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gmc
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Post by gmc »

Looks like I won't be going anywhere for a couple of days.
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Betty Boop
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Post by Betty Boop »

Hope you have lots of supplies.

We've ground to a halt too although I do realise we've not had as much snow as Scotland. Seemed to take everyone by surprise today as we were all preparing for the worst of it tomorrow.

I was prepared as I'd shunned the TV forecasters and was following South West Storm Chasers who did predict we may be affected a day earlier than had been thought.
gmc
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Post by gmc »

I'm right in the middle of that red bit you see on the maps. The roads here are so congested all it takes is one breakdown and the traffic to slow or stop the gtritters can't get through and the snow gets a chance to build up that's what happened on the M80. It's only a foot or so but it's drifting my car is all bit buried. Snoweing in london you'd think it was he end of the world.
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Betty Boop
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Post by Betty Boop »

I think north Cornwall and Devon are headed into a red alert too now, we're just not used to it lol

Street is like an ice rink out there at the moment, no cars moving at all. Not ventured out for a walk yet, youngest one point blank refusing to go out in it :wah:
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spot
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Post by spot »

I had a try, it's too slippery even in boots. I came back in.

The TV pictures from Scotland are a lot worse than what I've got.
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gmc
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Post by gmc »

Still coming down the biggest problem is the way it's drifting and the wind is getting up so it's almost a whiteout at times. The warnings tend to be too loud and too exaccerated so you tend to ignore them but maybe next time poeople will heed when it's a red one.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/nig ... 35006.html

Nigel Farage has bravely pointed out that all this snow disproves global warming – that's the sort of down-to-earth reasoning our country needs
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minks
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Post by minks »

I am giggling politely behind my hand.

we currently have well over 60 cm on the ground, and right now its falling and they predict another 20-30 cm over the next 24 house... I know I know we are much more used to this.

Be safe everyone, and check in on your elders to make sure they are ok. And if you are able, shovel the walks for those who can't.
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gmc
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Post by gmc »

We used to get snow like this nowadays it's quite rare people freak out and it seems a lot didn't take the red warnings seriously and try to drive when maybe they shouldn't

Who says women can't drive?

https://stv.tv/news/east-central/140943 ... -disaster/
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Betty Boop
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Post by Betty Boop »

How deep is it now GMC?

Thursday night it started to warm up a little round these parts, myself my daughter and her boyfriend were out in the street at 10pm. They built a huge snowman and had several snowball fights. It was just starting to rain lightly whilst we were out there and we came in at gone 11pm. It was surreal and beautiful out there, so still and quiet. By morning the majority of the snow was gone.
Clodhopper
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Post by Clodhopper »

I've been totally wiped out by the worst cold I've ever had for the last 5 days. Coughing, sneezing, aching bones, totally knackered by taking a kettle to the bird bath 3 times a day. Felt dreadful but at least it's a bit better today. It was worth it thawing the bird bath though - I've had Blackbirds coming looking for food and the crab apples still left on the tree were frozen solid so I threw out a couple of halved (normal) apples and that brought in a load of Fieldfare as well. Between them they half emptied the birdbath just for drinking water...

The last time I remember something like this is 1979 or maybe 1980? Around then, anyway. We had a similar late cold snap with snow and blizzards which conveniently blew the snow out of the fields and into the country lanes between them. My parents spoke then of a cold winter they remembered in 1947 (iirc) which was much the same except even colder because the local reservoir froze over enough to skate on which it never has since. It seems to be a rare but not unknown phenomenon, repeating every 40 years or so. Farage is a drooling cretin.

The thaw started here by 3 am and is still going.

My impression so far of this one is that the warnings have had some effect but that many people quite genuinely didn't realise how serious it would be through lack of experience of anything like it. I don't know if we can expect another cold snap here or how far north the thaw will reach in the near future. Also that Scotland has been getting it largely up the Firth of Forth straight from Scandinavia. Further south we've been getting it from more southerly directions - still cold, since the whole of Europe is affected, but not as bad. (Just watched the weather forecast - Scotland in the firing line for some time yet, warmer wetter weather pushing in from the south)

Chuckle. Saw that clip of the bus driver on the news. Very neat. A potential future star of the Bobsleigh team?

edit: all sorts of weird weather where the warm wet air hits the cold - freezing rain, black ice...we aren't out of this yet. Be careful, still.

another edit: Deepest snowfall: St Athan, S Wales, 55 cm!
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Post by magentaflame »

Whats a snow drift? What does it mean to 'drift'?
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Post by LarsMac »

magentaflame;1518101 wrote: Whats a snow drift? What does it mean to 'drift'?


Ever see sand dunes, where the wind blows sand into wave-type shapes?

It does the same with snow.
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magentaflame
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Post by magentaflame »

huh....i did not know that ...tah!
The 'radical' left just wants everyone to have food, shelter, healthcare, education and a living wage. Man that's radical!....ooooohhhh Scary!
Clodhopper
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Post by Clodhopper »

...in case the rather manic tone didn't make it clear - I was still thoroughly off my trolley when posting yesterday....
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Betty Boop
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Post by Betty Boop »

Clodhopper;1518106 wrote: ...in case the rather manic tone didn't make it clear - I was still thoroughly off my trolley when posting yesterday....


