Bishopdale gritted at dawn after resident reports 'bit of a nip' in the air
A Stuff investigation can reveal the truck was sent before the temperature hit double digits.
Christchurch City Council gritted at least four Bishopdale streets on Tuesday morning after one resident phoned in a chill, The Daily Yarn can reveal.
The temperature at dispatch was 11 degrees.
Sources within the council, who spoke to The Daily Yarn on condition of anonymity, confirmed the grit truck was pulled off a Port Hills run and sent north on the strength of one phone call.
"She said she felt it in her knees," one source said. "That was the brief. Knees. Bishopdale. Go."
"That was the brief. Knees. Bishopdale. Go."
The resident, Coral Whitmarsh of Farrington Avenue, stood by the call at her letterbox. "I've lived through four winters and a rebuild, love. I know a cold snap. The cat was sitting funny." Asked whether 11 degrees was a cold snap, Whitmarsh said the question was "a bit rude, actually".
A neighbour, Deidre Colquhoun, watched the truck do two passes of a dry road. "Bugger all ice. Bugger all frost. Just grit, everywhere, into me hydrangeas. I'll be picking it out till November."
What we know
The truck went out at 6.42am. It covered about 1.4 kilometres. No ice was present. The Port Hills run was delayed 40 minutes. Coral's knees remain, per Coral, "still a bit funny".
What we don't know
Whether the council has a threshold for grit deployment, or whether "Coral rang again" is now one. Whether the cat is okay. Whether the hydrangeas will pull through. Whether anyone told the Port Hills.
A council spokesperson said the response was "consistent with community weather monitoring" and declined to explain what that meant. Pressed on whether Whitmarsh had rung before, the spokesperson said she was "a known caller".
The Daily Yarn has approached Coral Whitmarsh's cat for comment.
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Reader Letters
★ JoannePetone
Honestly, I'm just glad Sumner isn't getting the grit treatment for once! Fair enough if Coral felt the cold, but I can't imagine wasting resources like that. Surely the council has better things to be doing?
DeidreN
Wouldn't blame the council entirely. Maybe freaky knee weather predictions are the future. But I do wonder what Coral’s cat had to say about all this.
★ Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, we’d just throw on another jumper and get on with it. This wouldn’t have happened. Standards have slipped.
Trev_Hornby
Standards today! Back when I was a lad, we'd only grit when the pipes froze. What a waste.
couchpotat0
Lol. Knees.
★ BarryBishopdale
Bugger me! Council’s just throwing money on the roads now. Bet they wouldn’t waste grit like that if it were a bunch of bloody cyclists.
kiwikarl
Mate, Coral’s a bit of a legend if you ask me. The council should be ready for whatever cold snap comes. She's probably saved us from icy roads in the future.
SandraMcK
@BarryBishopdale mate, you do know cyclists aren't responsible for the weather, right? Just a thought.
★ Margaret_F
I've never heard of using cat behaviour as a weather predictor! Could be a new thing, like the time when Gerald and I moved to Sumner and people swore the sea could tell you when rain was coming.
★ Margaret_F
In our day, we wouldn't need all these newfangled weather alerts. We had a good, hard frost to guide us.
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