Hello all,
Like most people, I have been appalled at the councils lack of gritting the roads that many would class as "dangerous". They say they have ran out, yet they're quite happy to lend the neighboring councils a few tens of tonnes here and there when they run out...
Anyway, today me and a friend were getting sick of the ice, as again most people are. His Mum suggested we take action on the ice at least outside the house as she has consistent problems every morning trying to get up the road, and it is a 1 in 5 gradient. Going down is no good as she still has to come back up one of the roads parallel and they're no better. So, me and my friend had a brainwave and took it upon ourselves to go down to the beach (a minutes walk from his house) with his Dads bicycle and trailer, and shovel sand into it to bring back up to his road.
Sand might not have the salt content we need to melt the snow, but it sure as hell gives a lot of grip in comparison to none being there. It was amazing how many people thanked us and praised us for the idea, and even more so praised us for thinking of the idea and doing it without incentive from the council! We spent 4 hours this afternoon and 2 trips to pick up about 80KG of sand both times, to almost completely sand the 250 yard long road. Around 8 people said their thanks to us, and 2 of those took the effort to actually come out of their houses to thank us.
We also helped two people get their vehicles going again after they got stuck using the sand and on our way to get the sand, we used broken off Christmas tree branches. Worked a treat.
Since I drove to my friends house on the way home I tested its effectiveness and it was one hell of a difference. Just earlier that day I almost slid on the ice at the bottom of the road into some parked cars because the wheels locked so easily. Now they don't lock quite as easily and allow you to stop in a safer way.
So, if sand works, why haven't our local council got their trucks and some diggers and gone down onto the sand to "harvest" it in the grit shortage? There are hundreds of thousands of tonnes down there totally un-used! They need to get their act together and get it sorted. It's ******* a LOT of people off now and the council have done very little to sort it.
You know, they actually went around gritting roads that were perfectly clear the last 2 days? Yep... Makes little sense. Yes it might be to keep the ice away but I think it would be wiser to concentrate on gritting roads where people are finding it difficult to get up. I also think ALL hills or roads on a gradient should be gritted as priority like the bus routes. They have no excuse. We know they have grit because they keep lending it out.
Anyway, I've done my good deed for the day. We intend to re-do it tomorrow if necessary, but we'll see how it goes.
I suggest anyone else near the beach who has the methods of doing so help sand the bad roads in their local area too. You might save some people a lot of hassle, as we did today.
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