My World: An epic voyage...

It always amazes me how a little snow shower can have such an effect on a day. I never fully understood why people had days off work and schools closed at the slightest hint of the white stuff.

That was until yesterday.

I set off for work on Thursday morning a little earlier than usual knowing that I had to get petrol on my way to the office.

Setting off from Kimberworth, I made a detour to Rawmarsh to stop in at the Shell garage at the top of Dale Road.

There was a fair amount of snow on the road from the night before, but my car seemed to have little problem climbing the ‘seven hills’ road from Greasbrough to Haugh Road in Rawmarsh.

As I reached the summit, I noticed something rather peculiar.

The traffic was backed up all the way down Dale Road, past the junction for Haugh Road and down into the distance of Rawmarsh Hill. Strange.

So I decided to do a lap of Rawmarsh and hopefully join in the traffic flow further up Dale Road: how wrong was I?

The snow started to fall again in blankets and cars were abandoned post haste, Rawmarsh now resembled a post apocalyptic ghost town.

That was, except the large chain of stationary vehicles.

The petrol station in question was in sight, just at the top of the hill, but the traffic wasn’t moving at all, not an inch.

As the temperature gauge on my dashboard rose higher, the petrol needle plummeted downwards.

I had a decision to make. If I stayed in this traffic, which I had now been in for about an hour and 45 minutes, there was a chance my car would run out of fuel and hold everyone behind me up once the traffic began moving again.

I made the decision to pull in to the side of the road and walk to the petrol station, fill up a can and put it in my car, just to put me on until I reached the holy land of the Shell garage.

I began my voyage through the Antarctic blizzard and reached my destination, filled up a can and set off back.

On my return, a lorry travelling in the opposite direction sent a tidal wave of muddy, freezing slush over me, adding to the need to reach the office soon.

As I reached my car, I realised the funnel had been a victim of the journey, and was now lost somewhere covered in snow.

I decided to fill up the car anyway, spilling half of the precious fuel down the side of my vehicle.

I rejoined the traffic and another 45 minutes late, made it safely to the petrol station, filling the tank just in case more snow came through the day.

It’s safe to say I now fully appreciate the mayhem that snow can cause and the office has never seemed such a safe haven as it did upon my entrance.