www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-10-worst-british-winters-ever-8945584.html?action=gallery&ino=1
This article has made me do a rethink regarding our winter heating requirements.
The 60 bags o' Anthracite I ordered were a bit of a mistake TBH, difficult to light and goes out when you turn your back on it.
If we get a bad winter I'll have to think about wearing long trousers and a cardi!
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my misses should call me anthracite... i tend to go out when her back is turned
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That's cheered me up; I thought I was old, but 8 of these occurred before I was born!
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I remember 1962-3. 4 meter high snowdrifts outside our house. Lane to nearest town blocked for 2 months.
Bitterly cold in house with no central heating and only coal fires and Rayburn for warmth...
The last three winters where we have seen -16C to -18C for a week or so seem mild by comparison..
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>>I remember 1962-3. 4 meter high snowdrifts outside our house. Lane to nearest town blocked for 2 months.
IIRC we had about an imperial foot of snow.
In 1947 my grandmothers cottage on a hillside near the Severn was buried in snow with only the chimneypot showing.
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I started with Hometune in the winter of 78/79, running about sowf lunden in a tiny Honda Actyvan with a Sun motor tester in the back.
I often had to sweep the snow orf the car bonnet, stand on some layers of cardboard I'd put on the ground to stop my feet from freezing, and then try and get a car to start in the sub zero conditions ... thank gawd for easy start!
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10 worst winters EVER? That's easy.
1. 2008
2. 2010
3. 2011
4. 2012
5. 2009
6. 2007
7. 2006
8. 2005
9. 2004
10. 2003
Note: 2008 may also rank as the best winter ever because I'm a big fan of snow.
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In North Northumberland in 1963 I recall it took the bus around 5 hours to travel the seventeen miles home from school with the passengers getting out to push it up some of the hills on the old A1....
Oh and welcome back Dog..... where have you been hiding?
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>>www.gotoquiz.com/cornish_o_meter
Deepest darkest Kernow, retpocileh ;)
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Nice you are back Dog have you been on your travels? The worst winter I can remember was 1963.I was a 14 year old then trying to cycle to Tech School every day about 20 minutes from our house in R/Dam.
We had a 24hr top up close coal fire in our living room,no central heating nobody had in our street.I believe we used to burn Anthracite good stuff for heat.
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>>Nice you are back Dog have you been on your travels?
Nay Dutchie, I've had the-mother-of-all problems switching internet providers without a MAC key.
I even resorted to using a £6 fleabay dial-up modem last week :(
All done now though, and I'm with *Zen*
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'62-'63. School cross country runs. We realised we were running on top of the 8' hedges that bounded a country lane.
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I am cluelesss what you are on about Dog.>:) MAC key is like a alien word to me..:0
As long you know what you are doing that is fine by me.
Got me thinking about a cousin of mine,he was Captain on one of the Broere Chemical tankers.He worked himself up from Deckhand to the top job at sea.I used to see him regulary on the Jetties taking cargo.I used to go on board having a natter with him.He showed me around the wheelhouse and all the modern equipment they use now at sea.He used to say to me I leave it to the young lads they are more educated than me>:)
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A MAC key is a 'Migration Authorisation Code' and is what y'all need if say you wanted to switch (migrate) from one internet service provider to A.N.Other.
How is Diane, Dutchie?
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Thanks for that Dog never to old to learn.
Diana is fine,got to keep a eye on her nerve damage in her legs won't get better.We are good mates having our battles.>;) I was going across the North Sea to family.I'm not keen leaving Diana on her own,I keep in touch by phone with them.Anyway that is enough of me ,thanks for asking Dog.
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I was saying to the missus only yesterday that it would be good if we reached a certain age, say 65, and then started getting younger again, pity really, I'm sure 'they' will sort it out genetically one day though.
:}
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It does happen Dog.You start off having your nappy changed and when you get to a certain age they wipe your bum again.>;)
Old age is c r a p jus accept it.
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I know what you mean Dutchie, I have to wipe Milo's bum with a wet wipe thingy every day.
:(
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Always hartbreaking when a pet gets older their livespan is so short.I've lost a few Dogs in the past took them to the vets for the last time.Something dies in your soul when they move on.
Anyway no more misery I'm going to have a nice glass of red..;)
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Milo is quite healthy at 13 years old, I wipe his ass because it needs wiping IMO and I don't want him on the carpet (you get the picture)
I should change his food for the senior stuff I suppose.
Enjoy your glass (or two) of Ribena ;)
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>> Old age is c r a p jus accept it.
Not everyone agrees with you Nederlander:
'Do not go gentle into that good night;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light...'
(wrote the tiresome but talented Dylan Thomas).
