Frozen Britain

Pesky Wesky said:

OK all you moaning mingers. If you think the weather's bad here, take a look at this!:smow: :scared: :smow:
BBC News - Frozen Britain seen from above :jaw:

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it.s not as bad as the press make out only minus 9 tonight in nottingham were i live lol

It may be very cold, and causing untold havoc with schools closed, and transport chaos etc, but it is a very, very beautiful picture isn't it?

lynn said:

It may be very cold, and causing untold havoc with schools closed, and transport chaos etc, but it is a very, very beautiful picture isn't it?

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Elderly people like my 80 yo mother would much rather it wasnt there at all no matter how pretty it looks. She has been unable to leave her home since before New Year and is fast running out of food. My sons who would normally do some shopping for her if she is ill and unable to go out cannot get to her as they live several miles away and the roads are impassable. She has telephoned the local supermarkets to see if any of them will deliver but they won't. So what do elderly people have to do to get food in these conditions? So much for caring Britain.

Veronica, I didn't intend to belittle the difficulties being experienced by people struggling in these conditions. You must be very worried about your mum. Perhaps you could contact your mother's local social services or even Help the Aged might be able to advise?
I saw an article on the news the other day which was showing a street in the south east where neighbours were helping each other out during the bad weather, so I do think there still is a 'caring Britain'. My OH has not made it back this weekend because of the weather. Whilst stuck in the UK, he is helping out, and I'm sure he won't be the only one.

lynn said:

Veronica, I didn't intend to belittle the difficulties being experienced by people struggling in these conditions. You must be very worried about your mum. Perhaps you could contact your mother's local social services or even Help the Aged might be able to advise?
I saw an article on the news the other day which was showing a street in the south east where neighbours were helping each other out during the bad weather, so I do think there still is a 'caring Britain'. My OH has not made it back this weekend because of the weather. Whilst stuck in the UK, he is helping out, and I'm sure he won't be the only one.

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We've been keenly watching the news as my parents are due to fly back next week (if they can) and Age Concern is urging the government to make an increase to the heating allowance for the elderly - eat or heat situation. The milkmen are starting their rounds at 1am to ensure people are getting their deliveries, gawd bless 'em, and their is evidence of people helping out in the most cut-off communities as well - meals on wheels are struggling with their deliveries, but appear to be getting through as it's all that many unfortunate elderly people have to look forward to - a bit of company and a hot meal. The satellite picture of UK under a blanket of snow is absolutely incredible - but I'm sure it's striking fear into many hearts as it's going to go on for a while longer yet.

It's starting to snow here now - we've not seen that in our particular area for years and years.

How's it going where you guys are?

Tallulah.x

Beautiful sunny day here in Mijas, although temperatures are down. Its a welcome break from the deluge of rain we have been having right through December, and more due over the next few days. I'm looking forward to being able to go for a run along the front, and taking the dog out for a lovely long walk. The rain doesn't half leave you house bound doesn't it!

lynn said:

Beautiful sunny day here in Mijas, although temperatures are down. Its a welcome break from the deluge of rain we have been having right through December, and more due over the next few days. I'm looking forward to being able to go for a run along the front, and taking the dog out for a lovely long walk. The rain doesn't half leave you house bound doesn't it!

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Bitterly cold here, but sunny and fine. Saw snow on the surrounding hills yesterday for the first time. Most beautiful sight is always the Pyrennees draped in snow across the bay. One of winters delights.

I had to scrape ice of my windscreen this morning and it was 1c - sunny spain huh!!!! Actually it is sunny this morning and yes, its better than the torrential rain we've suffered over the last few weeks (more of that to come tho!).

With all this going on, it makes you wonder how they managed in the middle ages, no heating, electricity, no indoor toilets, hot water taps etc....... NO GRIT - do we have gritting lorries in Spain???!!

Jo xxx

Yes - gritting lorries exist. It was quite laughable watching Galician news - they were talking about about 400kgs (should be a couple of tons really) - hmmm not exactly prepared!! Then yesterday, Proteccion Civil were going around the lanes - two guys standing on the back of the truck chucking out handfuls of salt.

