Riding in the snow
On 15 January we became 2013 weer "Treated" to a portion of real snow. In The Hague even a suit of almost 20 centimeters fell. Very special because that does not happen that often. This meant inconvenience and misery for many car owners. How do you get away from such a snow mountain? With a good kick.
Standard equipment my father used to have in his car included a folding shovel. A green one because it was a military shovel. With a sturdy point for chopping carrots or breaking ice. Undoubtedly these shovels are still for sale at army dumps but in England at the AA (Automobile Association) in the shop I saw a new “lookalike” for sale. The English sell it to remove snow in front of and behind the wheels. Useful! When folded, the shovel takes up little space in the car. Do not forget the windscreen scrapers and check the amount of antifreeze in the windshield washer fluid. If it freezes and there is a lot of pickling, the windows will disappear in no time. Then you want to spray every now and then to get a better view. In such a case, it is very annoying if it turns out that the entire system is frozen.
Then you can drive from parking to parking to clean the windshield there every time. If the system is indeed frozen and the weather forecast does not yet announce a temperature above zero, defrosting will be difficult. Then drive the car into a parking garage and immediately pour a concentrated amount of liquid into the reservoir when the system defrosts. Then don't forget to spray so that the tubes and the nozzle heads are also filled with a mixture that will not freeze.
Photos and text: Jacques van den Bergh