We don't get deep snow, though for a flash fall my little town made the national news, but I live on a hill and the tiniest little patch of black ice on the path under the trees in the park and you're gone. My wife fell in the supermarket parking lot, on the flat, on her feet. No harm but I took a hint from on high. Also, a couple of years ago I had a lucky escape on black ice on a hill. I managed to get my feet on the road and my bike and I just slid backwards to where we could get purchase, and then I turned around and went home. But that little patch of black ice shortly put a bolshie motorist -- I stopped him to warn him and he shot off in a huff that anyone should question his driving skills -- in hospital, with a large Audi totalled.
Here's the kicker: After about three weeks inside, going stir crazy, I got around town this afternoon on my bike. Quite balmy, with clean dry roads. I got so hot in my normal gear for this season, I'm now sitting in my studio with the window open and wearing only a brushed cotton shirt... (Hello from Brisbane or Durban or Rio! Ireland in winter? Where's that?)
Andre Jute
Desert-born