But I will admit that Friday night that was real snow -- it would have shut down Pittsburgh for a few hours, and even Buffalo would have taken notice. The first flakes fell after I left for training at 520. By the time we were leaving Preston an hour later, it was coming down steady, likely half an inch an hour or so. Leaving the gym in Croxteth at 915, we were faced with about four inches. By the time we caught a taxi in Standish at 4am, there were fourteen inches on the ground.
Taxi in Standish? How's that, you say.
Well, I expect the story of our epic journey will make it to a cinema near you sometime soon. We are negotiating with several studios, and hoping for a starring cast of Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, and Christian Bale (or maybe David Tennant if he's willing to do an English accent again.) The short version is the M6 was stopped due to a series of wrecks just above the M58 junction about 1030. The car died about 1230, and we couldn't restart it, but were, thankfully, on the hard shoulder. Knowing it would be hours before we moved again, we hiked a half mile to a fellow stranded PNE player. There were then seven of us, more than could fit in the car, so once the players were safe and warm, the three coaches began our trek northward on foot.
The M6 did eventually get moving again, and our players, who were at 1030 when traffic stopped, only about 15 miles from Preston, got home at 4am. We made it to the village of Standish, where we were able to negotiate a taxi to take us the rest of the way, and I was home and dry at 5am.
Here in Preston, there is not as much snow -- only about six inches. Still, with the cold, we are pretty well done until the first of the year. We have drawn Rochedale in the FA Cup, and hopefully the speed of play and awareness that we've developed in the last couple of weeks will be seen when we move outside, and we will go through to the third round, and start a run in the League.
Having spent the last four winters in western PA, I can say definitively, yep, that's a real snowfall. No complaints about cancellations and postponements from me.
