Winter in garden and on the road

One Friday morning I was making breakfast in the kitchen, when I got text from a friend that said it had been snowing. And it had! So low down in the valley? I hadn't expected that. It wasn't very spectacular my altitude, though.

When I left for work, I walked the short stretch to the main road. That bit was slippery! But I figured that as soon as I would be on the road I would be fine. The traffic would get rid of the snow. And I was correct; on the road I was fine. And when I turned off to follow the bicycle path I was still fine.

All still ok

I had to go to Bangor. And the bicycle route takes you over the bicycle path all the way to the old quarry harbour, and then along the shore. I didn't want to take that route; towards the end, fences block your way at the moment, and you have to take some curbs to go around them. I'm not keen on curbs. So I peeled off a bit earlier; the bicycle path has a junction that brings you to the main road straight through campus. I took that. But it is less travelled. And when it went both uphill and around the corner, I hit a patch of ice and wiped out. It was a very elegant fall! No damage whatsoever to either me or the bike. And given the black ice, there wasn't even damage to my ego. I slithered my way to the road, and was fine then for a while. Until I hit the road going up to the Main Arts building. That is not very busy either. And that was also very slippery!

Oh dear

I had a meeting about a new scheme aimed at helping me and a few people in a similar situation with our Welsh language teaching. Jenny was there too; of course she had also come on bicycle. And she had also not managed to remain upright on the way there. Sian, my other Welsh tutor, had driven in, and fallen on her face on the parking lot. It really was that kind of day!

After the meeting I went to Menai Bridge. The bridge, that Jenny had already warned me about, was indeed very slippery. I almost managed to make it to the other side without incident. Until, that is, I got to the bit where it slopes back down on the Anglesey side. That was impossibly slippery! And there were roadworks going on there. One workman saw me slither around and offered to help. How his boots found purchase on the road is a mystery, but they did. With his help I managed to get back to the road on my feet.

I had lunch with Martin. He had his thoughts about how suitable the weather conditions were for biking around. And he offered me a ride home! And I thought about that for a bit and then accepted. I wasn't keen on doing any more wiping out. By the time I would be getting home, moisture on the roads might have started to refreeze again. And that would be a recipe for disaster.

Thanks to Martin I got home in comfort. And I knew the snow wouldn't be going anywhere in the coming days. I would have to make sure I was ready for it!