There is nothing that irritates me more than the annual battle with pavements that have transformed into ice rinks overnight.
Temperatures have plummeted across Scotland in the last week.
For some, this has produced beautiful snowy scenes of festive perfection.
For those of us in villages and towns that haven’t yet been kissed by snow, ice is making conditions treacherous.
Look, I have nothing against drivers. I am desperately trying to become one myself.
But I do wish that pedestrians were given as much consideration as road users at this time of year.
It goes without saying that roads need to be gritted, for the safety of all who use them.
But do the icy pavements while you’re at it.
We did our icy pavements duty, but what about the next street?
Early on Monday morning, my eight year old and I set on a perilous expedition to the nearest grit bin.
We are the youngest residents of our street by some 50 years, so the gritting is our job.
We filled a big sturdy shopping bag with as much grit as we could before heading back home, which wasn’t without its difficulties.
I used the shovel handle to drag the bag along the road, but that threw off my centre of gravity and there was much flailing and shrieking on the return journey.
When the job was completed and our street was coloured a reassuring brown, we left for the walk to school.
But as soon as we exited our own, safely gritted street we encountered trouble.
It was impossible to make any progress on our journey as the conditions forced us into a re-enactment of Bambi on ice.
We gave up and headed home.
Life is short and Christmas is coming.
Being on time for school is not as important as ensuring I don’t have to cook Christmas dinner in a neck brace.
Older folk are trapped in their homes
The same argument against local councils gritting icy paths and pavements is trotted out every year.
Namely, that the council provides the grit bins, and it is the job of local residents to pitch in and do their civic duty for the benefit of all.
But some streets, like the ones we walk on the way to school, don’t have houses on them full of happy helpers with big shovels.
Scenes from all pavements in Dundee right now pic.twitter.com/mOEe5z2t92
— MrsF (@AyrDelighted) December 11, 2022
For us, the ice is only a minor inconvenience.
It means nothing more disruptive than spending a tenner on a taxi to get to school.
But for older people and people with mobility issues, icy pavements can mean being confined to home, unable to get to the shops for supplies or out to see family or friends.
My elderly neighbour fell and had to have her hip replaced last year. It’s a big operation and the recovery process can take many, many months.
That’s why so many older people look out their windows and decide going outside is not worth the risk when the icy weather hits.
They shouldn’t be forced to make that choice.
We live in a world of robot vacuums and voice-control light switches.
Surely it’s not beyond the limits of our intellect to come up with a way to avoid this annual ice drama?
Our climate is predictably cold and icy at certain points of the year, though thankfully only for a few weeks at a time.
The bad weather pavements plan should be given as much thought as the plan for roads.
Not least because I know I’ll be taking my life in my hands when I head to the wee shop for milk later.
