Have you noticed the amount of leaves on roads this autumn? I've noticed that it seems worse than it was years ago but have only just worked out why.
Instead of just falling onto the road and quickly getting blown or swept away, they are getting stuck fast onto the tarmac. This of course provides a loverly slippery total-leaf-no-tarmac carpet for cyclists - especially after a few spots of rain.
But they are not everywhere: the leaves are distinctly concentrated on the stretches of the new Shell Grip or whatever the special rough tarmac is called that is used at certain juctions and crossings to add braking grip to the road. Bit of a design flaw!
Go very easy on the brakes and cornering when you see a Leaf Carpet ahead.
"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Have you noticed the amount of leaves on roads this autumn? I've noticed that it seems worse than it was years ago but have only just worked out why.
There is another factor - the warm summer/autumn.
One obvious thing this does is make the leaves more colourful, but could it also influence how many/how strong the leaves are? It also changes the time of leaf drop (late this year)
Have you noticed the amount of leaves on roads this autumn? I've noticed that it seems worse than it was years ago but have only just worked out why.
Instead of just falling onto the road and quickly getting blown or swept away, they are getting stuck fast onto the tarmac. This of course provides a loverly slippery total-leaf-no-tarmac carpet for cyclists - especially after a few spots of rain.
But they are not everywhere: the leaves are distinctly concentrated on the stretches of the new Shell Grip or whatever the special rough tarmac is called that is used at certain juctions and crossings to add braking grip to the road. Bit of a design flaw!
Go very easy on the brakes and cornering when you see a Leaf Carpet ahead.
I noticed this this very morning in Holland Park at a junction. The leaves are so gorund in to the tarmac that it actually looks like a collage and is quite beautiful.
One obvious thing this does is make the leaves more colourful, but could it also influence how many/how strong the leaves are? It also changes the time of leaf drop (late this year)
That's all probably part of the problem but I never used to notice leaves sticking so firmly to the roads. Some have surely been ground in and stuck fast at the same position for several days at least - a solid mass rather than the normal pattern of loose leaves. There are distinct blocks of the stuff just where the Shell Grip is - even with clear straight lines at the edges.
