Personally, I never know whether to be a little saddened by the disappearing warmth and the fading of the lighter hours, or looking forward to the “C” word that we will be able to think about in the coming weeks! Although I think I answered this question last night when I was battered by those wet and cold blustery winds that attacked me as I escaped the outdoors last night…
One thing you should all be doing is taking the opportunity to prepare yourself and your vehicle for winter. I grabbed my thick patchwork camping blanket from my rucksack last night in preparation to wash it to be used as an emergency blanket in case we see a repeat of the arctic conditions we endured last year. I suggest you all do the same.
So, what should you do? Here’s my advice, based on what I’ve started doing:
Check Your Car More
Whilst you should be checking your car as regularly as possible anyway, checking the tyre pressure, oil levels, and other bare essentials is all the more important during the colder months. Make sure you keep your antifreeze topped up in your windscreen reservoir, and have a healthy supply of de-icer in your boot. Get yourself a decent glass scraper, and make sure your lights are fully functioning before you head out for journeys in the dark.
Oh – and always have more than enough fuel in case you ever do get stranded!
Stocking Up Your Car
This is absolutely essential; as it’s something that a lot of people miss. You should stock your car up with plenty of essentials in the unfortunate event that you do end up being stranded. Not a lot of people think this is an ideas worth bothering about – if you’re one of those people, remember last year!
You should have in your car:
- Bottles of sealed drinking water. I usually have 12 small bottles (better to be safe than sorry!)
- Some packaged snacks with a long term sell by date on them – even if its just a few multipack chocolate bars to ensure you can eat if you need to
- Warm clothing – I have my large coat as a standard anyway, but I also put two spare hoodies in and a jumper as well as the large blanket I mentioned earlier. Again, if you’re going to be stranded, you need to keep yourself warm or risk potentially serious injury.
- A shovel – for obvious reasons, and a pair of wellies or sturdy boots
You should also ensure to have your mobile phones fully charged as well, and with more than enough credit to make emergency calls as and when they may be required.
Invest in the Extras
Go down to your local car related store or supermarket, and you can pick up some fantastic looking things to help you through the winter. I saw these tracks you can put in front of your tyres to help you escape snow in a supermarket last week! They were only £8, and I’m thinking they may be worth a try if they save me from getting stuck like I did last year. There are plenty of other little things you can have that will apparently make your winter driving experiences much safer.
You should also ensue to always leave enough time for journeys when commuting or getting around. You do NOT want to be rushing round at the best of times, but rushing in the snow is almost a guaranteed ticket to being involved in an accident.