Where was that place - down South??? - where this chap was pushing along what looked like a lawnmower along the pavements and it cut into the ice to remove it???

Glad to see we are keeping up the British tradition of waffling on and on about the weather!!:tongue1:
I keep looking at the frozen Britain Nasa shot. As Tallulah says, it's incredible, but scary at the same time!
Just spoke to Dad in W-S-M and they had 10cm of snow (yesterday I think) which is a huge amount for them on the south coast.
We are due for 10cm of snow tomorrow, just when the schools start back, yes it's been a really long holiday here.
Replying to Jojo's remark about the middle ages I was thinking the same thing. Think about the pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. Nowadays people wear fleeces and waterproof trousers, Gortex boots etc etc and still find the going tough!!!

Tallulah said:

Yes - gritting lorries exist. It was quite laughable watching Galician news - they were talking about about 400kgs (should be a couple of tons really) - hmmm not exactly prepared!! Then yesterday, Proteccion Civil were going around the lanes - two guys standing on the back of the truck chucking out handfuls of salt.

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Same situation here. The Monday before Christmas it snowed, everything ground to a halt here, in this town I mean. Around about they were gritting the roads at three in the morning to make sure people could get to work, kids to school etc. Here two men were seen chucking salt out of the back of a lorry at 12 o' clock midday!!

Well, the life expectancy in the middle ages was about 30 years, with a high child mortality rate, so they didn't get through that many cold winters!

lynn said:

Well, the life expectancy in the middle ages was about 30 years, with a high child mortality rate, so they didn't get through that many cold winters!

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There is that I suppose!

So basically "How did they manage in the middle ages?"

"They didn't!"

Pesky Wesky said:

There is that I suppose!

So basically "How did they manage in the middle ages?"

"They didn't!"

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Exactly! Except the odd noble who lived till 70+ because of his vast wealth and power. Easier to survive with everybody else doing everything for you.

Pesky Wesky said:

There is that I suppose!

So basically "How did they manage in the middle ages?"

"They didn't!"

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I'll ask Mrs H...she looks like she was around about that time...is that when crones and witches were were quite common..????

Hombre said:

I'll ask Mrs H...she looks like she was around about that time...is that when crones and witches were were quite common..????

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I'm seriously beginning to doubt that there is a Mrs. H. What women could put up with this!!!???????????:confused2:
Let Mrs. H speak I say!!:clap2::clap2::clap2: Let us hear Mrs. H!!!

Interesting report on Radio 4 yesterday: it seems that winter mortality rates are high in Spain, UK and ROI. All west-facing countries and of course most of our weather comes from that direction.
The theory is that because the climates in these countries are generally mild compared to Central and Eastern Europe people are ill-equipped to deal with extreme cold.
It could well be true and let's face it, we do make an awful fuss about cold weather. I feel like screeching at the tv: 'It's winter! Sometimes it's cold!!!'
Our first year in Prague we had snow, about 10 cm ongoing, from November to early April. I can only once remember buses, trains etc. not running as normal. Gritting seemed unheard of and roads were icy but it's the law that you have special winter tyres. Pavements wrere treacherous and I wondered how old people managed. People look after each other more than we do, though.
Worse was when it thawed, then it was really slippery underfoot and unimaginably mucky.

mrypg9 said:

The theory is that because the climates in these countries are generally mild compared to Central and Eastern Europe people are ill-equipped to deal with extreme cold.
It could well be true and let's face it, we do make an awful fuss about cold weather. I feel like screeching at the tv: 'It's winter! Sometimes it's cold!!!'

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Yep! After 10 mins of "news" of how it's snowed in Navacerrada - local SKI resort for goodness sake, I too feel like shreeching at the tv.
However, I do think we should sometimes heed mother nature, and even occasionally the Guardia Civil (!!) and just stay at home when it snows and is icy. " 2 hours to get to work in trecherous conditions (to sit at a desk and probably do very little because everyone's phoning everyone they know to talk about how long it took to get to work) on a journey that normally takes 20 mins is just silly IMO.

-21 in Braemar in Scotland last night, as cold as the North Pole, I am currently 125 miles off the coast of Aberdeen in the North Sea, cant wait to get off!