WHOA!
Be careful what you wish for Colin, remember December 2012!
Not near as bad as the winter of 1962 or even 1948!
I would like a lot less rain though , but hey; no snow or ice, please!
Spring is nearly here!
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roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
1947 was the worst, not that I remember it, but I do remember seeing pictures of the snow drifts in Buckley in a scrap book my Aunty kept. I found this on the internet.
'Serious snowfall events happen rarely, but when they come, the UK normally isn't prepared! One such winter was 1947. From January 22nd to March 17th, snow fell every day, somewhere in the UK! The snow accumulated quickly, causing real problems. The temperatures rarely rose more than a degree or 2 above 0! Several of these snowfalls were of 60cm or more, and depths of level snow amazingly reached 1.5m (150cm) in Upper Teesdale and the Denbighshire Hills. '
I do remember the winter of 1963 and if I remember correctly, it started on the evening of Christmas Day 1962 and lasted until the following March.
'1963 will be remembered more for its coldness, and less so its snowfall. 1947 the opposite, remembered for its snow, less its coldness. Nonetheless both were very cold and very snowy, and hazardous to life. For once, snow wasn't just fun and games.
In January 1963, there were 25 or more air frosts almost everywhere in southern England and South Wales! Mean maxes were below 0c in much of England and Wales, for January, and slightly higher during February. Braemar recorded a low of -22.2c on the 18th of January! Surpassed by 1995 interestingly!
The thaw eventually came, and there was flooding, but not on the scale of 1947. Temperatures returned to normal, as did lives, but no one will ever forget either 1947 or 1963, they will remembered as the 2 snowiest/coldest winters, for many years.'
I certainly hope we don't get either of these again after this Christmas.
'Serious snowfall events happen rarely, but when they come, the UK normally isn't prepared! One such winter was 1947. From January 22nd to March 17th, snow fell every day, somewhere in the UK! The snow accumulated quickly, causing real problems. The temperatures rarely rose more than a degree or 2 above 0! Several of these snowfalls were of 60cm or more, and depths of level snow amazingly reached 1.5m (150cm) in Upper Teesdale and the Denbighshire Hills. '
I do remember the winter of 1963 and if I remember correctly, it started on the evening of Christmas Day 1962 and lasted until the following March.
'1963 will be remembered more for its coldness, and less so its snowfall. 1947 the opposite, remembered for its snow, less its coldness. Nonetheless both were very cold and very snowy, and hazardous to life. For once, snow wasn't just fun and games.
In January 1963, there were 25 or more air frosts almost everywhere in southern England and South Wales! Mean maxes were below 0c in much of England and Wales, for January, and slightly higher during February. Braemar recorded a low of -22.2c on the 18th of January! Surpassed by 1995 interestingly!
The thaw eventually came, and there was flooding, but not on the scale of 1947. Temperatures returned to normal, as did lives, but no one will ever forget either 1947 or 1963, they will remembered as the 2 snowiest/coldest winters, for many years.'
I certainly hope we don't get either of these again after this Christmas.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
I certainly remember the snow of 1947 Colin, there was a country lane near where I lived that had a 180% bend with a four foot high grass bank up into a field. I was in the field with three of my elder brothers building snowmen and throwing snowballs with other youths. There was about six to nine inches of snow in the field but a lot of the snow had blown off the fields into the lane filling it completely right around the bend so it was all one level.
Two of my brothers took me by the arms and legs and threw me into the snowdrift in the lane, I enjoyed it so much I scrambled out and wanted another throw back in!
There were a row of railway cottages opposite with two old black cars parked outside in the lane, that were buried completely, they were just bumps in the snow.
The downside was the buses were off for a while and we had to walk a mile or so to school through the snow and ice, luckily my elder brothers Alec and Jack could carry me if I got tired on the way home, I was only six at the time.
Another memorable sight was standing on a bridge with my dad on a late afternoon as the light was starting to fade watching a fiery black steam express train thundering through the snow covered landscape towards Liverpool on the old Northern Line leaving a white mist of dry powdery snow billowing behind it.
