Snow driving and parking for beginners

I realise that many in Scotland will laugh at what passes for deep snow down here but the hill outside our house has been the scene of many balletic displays of driving as people realise that they are not going to get up it as their usual short cut. They slide back down and then do a pirouette before gingerly driving back out to the main road.

I can't gloat too much as my car slid off the drive on Wednesday morning. I'd been shopping and had reversed into the drive onto fresh snow. I locked up, walked round to the boot and took the first bag of shopping to the back door for Sonia to take into the house. As I turned to go back to get the next few bags, I saw the car sliding down the drive into the road! I ran through the snow while trying to get the keys out of my coat pocket with my gloves on...just a mild bit of panic going through my mind and few expletives were uttered to warm the cold winter air.

Luckily the car stopped sliding when it reached the gutter at the end of the drive so it only slid about 6 ft. I jumped in and got the engine going and then had to reverse it into it's usual spot in front of the bay window. Once it was on the level I went back to emptying the boot. Sonia missed all this and was wondering why I was taking so long to bring the rest of the shopping in!