BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 09 Feb 09 - 10:46 PM

I hear on the news it's back again in a big way, albeit briefly!

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Feb 09 - 08:19 AM

The temperatures went intot he 40s yesterday and my wall of ice (combined icycles) melted and fell off in huge chunks. A sigh of relief - the build up of snow and ice on the sunroom roof had me worried.

It's cold and the streets are icy but compared to the nightmare in Australia life is easy here.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: bubblyrat
Date: 09 Feb 09 - 07:10 AM

Well,Will Fly, I grew up in Sussex (Midhurst) and back then (1950s) snow was a regular winter feature,often with quite heavy falls.But nothing ever came to a halt,as I recall---What vehicles there were clanked around happily on snow-chains,buses ran,albeit slowly,and no steam-train (Midhurst had a station in those days) was ever inconvenienced to the degree that our modern trains are.We walked long distances to school,in Easebourne,as did the teachers,and a cosy "glow" was enjoyed by all !! I suppose,because we EXPECTED snow,we were better placed to deal with it,although I disagree with the specious argument put forward by some of my detractors,about it not being worth London having any snow defences ----shall we disband the armed forces then ??? After all,we haven't been attacked since the 1940s !!

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: Cats
Date: 09 Feb 09 - 06:27 AM

Snow's all gone and we are back to rain.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: goatfell
Date: 08 Feb 09 - 09:05 AM

I had a phone call from my Brother Jim out in Australia and he was telling me that it was 40.C/120.F good I;m glad of the cold and my brother John is in Melbourne so I hope that he and his wife Sarah are all right.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: Pistachio
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 05:30 PM

East Yorkshire has been VERY lucky and much of the 1/2 Feb snow cleared by Thursday. Back near the top someone warned of being correctly dressed for the conditions and ICE! I currently have a hand sized purple/green bruise on my thigh as my cosiest boots kept me warm but not upright. OUCH, I dropped sideways like a skittle (in slow motion) and still feel like I'm 2 inches narrower on my left side! I used to live in Germany where we were obliged to clear the pavement outside our property before 7am. I know there are so many who will say they do not have the time/aren't able /etcetera but it simply makes sense.(Of course I've not seen the volume of snow that others have suffered.) The most used pavements /school and hospital entrances, main routes to town should IMHO be dealt with by the council!(my employer)
Anyway, it's been pretty round here and it's currently dry so I'll get back to work. H.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: Cats
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 06:44 AM

This morning we have snow and thunderstorms at the same time. Impressive

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: Cats
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 11:58 PM

We had snow on Tuesday, here on Bodmin Moor and when we awoke yesterday we had about 6 inches and snow was still falling. We couldn't get out until the late afternoon but I work at home on Fridays anyway. It's now 5am and it snowed overnight as well. I love the stuff. My school was closed on Tuesday as most of the main roads were closed and the staff couldn't get in and about half of the students are bussed in from the surrounding villages. All Ok yesterday, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: goatfell
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 10:34 AM

well it is winter

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 10:10 AM

Kendall complains about the heat here in the summer, Manitas.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: kendall
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 08:37 AM

I always complain about extremes.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 06:32 AM

"You Londoners are lucky, we get mountains of snow plus bitter cold"

Make up your mind, Kendall. When you were over here you were complaining about the heat!

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 04:49 AM

We have had anothe 3" overnight, and it's still falling.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: goatfell
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 04:32 AM

i got a phonecall from my brother Jim out in Australia and he's say that it 40c or 120f great

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: goatfell
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 04:22 AM

that is the first lesson eximoes learn

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 04:21 AM

Well I tried to get to our farmhouse in the pennines last night. The purpose was to go and meet the boiler engineer who is coming to get the oil boiler to work again (it stopped a week ago and I couldn't get it going at the weekend). I managed to get to about 1/4 mile from the house along the lane (while I could'nt see over the top of the snow at the side of the road), then came to a car stopped with someone shovelling in front.
At that point I phoned the engineer, told him no go and turned around. At the end of the lane there's still two fields to cross and I don't think he'll manage to get his equipment there in an ordinary van.
I'll probably have a solid phase heating system by now!
And as I went back down the hill it started snowing again.

