Farnham Close, 7:30am on 18/12/09

A chap in Hobbs Road is in the local paper complaining about the lack of a gritting bin in his road.  Having had my own simlar experiences discussin grit bins with West Sussex council I have a lot of sympathy for him, but where I have to disagree is when he says it is the steepest road in Crawley.I have never been out measuring such things, but I reackon there are steeper roads and that my own road is one of them.  The picture above is not even of the steepest part of the road.   Compared to Hobbs Road it is a lot narrower with more curves – including a sharp 90-degree turn at the bottom.  With the number of parked cars it can be a nightmare at the best of times, but with compacted snow it is literally impossible.

On Friday I got Jayne to give me a lift to work – I was going on to a xams party afterwards.  When she came back home Jayne could not even get the car back up to our house and had to leave it halfway down the hill.  When it is snowy or icy, or if the forecasts say it is going to be, a lot of residents here leave their cars at the bottom of the hill in preparation.

I’m not saying Hobbs Road doesn’t need some grit, but Farnham Close could probably do with it first.  Or maybe second, because when it comes to steepness, the real winner has to be Kingswood Close.   Forget about cars and people slipping, Kingswood Close is so steep I am surprised the houses don’t slip down it when it snows!