As for the physical details of ageing, could we drop all the stuff about baby wipes, skid marks, peeing on your shoes and so on? A bit near the knuckle, some of it... Milo isn't the only ageing dog around here you know Perro...
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>>Something dies in your soul when they move on.<<
What a beautiful but sad way to describe it.
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>> I started with Hometune in the winter of 78/79, running about sowf lunden in a
>> tiny Honda Actyvan with a Sun motor tester in the back.
>>
>> I often had to sweep the snow orf the car bonnet, stand on some layers
>> of cardboard I'd put on the ground to stop my feet from freezing, and then
>> try and get a car to start in the sub zero conditions ... thank gawd
>> for easy start!
>>
Easy start eh! Also known as Conrod bender!!
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>> known as Conrod bender!!
... and cylinder wall washer. Cars that used it often used to get addicted to it.
He was always a bad influence, that Perro.
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If easy start didn't do the job, I would use my big leisure battery that I used via an inverter to run the ole Sun tuner, and if it still refused to start, I'd spin the critter over with a 24 volt start and that rarely failed to start the critter.
We're talking about say mark 1 Escorts and the like, which had been standing for weeks in the freezing weather, covered in ice 'n snow, I'd obviously checked the compressions (zilch) fitted new N9Y's, points and condenser,
run through the tappets, timing etc. so if I didn't get em going, it was orf to the knackers yard.
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>>spin the critter over with a 24 volt start
I did that, not knowing the lights were on and the driver had his foot on the brake - forget how many bulbs went pop.
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>> >>spin the critter over with a 24 volt start
>>
>> I did that, not knowing the lights were on and the driver had his foot
>> on the brake - forget how many bulbs went pop.
>>
Do that on a modern car, and it would be ECU's popping!
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Can't really remember how it's done TBH, erm, x jumper to - of dead duck, (after taking orf its own - lead)
then - jumper to dd's engine block, maybe?
Course, I wouldn't consider using that method on a 'modern' car, unless it was Lud's.
:o}
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Cars that used it often used to get addicted to
>> it.
>>
Myth, I'm afraid. They were usually only addicted to it because their owners were too tight/poor/dumb/lazy (delete as appropriate) to get the damn things fixed properly.
Admittedly in the most extreme cases "fixed" meant a full strip and rebuild. Initial build quality may have something to do with it as well, never known a Japanese engine to need Easy-start.
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>> I remember 1962-3. 4 meter high snowdrifts outside our house.
I was in Malta for that winter, It snowed there and the locals were less than impressed. A couple of summers ago I was there again, It was almost 40C, they were still complaining, too hot this time. A bit like the forum contributors, never happy. :-)
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That bad winter of 62-63. I've counted back and worked it out...that's why I'm here.
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The winter of 63 will probably be the worse I will have ever experienced afore I clog off.
We were in Essex, trapped inside by snow drifts that were over the top of the door frames.
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I rather enjoyed the winter of 63, I was only 11 after all and we'd just moved from a 4th floor council flat in Bermondsey to a ground floor flat in Camberwell :(
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>> That bad winter of 62-63. I've counted back and worked it out...that's why I'm here.
>>
That method of keeping warm is only cheaper than central heating in the short term. :-)
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"That method of keeping warm is only cheaper than central heating in the short term. :-)"
Speak for yourself! (Where's BBD when you need him?)
If you think about it, it is a kind of central heating in itself.
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>> "That method of keeping warm is only cheaper than central heating in the short term.
>> :-)"
>>
>> Speak for yourself! (Where's BBD when you need him?)
>>
>> If you think about it, it is a kind of central heating in itself.
>>
Heating is cheaper than supporting a rapidly growing, hungry Westpig for twenty odd years. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 18 Nov 13 at 18:51
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I am old enough to remember the winter of 1946/7, not good in North London. great shortage of coal, power cuts, crops freezing the ground and about 5 weeks of freezing temperatures. I was in Cyprus for 1963/4 and heard about it some comfort, abroad!
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>> >> I remember 1962-3. 4 meter high snowdrifts outside our house.
>>
>> I was in Malta for that winter, It snowed there and the locals were less
>> than impressed. A couple of summers ago I was there again, It was almost 40C,
>> they were still complaining, too hot this time. A bit like the forum contributors, never
>> happy. :-)
Malta G.C.
Father being in the Andrew and Mother accompanying him on the posting, it was in King George's Merchant Seamen's Memorial hospital, Valetta, where I happened to be born, in 1935.
Mother always said she loved it there: enough money to employ domestic help on a CPO's salary and a wonderful social life for a lass from Yorkshire!
I was there, with the Royal Marines, in 1956 and thought it a pretty horrible place!