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 04:03 PM

Don't eat the yellow snow and my comment were on topic.
SHHHEEEEESE

Subject: RE: BS: Coping With Snow In Britain (revisited)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 03:53 PM

This was a discussion about snow. Please keep it on the topic of snow.Take your personal catfights elsewhere. We're not going to tolerate them here.
Thank you.
-Joe Offer, Forum Moderator-

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 03:00 PM

It will Sins, but then its useless for snow balls unless you really don't like someone :0))
We had another few inches today but luckily (not sure if that's quite right) I was nursing a stomach bug and told by work that I couldn't return for 48 hours. So at least today I was spared driving to Rotherham just to have the kids sent home again mid morning. Back to normal tomorrow perhaps?

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:53 PM

Will it reconstitute if I put it in the freezer? Refreezing is not recommended for most items.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: The Sandman
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:37 PM

WLD,i dont know what you are on,but can I have some too .really funny,ha ha

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:28 PM

handy hint

Pop a quantity of snow in an deep oven dish - in a preheated oven - about 200 degrees.

After a period of less than fifteen minutes, remove from the oven - much of the unpleasant 'cold' qualities associated with snow will have dissipated and been neutralised to a large extent.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:03 PM

I wish I had sent him a snowman kit for Christmas. LOL

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: jacqui.c
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:01 PM

My grandson is very happy with the snow. He has been wanting to come to Maine in the winter to jump in the snow and to make a snowman. I got photos from my daughter today showing that Newark had its fair share of the white stuff and he is having a great time.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 01:41 PM

And we like it that way - it keeps the tourists away for a while.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: kendall
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 01:32 PM

You Londoners are lucky, we get mountains of snow plus bitter cold! And, it doesn't go away until spring!

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 12:57 PM

A fresh fall in the Chilterns today. More problems down to crap driving than to the snow itself.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: theleveller
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 08:40 AM

I think we've run short of grit in more ways than one.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 08:36 AM

My neighbor and I keep the drain in front of my property free of plow poop mostly for self preservation. The one time it was blocked we both had water in our basement.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:58 AM

The old Highland Railway line from Inverness to Thurso used to maintain snow fences along the side of the line which were, I believe, very effective. They were also connected to the old mechanical semaphore signals so that if they (the fences)were blown down, the signals would automatically be returned to the danger position in order to protect oncoming trains (what is know in the business as fail safe operation. What kind of protection would you get on today's roads th that extent?:

http://www.highlandrail.org/info-lines-far_north.htm

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Penny S.
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 06:25 AM

Back to the snow. Back in the dim and distant past, about 25 years ago, maybe, farmers in Kent and Gloucestershire (only places I can speak for) used to put up snow fencing in their fields some yards from the road so that drifts would not form in the road itself. Also, Kent county council would retain farmers to go out and plough their local roads, and you could see the snowplough attachment sitting around in the yard waiting for use. We haven't had winters like those for some time, and as the sensible people keep saying - we can't keep heavy plant around for three days every ten years. Canada and Chicago, if they couldn't do it, they should be criticised, but if we did do it, and then ran out of cash for something more frequent, it would be wrong.

Someone round here, I suspect the farmer up the road, did a bit of clearing, and made a heap which made turning into our road a bit tricky, so i shovelled it out of the way - it wasn't a plough, though, more like a small bulldozer, from the blade marks. Perhaps the retainer idea is still in force.

Town roads are another matter - would you want to foot the bill for the damaged cars as the plough scraped them and dumped them on the pavement with the snow?

