This year has been a massively disappointing winter with only a scanty 1 or 2 days of proper snow to drive around in—–and all in a year when i searched months for the right wheels to put on brand new snow tires.
I am left to wonder what could have been……well here’s a nice photo from 1916 with white stuff filling up the street in Seattle, a place I will be later this week for a visit.
src: vintage seattle
I drive a lot through New York City—-and everyday I find myself wondering HOW the potholes in the road just get bigger and bigger. They fix them, they come back. After several years of commuting by car through NYC city streets; I have learned areas where the road is worse than others, in my mental data bank of pothole summaries. That being said, there are always new surprises which bubble up.
So how are potholes made!?
“It’s hard to believe those chasms in the pavement aren’t the remnants of miniature explosions. Instead, they’re carved by plain old water. The process usually starts with one little crack that fills with H2O. When water freezes, it expands, and when the water inside the crack expands, it pushes the asphalt outward and upward—a lot like when you forget a soda in the freezer and return to find a frozen volcano bursting from the bottle. “
read the rest of this interesting article here:
Anatomy of a Pothole – U.S. Roads and Infrastructure – Popular Mechanics
(thanks to Elyse Sewell for sharing this glorious photo with me, not sure where it was taken…)
Well it snowed like we were at war with the sky over the weekend here in NYC. I learned several things during this snowstorm.
A) People in NYC have no idea how to drive through snow. Having grown up in Michigan and then lived 3 years in Chicago taught me very well how to drive during a snowstorm. People here have extreme difficulty in judging whether their car can clear certain ‘mounds’ of snow. On the corner of our street in Brooklyn…..There were 10s of cars stuck over a period of just a few hours. Some cars in Brooklyn REMAIN stuck even now…..
B) I drive a very low to the ground modified with a stiff suspension, 18 inch lightweight wheels, and on all-seasons. my TT quattro had absolutely no trouble handling the snow in any way. There wasn’t a single time i felt unstable or unable to clear any snowbanks. Most of you know I am a major Audihead….and this is why. These cars are unstoppable by weather. While other people stay parked during inclement storms, Audis come ALIVE! It was great to see people with looks of disbelief as i passed their stuck SUVs and trucks in my low black coupe…..i even heard “what the hell is that thing!?”.
C) NYC was not prepared at all for this storm…..and their lack of proper cleanup is basically simple negligence and/or a mixture of holiday relaxation combined with unexpected ‘large’ storm status. There are still major streets in our area which are unplowed, and have now turned into ice. Unacceptable!
D) NYC people are tough. Much tougher than others. i saw plenty of people walking around, trudging through large stacks of knee high or even thigh high snow. In other cities, you’d see people sitting on their couch eating chips and watching TV. There were people stuck 6 hours on the A train going through Queens without heat or food on Monday morning….i’m guessing these people took the subway again today to work.
E) I need boots. No i’ve never worn boots….even in Detroit or Chicago i never did…but i also never had to walk so much as i do here…and my lack of boots means that the dude you see slipping and sliding all over the sidewalk is probably me trying to regain my balance.
IEDEI 