As we left for home with me on his bicycle crossbar I could still hear it clatterwailing its way through the darkening landscape.
Two of my brothers took me by the arms and legs and threw me into the snowdrift in the lane, I enjoyed it so much I scrambled out and wanted another throw back in!
There were a row of railway cottages opposite with two old black cars parked outside in the lane, that were buried completely, they were just bumps in the snow.
The downside was the buses were off for a while and we had to walk a mile or so to school through the snow and ice, luckily my elder brothers Alec and Jack could carry me if I got tired on the way home, I was only six at the time.
Another memorable sight was standing on a bridge with my dad on a late afternoon as the light was starting to fade watching a fiery black steam express train thundering through the snow covered landscape towards Liverpool on the old Northern Line leaving a white mist of dry powdery snow billowing behind it.
As we left for home with me on his bicycle crossbar I could still hear it clatterwailing its way through the darkening landscape.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Striking out for my independence I was living on my own in a rural quite isolated single story rented cottage nr Rainford in 1962/3 and that winter has some bad memories for me.
No central heating or double glazing in those days and the nearest public phone a good two miles away.
My means of keeping warm; besides vigorous exercise or lots of blankets, just a small coal living room fire and quite a large double fronted Aga type coal fired cooking stove that also doubled for heating in this quite sparse cottage.
Because of the bitterly cold weather that winter I had squeezed my single bed into the kitchen in front of the stove as it gave out the most heat.
Sometime in the early hours the pipes to a forty gallon water tank in
the attic directly over the kitchen burst soaking me and my bed with the forty gallons of freezing cold water and putting the fire in the stove out and also the electrics so; no lights!
What a miserable night that was for sure.
I got dressed in the warmest clothes I had; my motor bike gear then for light I parked my motor bike in the open kitchen door with the engine running and the headlight on.
In the biting freezing cold I struggled to turn the water off then re-light the stove, all the time with my teeth going like castanets.
Meanwhile the water was already freezing solid on the inside bare brick kitchen walls!
Your brain doesn't function efficiently when cold and after several failed attempts to re-light the wet stove I had the bright idea to dip a rag in the petrol tank of my motor bike and use it to light the stove.
I managed to singe off my eyebrows and my hair in the front with the enormous WOOSH as it lit, just a tad too much petrol! it worked though.
Needless to say I moved back in with my dad that March of 63.
No central heating or double glazing in those days and the nearest public phone a good two miles away.
My means of keeping warm; besides vigorous exercise or lots of blankets, just a small coal living room fire and quite a large double fronted Aga type coal fired cooking stove that also doubled for heating in this quite sparse cottage.
Because of the bitterly cold weather that winter I had squeezed my single bed into the kitchen in front of the stove as it gave out the most heat.
Sometime in the early hours the pipes to a forty gallon water tank in
the attic directly over the kitchen burst soaking me and my bed with the forty gallons of freezing cold water and putting the fire in the stove out and also the electrics so; no lights!
What a miserable night that was for sure.
I got dressed in the warmest clothes I had; my motor bike gear then for light I parked my motor bike in the open kitchen door with the engine running and the headlight on.
In the biting freezing cold I struggled to turn the water off then re-light the stove, all the time with my teeth going like castanets.
Meanwhile the water was already freezing solid on the inside bare brick kitchen walls!
Your brain doesn't function efficiently when cold and after several failed attempts to re-light the wet stove I had the bright idea to dip a rag in the petrol tank of my motor bike and use it to light the stove.
I managed to singe off my eyebrows and my hair in the front with the enormous WOOSH as it lit, just a tad too much petrol! it worked though.
Needless to say I moved back in with my dad that March of 63.
-
roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
I don't know if I can better that tale but I'll try. In the 1980's, I can't remember the exact year, I was working on a construction site in the hills above Llanidloes in mid Wales and was staying in a caravan on site Monday - Friday.