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Alice
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 11:52 PM

dogs have to cope with snow, too

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 10:39 PM

Last Friday we had small amount of ice under a thin dusting of snow. The police reported 230 accidents in the city alone, never mind the suburbs. And we get snow fairly often.

Slick roads are nothing to sneeze at.

The last time I looked, that island with England at the bottom, Scotland to the north, Wales at the hipline and Cornwall off to the left was called Great Britain. The geographers needed to name it something, I guess.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 05:38 PM

You know - if every single person in England and Scotland, quite independent of each other - filled a carrier bag to the brim with snow.......
















it would be strange thing to do.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Folkiedave
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 11:56 AM

the London parks were closed for 'health and safety' reasons.

Rother Valley Country Park was open.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/7868765.stm

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 11:49 AM

It seems to be over in London. The roads are pretty clear but the pavements are deadly with ice. I'm told there's more snow on the way but with sleet and rain so I don't think it'll settle.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 08:30 AM

This thread is drifting deeper than the snow in London.
Has the rest of the UK gotten their fair share of it yet? Maine had another inch or two last night.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 03:25 PM

Agreed, Poppa. The snow we get in Maine on a regular basis would shut down NYC for a week. There, they attach plows to their sanitation trucks for plowing - cumbersome and no trash gets picked up. It gets plowed under.
Here there are real plows clearing the mess as it accumulates. 14" may mean a late opening for some but not a closure. My office closed early (4PM) once this year. No late openings.
The power outage after the ice storm was inconvenient and I took the day off but the office opened on time and stayed open until 5PM despite on/off power all day.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: PoppaGator
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 02:39 PM

I read about halfway down and then skipped to the end, so ~ sorry if I'm repeating anything already noted:

It's not the amount of snow that determines whether a locality shuts down: it's how much more snow falls than usual, than people are prepared for. We get an inch or two every 15-20 years in New Orleans. There are no snowplows here, of course, and most people have absolutely no experience driving on any kind of frozen surface. So, when we have a snow day like we did last month, the whole town shuts down (for ONE day).

Washington DC is somewhat further north and gets a bit more snow than we do, but they are almost as helpless as we are when there is more snow than minor flurries, and when the stuff "sticks" and actually stays on the ground for more than a predawn hour or two.

The Obama family recently moved there from Chicago, where they are VERY accustomed to, and well-equipped for, major snowstorms. On about his third or fourth day in office, the President told the press corps that his daughters had to stay home from school and couldn't understand why such a piddling amount of snow caused their school to shut down.

Incidentally, the DC public schools stayed open. It was only the suburban private schools, like Sidwell Friends, that closed.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: GUEST,Green Wellies
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 12:00 PM

The whole country has NOT ground to a halt. All the staff in our company made it in - and on time too.

Please do not tar us with the same brush and those lazy individuals to use every excuse under the sun (Ha) for not going to work !

PLEASE REMEMBER THERE ARE SOME OF US WHO, IF WE CANT DRIVE - WE WALK !

Thank you rant over.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:24 AM

Yes... in many places park gates are locked at dusk - to save the cost of policing them I suppose.. if anyone breaks in and damages something then they get charged with trespass as well... there are very few truly 'public' parks in London, they're owned and maintained by local borough councils and estates so can be quite legally shut at night or an entrance fee charged for events and displays. Only 'Common' land cannot be fenced off and an entry fee charged.

LTS

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:13 AM

Ebbie, yes. All of my kids looked like me as a kid. I think he does esp. because of the red hair and, now, very faint freckles.:-)

To the rest of you, who gives a flying fuck where anything is and whether someone can plough or not?! It's not a permanent situation and why not just have fun with it...stay mellow, drink cocoa, read a good book, do what you must, but chill out (not literally!)

The parks are locked?! Really?

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: robomatic
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:11 AM

3ref said:

""I am not sure the British Empire ,was the greatest the world has ever known.could you explain why you think it was?"

