#SnowCoach

Today was a strange day, I arrived at work on a cold clear day and left work on a cold clear day. Imbetween however was a very chaotic, wet, slushy and wintery adventure! It started snowing just after eight o'clock this morning, and I was eager to rush outside into the yard to grab a shot of any bus in the snow as it had been a few years since I had managed that thanks to global warming. It wasn't the best of photos and those who follow the blog on Facebook would've seen it already and will agree that it's not good enough to reproduce here. Anyway the snow soon stopped and melted away but then to my delight, just in time for my break it started again. I jumped on my bike and headed for Heartsease hoping to capture one of the Red Line repaints in service in the wintry conditions and after a twenty minute wait I was successful.

Mission completed I pedaled back to work. Upon arrival I was asked to take some parts up to Vulcan Road which meant the gridlocked ring road would host my first 'driving in snow' experience. It took more than thirty minutes to complete the two mile journey, and when I got there I was informed that a bus had stopped on Ketts Hill to let a car out and then couldn't get moving again due to the treacherous conditions. I was sent out to the rescue with a shovel and piles of grit but by the time I arrived the snow had slowed down and the bus had found its own way out. 

Excitement over, I asked on Twitter and Facebook that people got in touch with their snowy bus and coach photos from the day and I was inundated with pictures past and present! Adrian Hughes was in Ipswich today and sent a number of images featuring Ipswich Buses and FirstIpswich in the flurries, whilst Leon Wells sent in an image of one of Ipswich Buses' newest members of the fleet in the form of a Mercedes-Benz Citaro which is pictured on a housing estate. Back in Norwich, Dan High had a rather snowy ride into the city centre onboard his Yellow Line branded Plaxton President.

Adrian Hughes

Adrian Hughes

Leon Wells

Dan High

I'm sorry to have made such a fuss over the weather today, but when you haven't seen this much snow in four years, or managed to photograph a snowy bus picture in nearly as long, I think my excitement is justified. We only had a short window to take these pictures as once again Norfolk is looking very un-white but in case the snow returns, here's one for Steve W: "Be careful out there."