Snow Keep Coming

Most Aberdonian thought that today will be sunny ... at least that was the weather forecast. The forecast was actually accurate but only in the morning. By afternoon the sun started to disappear and the snow returns with a vengeance! 

Morning sun

Afternoon snow

Empty car park in the evening 

Most people left left the office when there were still daylight. That was the same time when it was still snowing so the road outside my office turned into a "parking lot". Cars were barely moving. Though things could get worse at night - more snow or road becomes icy - I decided to stay back and continue working. That was the right decision indeed. By the time I drove home, the roads were clear of snow and there was very few cars on the road. The funny thing was ... it rained along the way ... sunny, snow and rain in one day - this is Aberdeen!

More Snow

Morning view in front of our house

Second day of snow in Aberdeen. This time it was heavy snow during the morning rush hour. Took me a while to remove all the snow from my car. The road within the housing area was not ploughed or gritted but that's OK because it's on flat ground. I can easily drive over the snow. The main road within the housing area was not bad because more cars have passed through. The problem is at the end of this road is a rather steep slope downhill. Not only that, the bottom of the hill is where it meets the main road to town and is controlled by a traffic light. Yesterday I drove really slow here and still skidded a little but I didn't have to stop since the light was green. Today the snow was heavier ... and the light was red ... but so far so good as I drove even slower and maintain large distance to the car in front. No skid. I turned into the main road just to join the long jam. I got my camera with me so I'm sort of prepared to capture interesting event along the way.

Traffic crawling on North Deeside Road	Clearing the sidewalk in front of Robert Gordon U
Die-hard bikers - one with a guitar!	Office car park with fresh snow on cars

It was actually not that cold. Outside temperature was 1 degree Celsius so ice should not be an issue. In fact the DJ on the radio commented that in some parts of Aberdeen it was actually snow and rain at the same time. His colleagues then said shouldn't it be called "sleet". The DJ replied that sleet is actually snow and ice and that a new word should be created for snow and rain called "snain"! He then went on to announce the name of 133 schools around Aberdeen that were closed. Mik's school was not one of them. Aberdeen airport was also closed due to the snow.

I decided to take a detour from the long queue on North Deeside Road. As expected the small road that I was on was a lot more slippery. A Mercedes has to turn around since it cannot climb a gentle slope (due to rear wheel drive). I skidded a little even at such slow speed ... but the detour paid off as the road on the other side has less traffic. One slope downhill and another uphill and I'll be "home free". The slope toward Garthdee claimed one victim when I was passing through. A car skidded coming uphill toward Robert Gordon U. Two guys were trying to push the car with long queue of cars behind them. Good thing I'm on the opposite direction - going downhill that is not as steep as the slope close to my house. The road going North on Anderson Drive was filled with cars backed up all the way to Garthdee bridge. Thankfully I didn't have to go that way. One last slope to go ... was hoping that I won't have to stop on the slope but because of the roundabout and several cars in front of me - stopping on the slope was unavoidable. I skidded and swerved slightly as I started to move again, which was a great relief. I got to the office after 45 minutes - not too bad - the main thing is ... the car and me are scratch free! As I was walking into the building, my wife called. She was still stuck in traffic on the way to Mik's school even though she left more than half an hour earlier than me.

Sun came out in the afternoon	View from office window
Sunset over snow covered rooftops	Aberdeen winter sunset at closer look

The snow did not just stopped in the afternoon, the sun actually came out to brighten the day but did not melt the snows away. Going home in the evening was much more pleasant since there were less traffic and the roads were cleared - just need to be watchful for ice since the temperature was 0 degree Celsius. At home my driveway is still full of snow and part of it is compacted into ice ... I hope this will not cause havoc on me tomorrow.

In car park leaving the office	Compacted snow in driveway at home

Snowing Today ... yes we signed up for this

On Monday most part of south England woke up with snows and wreak havoc on transportation while there was only rain in Aberdeen. It was reported as the worst snow in 18 years and schools were closed for 2 days and flights into London were cancelled due to a plane skidded off the runway. Trains and buses were cancelled and chaos on the motorways.

This morning we were awaken to about 4 inches of snow on the grown. I had to be at work earlier than usual due to a meeting. One of our car was still in the workshop for regular service and yearly MOT of which it failed and the workshop did not have any parts, so I had to leave it there overnight. Because of this, Mik and my wife had to be up earlier than usual to send me to work. On our way the DJ on the radio commented that today is our turn to be hit by the snow and "let's show London how it's done ... "

View in front of our house

Being out of routine, I would have thought that the snow will be such a nuisance but strange enough; I actually feel cheerful and that the snow was special! I only hear stories from Aberdonians on how snow was a common thing during winters of many years ago. We have now experienced 2 winters in Aberdeen and snow is a rare occasion. Daily frost on the car, cold wind and rain are nuisance but occasional snow is fun and make the winter worth it. If you are to see how bubbly and excited Mik was this morning, you'll probably agree.

Snow in front of garage when I came home from work

The UK is in Recession, How about Aberdeen?

My wife mentioned to me the other day that she has not seen any 2009-registered car on the road unlike the beginning of 2008. On the way home from work last week, the DJ on the radio was commenting that there are lines and lines of unsold new cars at the dealers in Aberdeen. He said that he will go down to the dealer with a bag of 2,000.00 pound cash, tell the dealer: "Here's 2,000.00 pound cash. I want the car so and so that you have on your parking lot."

The dealer will probably say: "What! That's a 20,000.00 pound car!"

Then he will reply: "Well, would you rather have 2,000.00 pound cash or that piece of metal rusting away on your lot?" 

I think the DJ was joking ...

Aberdeen does not escape the recession that is hitting UK and Europe at the moment. However, Aberdeen apparently is in a stronger position to cope with this recession compared to many other UK cities according to the Centre for Cities as reported by Aberdeen Citizen free newspaper. Based on their analysis on 68 cities in the UK, Aberdeen is well placed to recover quickly unlike cities such as Belfast, Liverpool, Wigan and Hull due to the number of residents who were unemployed or had no qualifications.

• 40% of working age population in Aberdeen has a degree level qualification - only Edinburgh and Cambridge has a better percentage
• Total number of people employed rose from 163,700 in 2006 t0 172,100 in 2007, ranking 5th overall for employment growth despite population dropped from 217,300 in 1997 to 209,300 in 2007.
• Aberdeen is the UK hub of the North Sea oil industry and listed as the seventh most prosperous city

The down side, however, there has been very low growth in wages in the last few years and there are also a high number of people working in the financial services which has been badly hit.

So, the whole UK is currently not OK. My hope is that this will pass sooner rather than later. My fear is that its still getting worse before it gets better.

Saturday traffic along Anderson Drive