We had a very cold spell in mid December with the temperature one day not getting above -5C and that night the water in the kettle froze solid, I was very glad to go home for the weekend.
As a follow up to that, in mid January snow was forecast for the Thursday night so, just in case it came down heavier than forecast, I went home on the Thursday night. This turned out to be a smart decision as it snowed heavily overnight and for most of the following day. The road past the site was blocked and a nearby farmer couldn't get down to Llanidloes until Monday. I spent the following week working form home as we had to close the site.
We had a very cold spell in mid December with the temperature one day not getting above -5C and that night the water in the kettle froze solid, I was very glad to go home for the weekend.
As a follow up to that, in mid January snow was forecast for the Thursday night so, just in case it came down heavier than forecast, I went home on the Thursday night. This turned out to be a smart decision as it snowed heavily overnight and for most of the following day. The road past the site was blocked and a nearby farmer couldn't get down to Llanidloes until Monday. I spent the following week working form home as we had to close the site.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Icicles on windowsills begin to splinter
The winds of Boreas makes us shiver
He brings the cold winds of winter
Anon
Boreas is the Greek god of winter
That's mighty cold Colin, especially as the kettle froze inside the caravan, the older caravans back then were usually well insulated.
Mind you Llanidloes is pretty isolated and quite high up in the Cambrians so it would be parky up there in the winter.
You must have been on a good bonus working up there!
Interesting follow up to my last post about winter of 62/3 is I looked on Google Earth yesterday for the cottage I lived in then and its still abandoned and now derelict.
It originally belonged to Lord Derby's estate and they have left it untenanted from 1963.
Last time I saw it was sometime about 82 when all the doors and frames had been removed inside and out and it was used as a cow shed/shelter which was really annoying as the last thing I did before I left was to completely re-wire the place and convert to 13 amp plugs and sockets from 15 amp round pin after the water burst.
Ironically someone has posted a picture on Google Earth taken near the cottage of the old coach road in the snow (formerly Lord Derby's) were I used to live.
The photo has been taken looking down Clare's Moss toward Barrow Nook and the old WW11 munitions dump hidden in the woods on Dairy Farm Rd.
Reading about your frozen kettle Colin reminded me as a kid growing up in the forties and fifties, some winters I used to scratch my initials and doodle in the frost on the bedroom window glass on the inside!
The parents and elder members of the family got to use the hot water bottles, either the flexible rubber ones or the heavy earthenware brown ones that stayed warm longer.
We younger members used the three iron shelves out of the oven from the coal fired range wrapped in old blankets to warm our beds in the winter.
They were hard fought for I can tell you as I had eight elder brothers and an elder sister.
My brother Gordon, better known as Bunny to my family decided that some large round stones heated in the oven would be ideal to use as bed warmers.
He duly found some round polished large stones in the local Sherwoods brook and brought them home scrubbed them and put them in the hot oven.
About an hour or so later one of the stones exploded in the oven, luckily it did no permanent damage and my Mam was out and my Dad at work.
Later that night Bunny wrapped one of the very hot stones in a piece of blanket and tried to carry it upstairs to warm his bed but the stone was too hot to carry and he dropped it on the stairs putting a scorch mark on the stair carpet.
Bunny smelt the carpet singe and quickly kicked the stone off the carpet whereupon it bounced down the stairs and cracked one of the red quarry tiles in the hallway.
The stones were rapidly abandoned as a heat source after that!
The winds of Boreas makes us shiver
He brings the cold winds of winter
Anon
Boreas is the Greek god of winter
That's mighty cold Colin, especially as the kettle froze inside the caravan, the older caravans back then were usually well insulated.
Mind you Llanidloes is pretty isolated and quite high up in the Cambrians so it would be parky up there in the winter.
You must have been on a good bonus working up there!
Interesting follow up to my last post about winter of 62/3 is I looked on Google Earth yesterday for the cottage I lived in then and its still abandoned and now derelict.
It originally belonged to Lord Derby's estate and they have left it untenanted from 1963.
