The ringing of metal on concrete met the slush of tyres on dirty-grey roads as west Fifers tried to free themselves from the snow and ice on Friday.
Residents dug in their driveways and worked to clear the entrance to estates all across Dunfermline’s Duloch area on the third day of life under the Beast from the East.
Roads around the town had improved and whereas they had been nigh-on impassable, with abandoned cars wrapped up in deep snow drifts, drivers were gingerly making their way about and were not in need of a push, as so many have been over the last 48 hours.
Unsurprisingly, Fife Leisure Park was deserted – no one at the cinema, Dobbies or Pizza Hut – though Tesco was doing a roaring trade.
In scenes recalling disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow, people made their way towards the superstore dressed in skiing gear and pulling sledges to help haul the shopping home. Inside, the shelves were empty of bread and milk and there was an obvious shortage of staff.
Speaking to The Courier at about 1pm, one worker said: “I wasn’t at work yesterday because I couldn’t get in. Today I should have been finished at 11.30am but there’s no one else here to let me get away.”
Turning to look over her shoulder at the queues stretching away from tills and down aisles, she joked about what shoppers might do to her if “I abandon my post!”
The beastly weather has seemingly managed to put the brakes on the retail juggernaut that is Amazon. Its Dunfermline fulfilment centre did not have the usual stream of lorries going in and out, although staff were working to clear the main entrance, and its staff car park was deserted.