Hope you're feeling better now Clod.

Has your snow evaporated now?

The rain we had afterwards at least gets rid of the stuff quicker.

We've been cut off from the rest of the UK and as a result our shops are a bit bare. I'm off to seek out milk for the young one today, fingers crossed I find some.

GMC has gone quiet, wondering if they've lost internet or power or both :-3
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FourPart
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Post by FourPart »

On Thursday Upper Management saw fit to call a Force Majeure & send everyone home at 16:00 on H&S Grounds, so that everyone could get home safely. It took me over 2 hours to cover what would normally be a 30 min journey. As it happened I was pleasantly surprised to see the vast majority of drivers acting very sensibly - with the obvious exceptions. I counted them as 3 BMWs, a Merc & a Ranger Pickup. One of the BMWs simply didn't have a clue about pulling off uphill in the snow. He just did the usual BMW thing of "Look how powerful I am - see me accelerate" - and needless to say the wheel just kept spinning & moving from side to side. Whilst he was clearly going nowhere a Fiat Punto passed him in full control. The Ranger was just plain aggressive. Actually trying to overtake a lorry. Traffic was moving, albeit nose to tail, but he was just determined to get past the lorry (despite there not being any room to push back into once past). As it happened, just as he was positioning himself to make the move another lorry approached from the opposite direction, scuppering his ideas of passing. Once onto the Motorway it was eerie. A 2 mile single lane queue of traffic waiting to get off at the next junction, and not only was there no-one trying to pass & cut in, but the centre lane was clear & smooth running & despite the Matrix Boards showing 40mph, no-one was going above 35mph (nothing to stop them - just being careful), and the outside lane was totally empty.

To be honest I really felt guilty about going home. I knew there were customers out there that would be off supply & although there wasn't much I could do as far as raising Texh Issues & getting engineers out was concerned, I knew I could, at least, have been of some help to anyone who had simply gone off supply due to lack of topup & couldn't get to the shop, but home I had to go.

Fortunately Friday was this week's 'Off' day, having worked last weekend, plus I had the rest of the weekend off as well. However, back to it all tomorrow - and beginning of the month when we get all the calls about the upper threshold tariff coming in as well.
gmc
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Post by gmc »

Betty Boop;1518096 wrote: How deep is it now GMC?

Thursday night it started to warm up a little round these parts, myself my daughter and her boyfriend were out in the street at 10pm. They built a huge snowman and had several snowball fights. It was just starting to rain lightly whilst we were out there and we came in at gone 11pm. It was surreal and beautiful out there, so still and quiet. By morning the majority of the snow was gone.


It's only about 15 - 20cm or so bit it was powder snow that's drifting and blocking the roads. My car got buried although I dig it out yesterday and got out to do some shopping, I'd run out of beer. Temperatures below freezing so it's not going any time soon.



We've been cut off from the rest of the UK and as a result our shops are a bit bare. I'm off to seek out milk for the young one today, fingers crossed I find some. Look like your part of the country has a red warning now.

GMC has gone quiet, wondering if they've lost internet or power or both


Did have a power cut for a wee while this morning, gas cooker so that's OK was wishing I'd bought one of those little gas heaters that you get. Got a new central heating system a while ago and removed the header tank that was in the attic So there are now no pipes up there. Looks like you have a red warning for floods in your part of the country now. At least the scottish transport minister has the balls to tell TV interviewers not to ask stupid questions when they ask why they weren't ready for the worst snow in forty years and the first time there has been a red warning for snow. OK he didn't put it like that but it was clear what he meant. "Thank you for your expert advice" politely sarcastic and to the point.
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Betty Boop
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Post by Betty Boop »

gmc;1518114 wrote: It's only about 15 - 20cm or so bit it was powder snow that's drifting and blocking the roads. My car got buried although I dig it out yesterday and got out to do some shopping, I'd run out of beer. Temperatures below freezing so it's not going any time soon.





Did have a power cut for a wee while this morning, gas cooker so that's OK was wishing I'd bought one of those little gas heaters that you get. Got a new central heating system a while ago and removed the header tank that was in the attic So there are now no pipes up there. Looks like you have a red warning for floods in your part of the country now. At least the scottish transport minister has the balls to tell TV interviewers not to ask stupid questions when they ask why they weren't ready for the worst snow in forty years and the first time there has been a red warning for snow. OK he didn't put it like that but it was clear what he meant. "Thank you for your expert advice" politely sarcastic and to the point.


We had that fine dry snow, it was lovely from a snowball / snowman building perspective lol such a pleasant change to the snow I remember playing out in in the past.

We had it drifting from one side of the street onto my side of the street, you stepped off where the kerb should have been and it was halfway up to your knees, whilst the other side just had a slight covering.

It was nice the rain came and helped clear it all away a bit quicker than normal but with that came burst mains pipes for a few round these parts.

Flood warnings are from high tides as well as the melting snow and following heavy rain we had yesterday.