Last time I saw it was sometime about 82 when all the doors and frames had been removed inside and out and it was used as a cow shed/shelter which was really annoying as the last thing I did before I left was to completely re-wire the place and convert to 13 amp plugs and sockets from 15 amp round pin after the water burst.
Ironically someone has posted a picture on Google Earth taken near the cottage of the old coach road in the snow (formerly Lord Derby's) were I used to live.
The photo has been taken looking down Clare's Moss toward Barrow Nook and the old WW11 munitions dump hidden in the woods on Dairy Farm Rd.
Reading about your frozen kettle Colin reminded me as a kid growing up in the forties and fifties, some winters I used to scratch my initials and doodle in the frost on the bedroom window glass on the inside!
The parents and elder members of the family got to use the hot water bottles, either the flexible rubber ones or the heavy earthenware brown ones that stayed warm longer.
We younger members used the three iron shelves out of the oven from the coal fired range wrapped in old blankets to warm our beds in the winter.
They were hard fought for I can tell you as I had eight elder brothers and an elder sister.
My brother Gordon, better known as Bunny to my family decided that some large round stones heated in the oven would be ideal to use as bed warmers.
He duly found some round polished large stones in the local Sherwoods brook and brought them home scrubbed them and put them in the hot oven.
About an hour or so later one of the stones exploded in the oven, luckily it did no permanent damage and my Mam was out and my Dad at work.
Later that night Bunny wrapped one of the very hot stones in a piece of blanket and tried to carry it upstairs to warm his bed but the stone was too hot to carry and he dropped it on the stairs putting a scorch mark on the stair carpet.
Bunny smelt the carpet singe and quickly kicked the stone off the carpet whereupon it bounced down the stairs and cracked one of the red quarry tiles in the hallway.
The stones were rapidly abandoned as a heat source after that!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
NADOLIG LLAWEN
To all our readers, may your Christmas be sincerely peaceful and faultless.
Phil
To all our readers, may your Christmas be sincerely peaceful and faultless.
Phil
Last edited by pollygog on Fri Dec 25, 2015 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
EPIPHANY
Three kings? Not even one
anymore. Royalty
has gone to ground, its journeying's
over. Who now will bring
gifts and to what place? In
the manger there are only the toys
and the tinsel. The child
has become a man. Far
off from his cross in the wrong
season he sits at table
with us with on his head
the fool's cap of our paper money.
R S Thomas
Some seasonal local poetry to cheer you up this wet Christmas day.
Hope you like this one too Colin.
I SHOULD LIKE TO WISH A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL
BLWYDDYN NEWYDD DDA
Three kings? Not even one
anymore. Royalty
has gone to ground, its journeying's
over. Who now will bring
gifts and to what place? In
the manger there are only the toys
and the tinsel. The child
has become a man. Far
off from his cross in the wrong
season he sits at table
with us with on his head
the fool's cap of our paper money.
R S Thomas
Some seasonal local poetry to cheer you up this wet Christmas day.
Hope you like this one too Colin.
I SHOULD LIKE TO WISH A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL
BLWYDDYN NEWYDD DDA
Re: Spring is nearly here!
FISHING
Sometimes I go out with the small men
with dark faces and let my line
down into the water, meditating
as they do for hours on end
on the nature of destiny and fish,
of how they are many and other and good
to eat, willing them by a sort of personal
magic to attach themselves to my hook
The water is deep. Sometimes from far
down invisible messages arrive.
Often it seems it is for more than fish
that we seek; we wait for the
withheld answer to an insoluble
problem. Life is short. The sea starts
where the land ends; its surface
is all flowers, but within are the
grim inmates. The line trembles; mostly,
when we reel in the catch, there
is nothing to see. The hook gleams, the
smooth face creases in an obscene
grin. But we fish on, and gradually
they accumulate, the bodies in the torn
light that is about us and the air
echoes in their inaudible screaming.
R S Thomas
I thought this was an appropriate poem for today.
