Dublin in Winter

[dub1]

What wonderful photos and lovely sentiments.
It justifies our love of our beautiful city and our passionate defence of it's continuing beauty.
It also makes it easy for us to encourage others to come and experience our 1000 year old gem.

[missarchi]

fires or fog its a tough call;)

[wearnicehats]

fires or fog its a tough call;)

I look forward to the day that you post something intelligible

[GrahamH]

7/1/2010

One would have to wonder if the entire 1,000 tonnes of salt used to date by Dublin City Council in this cold spell were used in a single sweep on O'Connell Street last night. There was about 5cm of salt covering the entire thoroughfare this morning. A most impressive effort - it resembled a fresh fall of snow it was so consistent and deep. No doubt it is needed to cope with both morning and evening rush hours. Top marks.

Likewise DCC must be commended for the heavy salting of all the major commercial thoroughfares in the city overnight. It couldn't have been any more of a different scene to the deathtrap of a skating rink the entire city become yesterday evening, where the level of compaction on the pavements made many of the roads a safer place to be. Some streets, notably High Street, were even worse today, but most were substantially improved.

There were extraordinary scenes on Dame Street at about 2pm yesterday, as the thoroughfare resembled an apocalypse scene, with abandoned buses and stranded cars scattered along its length. The problem was Cork Hill, which very few vehicles could approach, and those on Parliament Street either had to sit there stranded or be pushed by three of four willing pedestrians at a time. It was bizarre how this part of the city became entirely dependent on the manpower of pedestrians for its roads to function.

Sierra have been out all morning today doing a great job scraping the city's pavements with their gravediggers and then gritting afterwards. Though why this wasn't done last night isn't entirely clear... Generally speaking though, I think Dublin City Council have approached this problem well in the city centre, whatever about secondary streets and suburban routes which I'm sure others can comment on.

If there is anyone to lay criticism on, it has to be said the city's own traders have not outshone themselves in efforts to clear pavements outside their shops. In a long and tortuous trek home through the city yesterday, I did not encounter a single shop that had cleared their pavement. Of course local authorities hold ultimate responsibility in this regard, but the lack of civic-mindedness of retailers and traders was surprising. A couple of kettles, a shovel, a stiff brush or plank from the basement, and a bag of salt, ten minutes and it's done. Substantial tracts of the city, aided with the odd communal shovel, could have been cleared this way

[markpb]

If there is anyone to lay criticism on, it has to be said the city's own traders have not outshone themselves in efforts to clear pavements outside their shops.

Two companies (in my experience yesterday) are notable exceptions to this. The RPA seem to have gritted most of the Luas platforms and crossing areas. It's not perfect but it did the trick. Some of them would be unusable otherwise. Full marks to them!

The second is the landlord of Park Place offices on Hatch St - the whole pavement outside had been scraped and cleaned properly and looked very professional. It's a pity others weren't so proactive.

[reddy]

7/1/2010

If there is anyone to lay criticism on, it has to be said the city's own traders have not outshone themselves in efforts to clear pavements outside their shops. In a long and tortuous trek home through the city yesterday, I did not encounter a single shop that had cleared their pavement. Of course local authorities hold ultimate responsibility in this regard, but the lack of civic-mindedness of retailers and traders was surprising. A couple of kettles, a shovel, a stiff brush or plank from the basement, and a bag of salt, ten minutes and it's done. Substantial tracts of the city, aided with the odd communal shovel, could have been cleared this way

I'm really not sure if this is correct but I heard the other day that if a trader or even a houseowner makes efforts to clear the paths they assume liability from the council for that patch.

Didn't make much sense to me but might explain the lack of effort - same goes for forecourts in petrol stations etc.

[dub1]

I'm really not sure if this is correct but I heard the other day that if a trader or even a houseowner makes efforts to clear the paths they assume liability from the council for that patch.

Didn't make much sense to me but might explain the lack of effort - same goes for forecourts in petrol stations etc.

Now that you say this it reminds me of when I put an extension onto my corner Bed and Breakfast about 12 years ago and had to replace the cracked footpath (not cracked by me) all the way around about 25 meters.
Yes I have cleared the snow from my gate - before anyone asks!

[StephenC]

Actually I think DCC Byelaws mean all property holders are responsible for the pavement outside their building.

[shadow]

Water is cascading over the parapet of the Usher Library forming a frozen waterfall down the elevation facing Nassau Street.

[Cathal Dunne]

Water is cascading over the parapet of the Usher Library forming a frozen waterfall down the elevation facing Nassau Street.

Really? That would make an excellent photo for the site. Does anyone have any pics of Dublin in this year's winter? It'd be great to see what the capital looks like with all this snow.

[PVC King]

The second is the landlord of Park Place offices on Hatch St - the whole pavement outside had been scraped and cleaned properly and looked very professional. It's a pity others weren't so proactive.

Would the fact that the main tenant is an insurance company maybe be something to do with it?

You can just imagine the Herald headline in six months time 'Insurance company gets sued by 4 of own staff for Heath & Safety failures' good to see they value the welfare of their staff

The problem will be maintaining a safe environment if this as predicted continues another 2 weeks; most buildings with public open space have given up on carparks and are concentrating on foothpaths to conserve valuable grit supplies; i.e. those that learned the lessons from the last freeze and bought in July!!

[fergalr]

Actually I think DCC Byelaws mean all property holders are responsible for the pavement outside their building.

Really? I thought it's council responsibility unless u buy of lease pavement space.

[dub1]

Now that you say this it reminds me of when I put an extension onto my corner Bed and Breakfast about 12 years ago and had to replace the cracked footpath (not cracked by me) all the way around about 25 meters.
Yes I have cleared the snow from my gate - before anyone asks!

Just for the record 18 meters of this was where my extension ended - the extra 7 meters ran beside part of my garden (not part of the build at all)
Anyway all is cracked all over again! Picture of house on profile.

[jackwade]

Some photos from Dublin and Bray here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darraghb/sets/72157623053308443/

[Cathal Dunne]

Some photos from Dublin and Bray here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darraghb/sets/72157623053308443/

Wow, the one of Altovetro and the iced-over dock is mindblowing. To think that a body of water of that size could freeze over in Ireland is incredible.

[tommyt]

Some photos from Dublin and Bray here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darraghb/sets/72157623053308443/

Really enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing. Paddy Kavangh rocking a bizarre snow, half orangeman, half a member of Devo was a highlight:)