Snowpocalypse Austin

The weather on this trip to the USA has been pretty insane; sub-zero conditions, chilled winds, freezing roads, and more than a little danger. For anyone from a cold, wet country, you might take temperatures of a mere -6 degrees celsius in your stride. Such lows literally bring Texas to a sliding halt, though. There is zero infrastructure for handling the ice on the roads, people have no idea how to drive in such conditions, and the number and width of roads makes gritting a pain; forget about salt.

Walking out on Friday morning onto South Congress, I was presented with a comical scene of cars sliding around; many failing even to make it up the slope of the bridge to down-town. Indeed, a pick-up truck with a Mexican family in it was totally stuck, unable to move. With the whole family in the front, no weight in the back and no experience in these conditions it wasn’t perhaps a surprise. With a look of horror on the face of the driver, I pointed at the son in the back and we bumped, pushed and cajoled the vehicle up the slope, and he gave me a friendly wave goodbye. Job done. I must admit that I did not, however, help the Mercedes that got itself into the same situation a minute later!