we can get the car out tomorrow.
Here are some photos of the situation:
Our car park this morning. Not much snow, but it’s almost impossible to move in that, especially with those small cars and tiny tires.
The County-maintained road. Nothing’s been plowed or salted all winter long.
Our tiny little car (the white one), which we had to have pushed back into a parking space, since the car simply wouldn’t move. I hope we didn’t damage the clutch or transmission with trying to make it move this morning.
Traci trying to shovel the sidewalk outside our building. I guess that’s what they call a “snow shovel” here. I’m not sure why Reagan is about to tackle her.
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Darrell J. Rohl BSc (Hons) (Andrews), MA (Dunelm): I'm a PhD candidate in 
Ugh, I remember how Durham never bothered to salt anything; it was absolutely ridiculous! Even though I am rather used to walking on snow and ice, I nearly wiped out too many times to count last winter. I don’t know how those slick paving stones don’t take more lives…
We’ve had snow falling since last night, but it’s not really all that cold, which means it’s melting fairly quickly and there is really more of a slippery slush on the ground than ice. Lots of schools closed here, too, but I don’t think it looks that bad and I’ve seen people out walking and driving without too much difficulty. And it’s due to let up in the early morning hours–thank goodness for that, since I have to go to London tomorrow!
Thanks for the comment, Elizabeth. We actually have a decent amount of accumulation. I went out and shoveled in the car park for a bit, and of the compact snow that’s been driven on repeatedly, we have at least 6 inches… it would certainly be more than that otherwise. I spent about an hour shoveling our car out. Had it nice and clean and drove the car out of the car park for about 1/2 hour only to find that someone had taken my spot. Now, I’m parked on top of the big icy, slushy mess again! The car is staying put for today… will have to see if we can get out tomorrow. The snow is falling pretty steadily once again.