This was not asked of me, but as a fellow Canadian Colonialist I'll give you my slant. At one time in our recent history, the sun never set on the British Empire! I don't think the Mongols, Alexander or even the Americans can make the same statement! "

This is true enough, and one realizes what a miracle that statement encompasses when one actually meets the British!

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:09 AM

We had 24cm according to my ruler which is about 9.5 inches which is a good length anyday!! In Coulsdon, Surrey some 8 miles further out, there was 40 cm which is 16 inches.

Now, with the limited number of snowploughs and gritters available in the Croydon area, they have done pretty well to get all primary roots open. As the schools are all closed, I would have though all able bodied boys over the age of say 14 should have been required to report for snow clearing duty!

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Anne Lister
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:09 AM

I was in Luton yesterday to run a storytelling workshop. Roads were not good, to put it mildly, and my participant list was completely re-drawn from people who had made it in to the children's centre where the workshop was happening, instead of those who had signed up and couldn't get in. Conditions were not improving when I got back to where I was staying in Leighton Buzzard, and I consulted with the charity who are funding the workshops - we decided to cancel today's session and I drove home to Wales.
As I headed west it was a different world, with far less snow and roads all cleared, so I wondered if I'd made a mistake to be so cautious - but near to home I found the Disneyland ride which is our hill. Like an uphill skating rink. Made it to the house but not into our drive, where ice under the snow meant my wheels were determined to take me and my car into a gate post. So I parked outside.
Today husband has been unable to get his car out of the road to get to work and we've watched council workmen (bin men included) try and fail to get to the local houses. The main roads have been gritted and are clear, but these local roads haven't been and aren't. The snow has continued to fall. I've heard from my contact that the venue for today's workshop would have been difficult to access because of ice and the chances were high that participants would have failed to make it in. And my journey home would have been even more difficult tonight.
It's all very well to say that other countries do this stuff better - I've been in Toronto when there was an unusually large amount of snow and there were delays and difficulties there, too. Same in Moscow. Same in France. You can cope with your usual climate, but sudden excesses of precipitation will throw us all off course whether it's frozen or not.
As to the daft wazzock who said schools closing would give children the wrong impression - she obviously hadn't realised that schools can't operate when their staff can't get to work.

I've made a snow cat in the garden and we're cosy enough here. No idea yet what tomorrow will bring and whether I can make it into the school where I should be teaching songwriting, but I intend to keep safe.

Anne

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:53 AM

Many parks were closed simply because they had been shut at dusk on Sunday and those with the keys to open them couldn't get in to work on Monday.

LTS

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: G-Force
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 09:23 AM

Saddest thing I heard was, on a day when loads of kids had the day off school, the London parks were closed for 'health and safety' reasons.

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 09:04 AM

Rain here overnight and much of the snow has melted. I waited for the call to close school but it didn't come so I set off. I actually had driven the full 25 miles and was sat in the car park when the call came through to say they had to close as roads to outlying villages were too dangerous (most of the kids are bussed in as its a special school). So 25 mile drive back home again! Twins are back at school today but Maddie's off. She has a trip to London tomorrow so is hoping it can still go ahead - me too given that there may not be a refund if it doesn't!

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 08:40 AM

A foot of the stuff is headed to Scotland and Wales. Enjoy, folks.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/4445836/Snow-Britain-forecasters-predict-ice-and-hail-to-follow-snow.html

Subject: RE: Coping with snow in Britain
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 08:09 AM

Just to be picky....

Many buses couldn't get into the capital to run because they are garaged in outlying areas where the snow was deeper and roads less frequented. Certainly that's the problem with at least one Underground rail line, and when a defective train blocks another line, it's safer to just stop all the trains.

Besides, would YOU like to have a double decker bus sliding sideways at you because icy roads have rendered its brakes useless for stopping purposes?

Today's Metro paper (freebie, left at train stations) featured a picture of a snowplough - stuck in snow! So what do we do then?

LTS