Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Help clear the passage
Update: Lots of people have volunteered, so we'll all be out at 10am Sunday. My number is 07766 990123 if you need to get salt or any other problems.
Update 2: A huge thank you to all the volunteers who came out yesterday to clear the snow. We've done a fab job.
If you've walked up or down it recently you'll know that the passage is an absolute ice rink at the moment. We're not going to get any help from the council to fix it, so I'd like to get a bunch of volunteers to commit to coming out on Sunday at 10am to clear part of the passage.
There were a bunch of Ladder Dads who committed tonight, so if you'd like to join us on Sunday morning to help clear a part of passage so we can all use it to get to work, school or the shops then sign up below.
Just say which bit (e.g. Hewitt to Seymour) you'd like to work on, and we'll all meet out there around 10 am on Sunday.
Bring salt, shovels and any sand/grit you might have, and let's all make the passage a little bit safer.
I know that together we can make a difference - so let's do it.
Update 2: A huge thank you to all the volunteers who came out yesterday to clear the snow. We've done a fab job.
If you've walked up or down it recently you'll know that the passage is an absolute ice rink at the moment. We're not going to get any help from the council to fix it, so I'd like to get a bunch of volunteers to commit to coming out on Sunday at 10am to clear part of the passage.
There were a bunch of Ladder Dads who committed tonight, so if you'd like to join us on Sunday morning to help clear a part of passage so we can all use it to get to work, school or the shops then sign up below.
Just say which bit (e.g. Hewitt to Seymour) you'd like to work on, and we'll all meet out there around 10 am on Sunday.
Bring salt, shovels and any sand/grit you might have, and let's all make the passage a little bit safer.
I know that together we can make a difference - so let's do it.
Tags for Forum Posts: get involved, grit, ice, passage, snow, winter
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Malcolm on
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If you can tell us where the problem area for you is I'm sure someone might volunteer to dig you out.
I'd encourage everyone to clear the path in front of their house - perhaps you could knock on your neighbours' doors and ask them?
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Permalink Reply by Cat on
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Couldn't agree more. This is not intended to be in any way dismissive of the community effort, but it does seem crazy to focus all the effort on clearing the passage (a level walkway and used by far fewer people than the ladder pavements) rather than the ladder pavements themselves, which are used by many more people and have a steep gradient that makes them particularly dangerous. Green Lanes is already safe for North-South travel.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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You have a good point Cat, but two issues for me. Firstly, for some reason the passage was much worse than the pavements - almost unwalkable - and secondly it's feasible to do the passage, unrealistic to clear all the Ladder pavements. Perhaps most important for me is all the neighbours working together. I've just been out helping out for an hour. Others have been out longer and remain working as I type. I think what Malcolm has organised and what folks are pitching in wit his marvelous. My hat off to you all.
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I was out clearing a stretch of pavement in my street yesterday and in just the first ten minutes of being out there I saw two people fall and land very heavily on their backs while trying to get down to Green Lanes. One was a child and one was an adult man. Thank goodness it wasn’t a frail person, but then I suppose they daren’t venture out at all.
I was suggesting that we might be able to help more people in our community by applying that same effort to the pavements, given that footfall (stress on ‘fall’) is heavier on the pavements. People have a choice about using the passage but they can’t choose whether or not to use the pavements.
If it is necessary to state the blindingly obvious, then of course I think it’s great that the neighbours are working together to help the community. It is a shame if you have misinterpreted what I was trying to say. The first thing I said in my original post was that I wasn’t being dismissive of the current efforts. Apologies to anyone who’s been out working hard and has similarly misconstrued – really, it isn’t what I meant!
I don’t suppose this sort of weather will be repeated this year but, for future purposes, it might be worth people indicating whether, in principle, they’d be happy to volunteer to help clear their street if it happens again. There would then already be a list of potential volunteers who could be put to use and perhaps the community effort could be harnessed sooner. I’d be up for it.
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Permalink Reply by PeterPiper on
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Yes, everyone should keep a kilo of salt every winter for such purposes, and then use it to clear the pavement outside their property when necessary - then the pavments would be clear, and all we would have to worry about is the Passage. Even the infirm & elderly can keep a bag of salt stashed away for emergencies, and the cost is less than a quid - happy to do the passage & school entrances, but not happy to clear up for lazy folk.
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Permalink Reply by Lil on
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Does anyone know if the roads are likely to get treated? I'm getting no help from the council. I live on Hewitt Road and my car has been stuck for 4 days now and I'm guessing other roads on the ladder are the same.
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Permalink Reply by GillianM on
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I think the answer's no, Sarita! Seem to remember that they said they're only doing priority 1 roads now?
I don't think we can make the de-icing party but one of us might get out to do a bit between Cavendish and Duckett this afternoon.
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Permalink Reply by Mei Wang on
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It's a great idea, Malcolm, gathering people together. I'm going to see whether I can get my neighbours interested in Noel Park too. Good luck with your efforts!
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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David Schmitz in action with salt (see that red container on the step to the left) and sand.
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Sine sale saxeo liberali labor omnia vincit.
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Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on
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Alas my Latin doesn't go much beyond "Veni, fodi, miscui."
But seriously, I thought it would be a good idea to have a go straight away because the shortage of salt and the difficulty of moving sharp sand means that we are likely to have to learn to do a lot with very little.
A friend and I managed to make a dent in the stretch of the Passage between Fairfax and Frobisher Roads with one box of table salt (Saxa as it happens)- and a large bag of sand which we applied to the worst areas. I would recommend that instead of trying to remove the ice altogether, we instead chop at it so as to roughen the surface. The risk of trying to remove the ice altogether is that a film of water may remain behind which will refreeze and create a new hazard. This principle is something I vaguely remember from the time when as a child I used to earn pocket money in upstate New York by clearing neighbours' pathways.
I'll test my theory by retracing my steps tomorrow on my way to meeting with the rest of you. If I don't arrive, it will mean that my theory is wrong and that a St. Bernard would be appreciated.
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David, just a lighthearted pun on Virgil's advice to farmers in his 'Georgics': hard work conquers everything. So, 'Without a Liberal pinch of rock (saxa) salt Labour will sweep the boards (if not the Passage). No reference, of course, to Nora & John's endeavours further north.
I think you're right about roughening up the surface to give some purchase rather than preparing a new hazard. Yesterday morning on Warham I found some of the more thoroughly cleared patches more treacherous than the greater stretch where crunchy snow and ice gave me a better grip. This morning's temporary thaw will probably give us really slippery Ladder slopes tomorrow. On Wightman N4 the added footway hazards include overflowing wheelie bins to reconnoitre, parked vehicles taking up even more of the pavement for their safety, not mine, and British Gas/National Grid ringfenced excavations begun and abandoned a week ago. Their No Smoking signs are less than reassuring.
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