Being Prepared For ........

 

Definitely hazardous walking down the lane recently. Lots of frozen puddles:





Ice right across the lane in places:

 

As the lane runs East to West the low Sun this time of year doesn't get a chance to melt it. Keeping upright on two legs used to be a problem until I found a solution a few years ago - ice spikes which I keep fitted to an old pair of shoes:

 

When I first received them I didn't think just six little tungsten carbide spikes would have the ability to stop my feet slipping. How wrong I was. Even through the spikes are short and blunt my 12 stone is more than enough to make them crunch into the hardest frozen ice.

I now keep a spare set as the spikes are very hard wearing but the rubber which stretches round the bottom and side of the shoe does wear on pavement which is ice free and eventually gets so thin it breaks. The latest ones have been re-designed so maybe they will last longer. I get at least two years use out of the original ones. Obviously that depends how often they have to be used:



I buy these from Amazon for about £9. I tried a different make with much wider rubber, plastic or whatever was used but they were a poor fit even when well stretched and tended to wobble which was no use at all.