Boxing Day is the traditional day for sporting activities and I would normally go fishing with friends, but this year it was predictably wet and windy so we, Nigel and I, elected to go three days early and had a good days fishing above Penmaenmawr in the Snowdonia National Park on Wednesday.
Total between us; 5 good sized rainbow trout, best fish at 5lb plus I caught almost on last cast of the day on a tiny size 14 green gold head buzzer.
Big bonus; virtually no rain all day!
We could see the sun shining on the tops of the hills behind us but just too low in the December sky to climb above Mynydd y Dref to the east and Tal y Fan to the south of us to bless us with some winter sunshine. But that's not a bad thing for fly fishing as sunshine pushes the fish deep and this lake is deep!
So, we fished in the shadow of the mountains all day.
We are out again fly fishing tomorrow, three of us, either at Nanerch or Llyn Derwen near Clawdd Newydd, depends on wind?
Sometimes I go out with the small men
with dark faces and let my line
down into the water, meditating
as they do for hours on end
on the nature of destiny and fish,
of how they are many and other and good
to eat, willing them by a sort of personal
magic to attach themselves to my hook
The water is deep. Sometimes from far
down invisible messages arrive.
Often it seems it is for more than fish
that we seek; we wait for the
withheld answer to an insoluble
problem. Life is short. The sea starts
where the land ends; its surface
is all flowers, but within are the
grim inmates. The line trembles; mostly,
when we reel in the catch, there
is nothing to see. The hook gleams, the
smooth face creases in an obscene
grin. But we fish on, and gradually
they accumulate, the bodies in the torn
light that is about us and the air
echoes in their inaudible screaming.
R S Thomas
I thought this was an appropriate poem for today.
Boxing Day is the traditional day for sporting activities and I would normally go fishing with friends, but this year it was predictably wet and windy so we, Nigel and I, elected to go three days early and had a good days fishing above Penmaenmawr in the Snowdonia National Park on Wednesday.
Total between us; 5 good sized rainbow trout, best fish at 5lb plus I caught almost on last cast of the day on a tiny size 14 green gold head buzzer.
Big bonus; virtually no rain all day!
We could see the sun shining on the tops of the hills behind us but just too low in the December sky to climb above Mynydd y Dref to the east and Tal y Fan to the south of us to bless us with some winter sunshine. But that's not a bad thing for fly fishing as sunshine pushes the fish deep and this lake is deep!
So, we fished in the shadow of the mountains all day.
We are out again fly fishing tomorrow, three of us, either at Nanerch or Llyn Derwen near Clawdd Newydd, depends on wind?
Re: Spring is nearly here!
SPRING EQUINOX
Do not say, referring to the sun,
'It's journey northward has begun,'
As though it were a bird , annually migrating.
That now returns to build in the rich trees
It's nest of golden grass. Do not belie
Its lusty health with words such as imply
A pallid invalid recuperating.
The age demands the facts, therefore be brief -
Others will sense the simile - and say;
'We are turning towards the suns indifferent ray.'
R S Thomas
New years day; well what a surprise this morning, a hard frost!
It was frosty even on the roof of our summer house and greenhouse but by 9.00am it was mostly gone.
Along with a few million others I stayed up till midnight to let the new year in and then stepped out into the garden to see the fireworks being set off locally.
A bright pale yellow three quarters waning moon shone through the trees at the bottom of the garden and looking up above my head a cloudless sky, clear as a bell.
Numerous fireworks blossomed and banged all over the night sky in celebration of the new year but for me the crystal clear sky with millions of stars in view twinkling overhead was the last bonus finale to an overall enjoyable day.
New Years Eve morning had started off with a cock pheasant strolling up our garden path at ten past nine to the door of the conservatory peering in and tapping with his beak.
He did this several times over a half hour visit as though he wanted to come in?
Meanwhile our resident wren hopped and zipped about its daily duties seemingly unperturbed by the size of our visitor to its territory, his third visit this week.
This cock pheasant is quite dark with no white ring to his neck and looks to be a young bird by the size of his spurs.