Have read on 'Cornwall Live' stories of people fighting over bread products lol shops are bare in my town. Managed to find a lacto free milk in one shop which I grabbed in case I didn't find any other milk but co op had some of that cravendale stuff on offer and plenty of it so grabbed those. That's my youngest happy he can drink his three pints of milk quota a day :wah:. There was plenty of UHT milk in both shops which surprised me, maybe youngsters don't know what it is?

Our roads ground to a halt quite quickly, we're just not prepared for this as it's a rare event in reality, people get so annoyed the roads aren't treated lol was watching posts on facebook moaning that the main street of town was untreated for the first day of snow and I sat on my hands to refrain from telling them the few gritters we had were no doubt desperately trying to get around to just keep the main A30 open as a priority.

The media was full of the police requesting people did not go out in their cars unless it was an emergency, think the A30 became a massive car park because people thought the warnings didn't apply to them. A lot of farmers gave up their free time to clear the roads around them so people could get out of the smaller villages again so a lot of thanks is owed to them.

On the Thursday I had an assessor coming to look at my boiler and heating system to see about a replacement. I had a text in the morning saying he was attempting the journey. I asked where he was coming from and that I didn't advise it given the forecast and the fact we were already under snow. Didn't hear another word until Friday, yes he set off, car skidded off the A303 into a ditch luckily he was unhurt and found a travel lodge to spend the night in and rescued his car the next day.
Clodhopper
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Post by Clodhopper »

Betty Boop;1518108 wrote: Hope you're feeling better now Clod.

Has your snow evaporated now?

The rain we had afterwards at least gets rid of the stuff quicker.

We've been cut off from the rest of the UK and as a result our shops are a bit bare. I'm off to seek out milk for the young one today, fingers crossed I find some.

GMC has gone quiet, wondering if they've lost internet or power or both :-3


It's hanging around, mostly as a cough and feeling bleah but over the worst thankfully. It shut me down completely for 3 days - didn't even eat. Fortunately I transcended carbon years ago and became a Tea based life form so survived on PG Tips. :) Basically, apart from thawing the birdbath, I was braindead on the sofa for 3 days and nights.

We had 5-10 cm snow here, which drifted (everyone seems to have got powder snow) but it was raining by 3am on Sat morning and gone completely by lunchtime Sat.

So no dramas here - oh - apart from a lot of burst pipes, apparently.

The West Country in general is vulnerable to this sort of weather largely as you say because it's so rare down that way; but also because although the hills aren't the highest the gradients are often very steep, which people outside the area don't really appreciate.

I couldn't help but notice that in Cornwall it was milk you were all concerned about. In Glasgow on the other hand, gmc was moved to fight through drifts and sub-zero temperatures for beer...

Thinking about it, round here you couldn't get tomato soup. Make of that what you will...
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gmc
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Post by gmc »

posted by clodhopper

It's hanging around, mostly as a cough and feeling bleah but over the worst thankfully. It shut me down completely for 3 days - didn't even eat. Fortunately I transcended carbon years ago and became a Tea based life form so survived on PG Tips. Basically, apart from thawing the birdbath, I was braindead on the sofa for 3 days and nights.


I find getting a good sleep is the best cure. Might I recommend night nurse and a couple of glasses of wine? Might not cure you but you will be unconscious so at least get a good night's sleep.
Clodhopper
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Post by Clodhopper »

Unfortunately vibration is the key issue relating to sleep and completely independent. I'm coping, with some difficulties. Long story short there is indeed little I can do largely because the phenomenon is barely recognised and there are no regulations concerning the matter. The National Helpline is an earnest couple doing remarkably well under the circumstances but honestly, woodland glade CDs aren't going to help me. I appear to be a real outlier on this one, as well - even people who hear the hum seem largely unaware of the vibration that causes it...

Thing is once I start looking at moving there's a remorseless logic that says I have to move out of London and go rural, where there is less chance of having 21 aircon units in a light industrial park 10 mins walk away going 24/7 using the underground car park as a soundbox...(the culprits, imo) and that raises the issue of how I support myself plus vehicle (don't run a car, living here).

I'm looking into possibilities.
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spot
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Post by spot »

I still haven't found a capable detection and logging system capable of nailing down the source for that. I had a couple of requests for information as yet unanswered though, I'll chivvy them.
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Clodhopper
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Post by Clodhopper »

spot;1518190 wrote: I still haven't found a capable detection and logging system capable of nailing down the source for that. I had a couple of requests for information as yet unanswered though, I'll chivvy them.


The trouble is, even if we logged numbers and waved machines there are no regs to complain they are breaching. I think it would still be worth doing - heck, it would be a huge step to have some sort of objective evidence.

Mind you at times when it gets bad it just amazes me no-one else can feel it and a seismograph would be sufficient. At times the whole house seems to jump and sway. As far as I can gather vibration from somewhere is interacting with the length of the property and setting up a standing wave, or waves. Given I counted 21 separate aircon units, if they re responsible that's a lot of wave generation at similar but not identical wavelengths with lots of opportunity for interference in the wave patterns, producing big peaks and troughs.
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Clodhopper
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Post by Clodhopper »

Scotland getting another dose, plus the Midlands. Still mild here.
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