Chances of this '100 days of snow'?

Seeing as 1mm of snow brings this country to a complete halt I'm dreading it really. Oh well, getting my front tyres done today anyway, been putting it off for a while as they're awful but better safe than sorry.
 
Freefaller said:
Shock horror as winter brings winter-type weather.
Click to expand...

Britain to be hit by entirely typical weather.


TEMPERATURES in the UK are going to fall sharply over the coming weeks because that is what happens at this time of year, it has been claimed.

Meteorologists believe that winter, a spell of short, cold days commonly defined as a season, will be more or less exactly what you would expect.

Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute for Studies said: “Household fuel costs will rise considerably as families try to increase the temperature of their homes.

“People on the verge of death may die.

“Ice and snow will create icy, snowy conditions.

“Your car will refuse to start.

“Because it’s winter.

“It’s really nothing to freak out about, unless you’re a pre-Neanderthal cave dweller who believes sunsets are caused by Gark, the angry moon god.”

He added: “There’s a high probability that this winter will be followed by another sudden, weather-related phenomenon known as spring.”

Housewife Nikki Hollis said: “The important thing is to stay inside, carry a flaming torch at all times and don’t be sentimental about eating your plumpest child.”
Click to expand...
 
Every time I see a newspaper article like this I get all excited but then see "Exacta weather" and realise it's some fruitloop who bases his predictions on which way his hair is parted when he wakes up in the morning :(
 
Orionaut said:
It is not about fuel poverty, it is about electricity.

In 63 most people did not have central heating. They had open fires and burned coal. You do not need electricity to do that.

How would most people toat their homes if there was a long power cut with sub zero temps?

In 63, most people lived within walking distance of either work or a railway station (Pre Beeching remember) so life went on relatively uninterrupted.

(Steam trains laugh at snow Remember when Eurostar was towed home by Tornado a couple of years ago)

I remember going to school in the 60's while the roads were completely impassable! How? well everybody Including the teachers, lived within walking distance! Even a power cut wouldn't have stopped us. The school was heated by a coal furnace and, being a Victorian building, didn't need artificial lighting during daylight hours! Not today, Nowadays 3" of snow and everything shuts, because everybody lives miles away and need clear roads to drive there!

Because people walked a lot back then most people had a ample supply of warm heavy duty winter clothing so even if they couldn't heat the homes they would not freeze (Also, in the 50's/early 60's heaters were an optional extra in cars, so even people who drove needed to dress up warm)

I would be interested to know how many of you could go to your wardrobes and pick out a set of clothing that would allow you to safely undertake a 5 mile journey on foot at night in -10C? Most people in 63 would have been able too!

Because road commuting was rare most work places could keep operating, so again, life went on.

I remember during the late 60's/early 70's during the rolling power cuts. Again, we were far less dependent on electricity. An 8 hour power cut was fun rather than a disaster! even shops stayed open in the town centre (No electronic tills or credit card payments!!) and the town still has a couple of gas lights that still worked (Not to mention a Gasworks! so the Gas supply was not dependent on the Europeans or Russians!)

There were even Mills in Lancashire that kept operating during the "3 day Week" because they had ample coal stocks and didn't need electricity to run the machinery!

How would people get food in today if there were power black outs? even supposing that they could get to the supermarket?

Electronic gadgets are all very nice, but the way that they can be easily disrupted while, at the same time, we have become utterly dependent on them over the last 50 years is (To me anyway, who can remember what it used to be like) a bit worrying!
Click to expand...

So actually the point is that it's not just old people that would die... Although of course they would be more succeptable.

As for your question... Yep! I'd be fine (and regularly go out when it's "blizzard"* conditions in the UK. Gets a bit chilly at around -30 mind on my feet if I'm out for extended time...

I agree with the general gist of your post though, most people in the UK are just too soft and disassociated from the weather. Everything from inappropriate footwear and blaming the council for not clearing an inch of snow, rather than having winter tyres and shoes with grips like most of the rest of Europe.

Older people are some of the worst with this. It always shocks me the footwear a lot of older people wear when it snows, flat workshoe style shoes with no tread. :(

*So called UK "blizzards" are very rare outside of the hills and uplands. A blizzard is when you have 50mph winds and you're battling against snow blowing sideways freezing your face, not heavy snow falling vertically with a little bit of wind, thats just heavy snow...

EDIT: Apologies for assuming it would be about fuel poverty, it sounded like you were going to go into a ramble about the evil conservatives, bedroom taxes and other random scare story gumpth. I still think your post is a little extreme though...:D for example there are very few places in the country where a long powercut would happen (more than a day or so), those places affecting not a huge number of people.
 
Last edited:
leaskovski said:
To be fair, if you read the Express then you deserve to waste money on panic buying and giving yourself more stress than you need because you think the end of the world is coming.

Stupid Paper = Stupid people.
Click to expand...

But it is so accurate and well written, I really appreciate the way that they put across an objective, fact based report with absolutely no excessive hype or pointless content. Really good to see newspapers like this as that style of journalism does not annoy me at all, overall an informative and exceptional report, 10/10.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom