STOKE FOG TURNS SCHOOL RUN INTO 1940s DETECTIVE FILM, MUMS REPORTEDLY LOVING IT
Visibility down to about a Hilux length. One dad arrived at the wrong school entirely.
Thick fog rolled into Stoke on Wednesday morning and refused to leave until well after the bell. The Main Road school run became a slow crawl of headlights and hi-vis. Parents squinted at children who could have been anyone's.
Local mum Pania Whitcombe, 38, said she'd walked her two kids past the school gate twice before realising. "Couldn't see the crossing lady. Couldn't see the crossing. Heard her whistle and just walked toward the noise like a bloody seal."
One father, who declined to be named because his wife reads the paper, confirmed he'd dropped his daughter at the wrong school. "Pulled up, kissed her on the head, told her have a good one. She came back ninety seconds later and said 'Dad, this is the intermediate.'"
A Nelson City Council spokesperson said fog was "a known feature of the Tasman Bay basin in autumn" and that residents should "drive to the conditions". On Wednesday in Stoke that meant the pace of a man pushing a wheelie bin.
By 9.15am the fog had lifted to reveal three abandoned scooters, a lunchbox, and a Subaru parked halfway up a driveway on Marsden Road. The owner has not come forward.
The crossing lady, contacted for comment, said she'd had a lovely morning. "Couldn't see the parents. Bloody bliss."
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, fog was just an excuse to miss school altogether. Nobody bothered dropping us off somewhere else!
BarryBishopdale
Stoke is always like this. My brother lives there and says it's a constant game of hide and seek with the road signs.
Margaret_F
Check your Subaru. You can't trust those things to stay parked in any condition, fog or not.
couchgremlin
Lol fog.
SandraMcKenzie
Actually, the Tasman Bay area has a very specific microclimate that makes fog more frequent. Get a decent weather app, people!