Still too mucky to walk the dogs down by the river in St Asaph due to the floods of late and the subsequent mud left behind so it was another visit to Colwyn Bay beach early this morning.
The beach was very quiet and at low tide with barely a half dozen dogs running about, quite a contrast to last Sunday morning when there had to be at least a hundred dogs with owners there but it was later on about 11.30am, I have never seen so many dogs gathered outside of Crufts!
The tide was in so they were more concentrated to about a two hundred yard wide strip of beach yet there were no grumpy growly dogs we met, just happy friendly mutts along with their proud owners and I'm pleased to say, everyone but everyone picked up their dogs poo, a lovely friendly impromptu social gathering for sure.
An enormous compliment to all the dog owners at Colwyn Bay for such good behaviour from their dogs and pride in their lovely beach; in stark contrast to the anti-social prats who let their dogs foul the footpaths along the Elwy at St Asaph on a daily basis!
Yet God knows, there's well enough dog waste bins about.
Just a reminder that the annual RSPB garden bird count is on the 30th and 31st of this month it's an important survey so, do take the time to participate this year!
I have fed my fish over the last week with wheatgerm and also my neighbours koi I am minding as they are still hungry and up looking for grub every day, this mild weather is just unbelievable!
The RS Thomas poem above; is this any better Colin, it aptly fits the time of season!
Do not say, referring to the sun,
'It's journey northward has begun,'
As though it were a bird , annually migrating.
That now returns to build in the rich trees
It's nest of golden grass. Do not belie
Its lusty health with words such as imply
A pallid invalid recuperating.
The age demands the facts, therefore be brief -
Others will sense the simile - and say;
'We are turning towards the suns indifferent ray.'
R S Thomas
New years day; well what a surprise this morning, a hard frost!
It was frosty even on the roof of our summer house and greenhouse but by 9.00am it was mostly gone.
Along with a few million others I stayed up till midnight to let the new year in and then stepped out into the garden to see the fireworks being set off locally.
A bright pale yellow three quarters waning moon shone through the trees at the bottom of the garden and looking up above my head a cloudless sky, clear as a bell.
Numerous fireworks blossomed and banged all over the night sky in celebration of the new year but for me the crystal clear sky with millions of stars in view twinkling overhead was the last bonus finale to an overall enjoyable day.
New Years Eve morning had started off with a cock pheasant strolling up our garden path at ten past nine to the door of the conservatory peering in and tapping with his beak.
He did this several times over a half hour visit as though he wanted to come in?
Meanwhile our resident wren hopped and zipped about its daily duties seemingly unperturbed by the size of our visitor to its territory, his third visit this week.
This cock pheasant is quite dark with no white ring to his neck and looks to be a young bird by the size of his spurs.
Still too mucky to walk the dogs down by the river in St Asaph due to the floods of late and the subsequent mud left behind so it was another visit to Colwyn Bay beach early this morning.
The beach was very quiet and at low tide with barely a half dozen dogs running about, quite a contrast to last Sunday morning when there had to be at least a hundred dogs with owners there but it was later on about 11.30am, I have never seen so many dogs gathered outside of Crufts!
The tide was in so they were more concentrated to about a two hundred yard wide strip of beach yet there were no grumpy growly dogs we met, just happy friendly mutts along with their proud owners and I'm pleased to say, everyone but everyone picked up their dogs poo, a lovely friendly impromptu social gathering for sure.
An enormous compliment to all the dog owners at Colwyn Bay for such good behaviour from their dogs and pride in their lovely beach; in stark contrast to the anti-social prats who let their dogs foul the footpaths along the Elwy at St Asaph on a daily basis!
Yet God knows, there's well enough dog waste bins about.
Just a reminder that the annual RSPB garden bird count is on the 30th and 31st of this month it's an important survey so, do take the time to participate this year!
I have fed my fish over the last week with wheatgerm and also my neighbours koi I am minding as they are still hungry and up looking for grub every day, this mild weather is just unbelievable!
The RS Thomas poem above; is this any better Colin, it aptly fits the time of season!