A 64-year-old gritter has been working around the clock to clear northern regions engulfed in snow and ice during January.
Paul Dyson was already experiencing his busiest month in living memory before Storm Christoph hit – which has been causing chaos across the top half of England.
2,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Greater Manchester earlier this week, with flood water spilling out from the River Mersey.
Heavy snow has also created problems – with a large sinkhole swallowing a car on a residential street in Gorton on Wednesday evening.
The Environmental Agency and emergency services have advised against travel if possible. But in the midst of an international pandemic, thousands of frontline staff still need to reach their place of work, with access routes to many venues blocked up.
ADVERTISEMENT
But that’s where Paul is trying to help.
As the owner of private gritting company Gritting Direct, Paul has been clearing dozens of roads since the turn of the year.
ADVERTISEMENT
His firm has contracts with education facilities, doctors surgeries, manufacturing firms and banks in the north, and the gritter claims that the past few days have been some of the most demanding he can remember.
“This season we’ve been very busy. It’s caught a lot of people out,” Paul said.
“The most important thing for us is that people don’t make unnecessary journeys as this slows us and the council down when we’re clearing the roadways.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Our aim is and always has been to keep people safe during the winter months, so if your journey isn’t 100% necessary, the safest thing to do is stay at home.”
More snowfall, ice and flooding is expected over the coming days – meaning difficult conditions for anyone who does need to travel.
For essential trips, Paul has urged people to pack sturdy shoes with good grip, along with warm clothing, bottled water and basic food supplies in the event of being left stranded.
“With the snowfall in early January, many drivers ended up stuck in huge queues of non-moving traffic,” Paul says.
“There were reports of people delivering bottles of water on foot to desperate drivers. Make sure you have warm clothing, drinks, and snacks in the car to keep you going if you do get stuck.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Snow and ice immediately increase the risk of accidents tenfold, so you never know when traffic will come to a standstill.”
Paul has also reminded people to check their fuel levels before they hit the road, and to pull over panic sets in.
The gritter stated: “If you happen to spot that snow is forecast, and you know you’ll still need to drive – make sure your fuel is topped up so you can get from A to B as smoothly as possible and minimise your time on the road.
“When you’re driving in the snow, you need to be able to think calmly and rationally. Panic can inhibit our ability to react rationally. If you feel yourself panicking, pull over and only continue driving when you feel safe to do so.”
You can continue to check flood alerts for your area by visiting the Flood Warning Information Service website.
Updates on weather/driving conditions are also available via:
You can get a mobile massage treatment in your office – just like us
Thomas Melia
We’d like to introduce you to the pioneering personalised service offering massage treatments on the move at practically any location including direct from your office– including to those of us here in Manchester.
In a world where you can get practically anything delivered straight to your door, it wasn’t going to be long until some genius invented a way to get a massage from the comfort of your own office.
Named ‘London’s first digital beauty concierge’, Ruuby have been pampering the nation’s capital for almost a decade before branching out to further locations.
The gorgeous set up provided by RuubyLook at that lovely branding on the towels.They did wonders with our otherwise plain downstairs office space. (Credit: The Manc Group)
In October 2024, the company expanded beyond its domestic reach in the likes of the capital, the Cotswolds and Surrey into Europe, making its first mark Switzerland: the perfect country for both luxury and essential beauty treatments with a tailored experience.
The month following saw the group moving up North and all the way to Manchester, where people can now book professional treatments best suited to them, right on their doorstep.
If you’re feeling scepticalstill, you can take it from us here at The Manc; we couldn’t tell you how relaxing and comforting these massages are.
There are a range of treatments available and we opted for two bespoke massages, a sports massage and a deep tissue massage.
Each experience is suited to your personal needs meaning each massage therapist will be able to fine-tune their relaxation abilities to what benefits you best.
After choosing the bespoke massage that I felt would work best for me, I went into this with no prior massage experience and I came out feeling taller, broader and more refreshed. Highly recommend.
Mid-day office massage? Yes, please.How relaxing. What a shame you have to go back to work after!Credit: The Manc Group
My masseuse guided me throughout the whole process and we soon discovered that I was able to tolerate much harder pressure than I thought which helped release tension I didn’t even know I had!
The same applies to how firm you’d like your session to be, as the masseuse can help with a brief overview of your time together, but the amount of pressure you like is down to personal preference.
It’s not just massages either: there’s everything from waxing, nails and hair to physio and IV drips; how about getting Marbella ready in less than an hour with a spray tan service set up wherever you are?
As Ruuby is a mobile and remote work environment, there are a number of at any time up and down the country, meaning your next beauty slot could be as little as an hour away, find out more HERE.
Farm shops are cool now – and Albion Farm Shop is the best of the best
Daisy Jackson
At some point in life, your idea of a great day out switches from drinking and clubbing to visiting a farm shop, or a garden centre, or something similarly wholesome.
And up in the hills above Manchester is surely one of the best in the UK – Albion Farm Shop.
This Saddleworth favourite is half-cafe, half-shop, with produce all either grown right outside, or sourced as locally as possible.
And while places like Hollies Farm Shop in Cheshire pull in seriously big, glamorous crowds (maybe it’s the Molly-Mae effect), there’s something much more charming and authentic about Albion Farm Shop.
Maybe it’s the tractors parked outside, the fact the produce section is in a drafty barn, the mismatched shelves and cabinets. It’s not curated like this – it just is.
The food in the cafe itself is up there with the best British grub in the North West, and I say that with my hand on my heart.
Whether it’s a full breakfast spilling over the edge of a plate, sandwiches served in a doorstop of bread, or a full menu of burgers made with British beef cap and smoked bone marrow patties, you can’t steer far wrong.
Rag pudding at Albion Farm ShopChips with a side of bone broth gravy Those huge burgers
There are chunky chips served with a full bowl of bone stock gravy on the side (hello, this is Oldham), onion rings so big you can wear them as a bangle, and big bowls of homemade soup.
And it would be remiss of me not to mention the rag pudding, a traditional dish from this neck of the woods. Famously, she’s not a pretty menu item, but this steamed suet pastry stuffed with braised beef shin is comforting and delicious.
If you want to stick northern fare but don’t fancy rag pudding, you can also grab a wedge of cheese and onion pie, lambs liver with mash, or any number of seasonal specials (for us, it was roast pork).
There are cracking views of the surrounding countryside, a resident cat who’s usually sleeping in the entranceway, and charm packed into every square foot.
Albion Farm Shop is at Oldham Road, Delph, Saddleworth OL3 5RQ.
The resident cat at Albion Farm ShopRoast pork in the cafeThe Albion Farm Shop cafeAlbion Farm ShopInside the shop itselfThe produce barn Local cheesesBakery itemsThe produce barn
The Manc -
21st January 2021 
