Snow causes traffic chaos in Norwich

Yesterday a large amount on snow fell around here. I was at work in Norwich, and, at lunch time, I walked past St. Stephen's roundabout. A bendy bus was struggling to get round owing to the compacted snow and ice; traffic on the inner ring road was at a standstill. I returned to the office, told the newsroom, and went back with my camera to film the goings on at the roundabout. Of course, by that time, the bendy bus had gone, but there were many shots of wheels spinning and cars going nowhere to be had. The roundabout is on a slight incline, and that was enough for inexperienced or ignorant drivers to get stuck on, believing that the faster you spin the wheels the more chance you have of moving - where the opposite is usually true. As I had the TV camera with me I didn't get a chance to take any stills, but my pictures were used in a report on BBC Look East.

I was very pleased I'd cycled to work. There were many tales of people taking three hours to do a journey which would normally take twenty minutes. On my cycle home at 1900 traffic was either standing still or just about crawling forwards between Norwich city centre and the junction with the road to the hospital - about three miles. In most places I was able to cycle past the queues, but my journey ended up taking an hour (normally 35 minutes). The main roads were the worst for ice. I lost grip once or twice but didn't come off (don't tell Jan!), but once on the minor roads I was able to go faster with, mostly, plenty of grip.

This was our front garden on Sunday 14th January ...

... and the same scene this morning 16th January. The car has about six inches of snow on it.

Bay tree from upstairs on 15th Jan:

This was the outside temperature this morning: -8.9˚C.

I cleared the snow off the car this morning; now I have to drive in to Norwich to get my camera. I have to film the village pantomime tonight. I hope it's still on.