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>> thought it a pretty horrible place!
I've always had that feeling about Malta although my mother had roots there. She was pretty ambivalent about it herself.
Is 'the Andrew' some very hip slang for the navy that I have never heard Roger?
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>>>> Is 'the Andrew' some very hip slang for the navy that I have never heard
>> Roger?
>>
>>
Pah!
I am surprised at you AC!
tinyurl.com/q2bqlex
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I'm a bit surprised too because I've had a fair amount to do with the navy, from outside but on fairly close and friendly terms, over the years. But I honestly can't remember ever hearing it. One of those things.
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>> I'm a bit surprised too because I've had a fair amount to do with the
>> navy, from outside but on fairly close and friendly terms, over the years. But I
>> honestly can't remember ever hearing it. One of those things.
>>
tinyurl.com/q2bqlex (Royal Museum Greenwich)
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>> Royal Museum Greenwich)
I know ON. It's almost worrying because I have an ear for that sort of thing and like it.
Perhaps it's more of a petty officer's mess thing, seldom heard in wardroom circles? Not the sort of term used by admirals and chaps in big black Humbers? If so it's possible I would have missed it. Not through any fault of mine you understand.
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>> I know ON. It's almost worrying because I have an ear for that sort of
>> thing and like it.
>>
>> Perhaps it's more of a petty officer's mess thing, seldom heard in wardroom circles?
An occaisional bit of socialising rarely gives an in depth knowledge of anything.
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>> An occaisional bit of socialising rarely gives an in depth knowledge of anything.
No. But it might well convey the odd superficial detail, like 'the Andrew' for example. I'm not claiming 'in-depth knowledge' of course!
But my shoulder-rubbing with the navy amounted to more than an occasional bit of socialising really. I had the good fortune to scuttle about as a passenger in a genuine steam pinnace, as well as an admiral's barge in all its polished splendour...
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I was there, with the Royal Marines, in 1956 and thought it a pretty horrible place
Only 11 years after the end of the war when it was bombed to bits...!
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Worst Winters.... ?
Mike & Bernie, for starters
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I am quite lucky living in South West Manchester, we rarely get snow because of the city warming effect and the fact this part of Manchester is flat. It is very common to be no snow at all where I live but just 4 miles east there could be 3 inches on the ground.
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Oh No! - I thought I had banished them from my mind forever. Schnorbitz.
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Croeso'n ol yr hen gi !! (Welcome back Perro)
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Why thank you R.P. now where's that gordonbennet and corax etc.
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The "worst" winters are not the cold and snowy ones, they're the drizzly, miserable gray ones that are good for nothing and no one.
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>> The "worst" winters are not the cold and snowy ones, they're the drizzly, miserable gray
>> ones that are good for nothing and no one.
>>
There is a vast difference between "miserable" and "worst". Miserable is a state of mind which is a personal thing. In a bad winter the infrastructure can break down, so electricity can fail as can transport with all the implications of that. No food deliveries, medical supplies, income for those who are not financially secure, everyone is effected to some extent. I even goes beyond "There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing". :-)
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>> The "worst" winters are not the cold and snowy ones, they're the drizzly, miserable gray
>> ones that are good for nothing and no one.
Think the term should have been the "10 most extreme winters" You are right, a good cold blast with proper amounts of snow is delightful for a number of reasons - Its visually exciting, its refreshing, dogs have fun in it, and I can drive around in non winter tyres laughing at those who have lashed out dosh on placebo rubber.
Mind you extreme cuts both ways, I can remember one New Years Evening, in the Lake district, it was so warm I walked down to the pub in Shirt Sleeves.. Think it was 89.
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>>it was so warm I walked down to the pub in Shirt Sleeves.. Think it was 89.
Blimey, as hot as that, how absolutely incredible!
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Snow and ice is OK and even enjoyable in small doses if you are reasonably fit and steady on your feet. For many older people it effectively imprisons them in their own homes. Extreme cold also sends their heating bill soaring.
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Isn't the heating allowance due to be paid soon?
My old Mum is 85 and I think she gets £300. She thinks its brilliant as she never budgeted for it when saving for her older years. Although I am the complete opposite and never saved a penny since '97.
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Being paid out now. Take s a few weeks to send out to everyone who qualifies
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I got my letter last week threatening payment of the WFA within three weeks.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 19 Nov 13 at 09:55
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Great pics, especially the B/W ones, nice to see London, as it used to be .. time marches on.
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I got the WFA last week...within a couple of days of the letter. Now just waiting for the email for me to read the leccie meter.
Ted
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I was born 9 months after the depths of the 62-63 winter. No prizes for guessing how my parents kept warm!
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The 10 worst British winters ever - zookeeper
