I agree Chloe, it is better to be crisp and cold than what we in the NE call Mizzly.
What I remember most though is every very bad winter was followed by a heat wave summer. 1939-40 we seemed to be out on sledges in the field behind our house it had a lovely long run straight into a pond, luckily frozen, skating on the water meadows on the Billingham Bottoms where the mill streams ran it went on for weeks followed by a very warm summer and the Battle of Britain, a bit too warm methinks.
1944-45 a very bad winter, more so on the Continent, the Battle of the Bulge, that summer was very hot I had started work and we were fitting guards to machines girls had worked on all the war years, they suddenly had to be made safe. We and the girls went out on the field near the factory to sun bathe and me very red faced fought off Zena who was always trying to kiss me in front of every one, they thought it amusing i thought it embarrassing, we live and learn but they were different times.
1947, from weeks of snow and ice to fighting bush fires in Hampshire, we prayed for rain that June it never happened, we dug fire breaks cut down bush and were caught in a flash fire in a copse, we dived off a bank into a stream and got away with a few blisters and loss of hair, not much to lose with the military cut.
Other bad winters led to hot summers, always being actively outdoors we noticed such things and the odd shower was often a relief. Going to a place where we never saw rain for nearly two years believe me you come to appreciate the British weather, rain hail or snow.
January 2010 was the worst for me, more because of where we were than really the severity of the weather. It was perishing cold - minus 16C here - and we were living in a shed at the time, having moved here to convert a barn only a few months previous. We were totally unprepared for the weather, the water supply froze solid for a fortnight, we had no snow chains so couldn't get the car out - 4 mile round trip for the shopping walking in deep snow was tough going - and a rather puny electric heater was all we had to keep warm. The worst part though was that my elderly mother had fallen and broken her ankle on the day the snow arrived, leaving my severely disabled father alone in the house for ten days while she was kept in hospital. I was already snowed in by the time I heard what had happened so couldn't get down to help him. We all ended up relying on neighbours - Dad for his meals, us for a shower.
By December of the same year when we had another heavy snowfall, Mum and Dad had carers organised, we had snow chains and had installed a log burner and we could enjoy the beauty of it.
I wasn't born in '63. I do remember 1978 - but as a child deep snow was just great fun and nothing to be worried about.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Ma told me that I was born in a snowstorm - Ma nearly didn't get to hospital - the ambulance spun round twice in the road on the ice that night - apparently I arrived around lunchtime the next day
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
'63 for me, I remember going for a family walk on Loch Lomond. Some brave/foolish lads (the Scott family who own the island?) drove a Mini over to Inchmurrin. '79 was another cold one, the diesel in buses fuel tanks would freeze while standing at the bus rank in East Kilbride so the mechanics were lighting fires under them to keep them running!
I was born December 62. My mother was having twins, me and my brother. They did not have a phone where they lived. My dad had to go out to the local telephone box to call for an ambulance, he had to take a shovel to clear the mounting snow from the phone box.
I remember '63 when I was 12, but it was fun. We played in the snow and skated on the local lake.
The worst winter I remember was 1985/6 the year we moved to Dordogne. It was freezing, -25°. Our heating oil tank was in the garage and the oil went into the house through a pipe which froze so we had no heating. The farmer next door was great, he rigged up something with big containers of oil next to the boiler. When the thaw came my daughter's bedroom was flooded as she had a washbasin in her bedroom. The pipes froze and cracked. Our first house in France was an old watermill next to a river. Even the river froze. But another year during a wet winter the river flooded across the garden and the house was an island.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Posts
I agree Chloe, it is better to be crisp and cold than what we in the NE call Mizzly.
What I remember most though is every very bad winter was followed by a heat wave summer. 1939-40 we seemed to be out on sledges in the field behind our house it had a lovely long run straight into a pond, luckily frozen, skating on the water meadows on the Billingham Bottoms where the mill streams ran it went on for weeks followed by a very warm summer and the Battle of Britain, a bit too warm methinks.
1944-45 a very bad winter, more so on the Continent, the Battle of the Bulge, that summer was very hot I had started work and we were fitting guards to machines girls had worked on all the war years, they suddenly had to be made safe. We and the girls went out on the field near the factory to sun bathe and me very red faced fought off Zena who was always trying to kiss me in front of every one, they thought it amusing i thought it embarrassing, we live and learn but they were different times.
1947, from weeks of snow and ice to fighting bush fires in Hampshire, we prayed for rain that June it never happened, we dug fire breaks cut down bush and were caught in a flash fire in a copse, we dived off a bank into a stream and got away with a few blisters and loss of hair, not much to lose with the military cut.
Other bad winters led to hot summers, always being actively outdoors we noticed such things and the odd shower was often a relief. Going to a place where we never saw rain for nearly two years believe me you come to appreciate the British weather, rain hail or snow.
Frank.
My sister was born in the winter of Jan 47, and I was born in the december of the equally hideous winter of 62/63.
My mother said we were both close to NOT getting to hospital.
January 2010 was the worst for me, more because of where we were than really the severity of the weather. It was perishing cold - minus 16C here - and we were living in a shed at the time, having moved here to convert a barn only a few months previous. We were totally unprepared for the weather, the water supply froze solid for a fortnight, we had no snow chains so couldn't get the car out - 4 mile round trip for the shopping walking in deep snow was tough going - and a rather puny electric heater was all we had to keep warm. The worst part though was that my elderly mother had fallen and broken her ankle on the day the snow arrived, leaving my severely disabled father alone in the house for ten days while she was kept in hospital. I was already snowed in by the time I heard what had happened so couldn't get down to help him. We all ended up relying on neighbours - Dad for his meals, us for a shower.
By December of the same year when we had another heavy snowfall, Mum and Dad had carers organised, we had snow chains and had installed a log burner and we could enjoy the beauty of it.
I wasn't born in '63. I do remember 1978 - but as a child deep snow was just great fun and nothing to be worried about.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Ma told me that I was born in a snowstorm - Ma nearly didn't get to hospital - the ambulance spun round twice in the road on the ice that night - apparently I arrived around lunchtime the next day
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
'63 for me, I remember going for a family walk on Loch Lomond. Some brave/foolish lads (the Scott family who own the island?) drove a Mini over to Inchmurrin. '79 was another cold one, the diesel in buses fuel tanks would freeze while standing at the bus rank in East Kilbride so the mechanics were lighting fires under them to keep them running!
I was born December 62. My mother was having twins, me and my brother. They did not have a phone where they lived. My dad had to go out to the local telephone box to call for an ambulance, he had to take a shovel to clear the mounting snow from the phone box.
Glad the ambulance got there Jacqueline
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I remember '63 when I was 12, but it was fun. We played in the snow and skated on the local lake.
The worst winter I remember was 1985/6 the year we moved to Dordogne. It was freezing, -25°. Our heating oil tank was in the garage and the oil went into the house through a pipe which froze so we had no heating. The farmer next door was great, he rigged up something with big containers of oil next to the boiler. When the thaw came my daughter's bedroom was flooded as she had a washbasin in her bedroom. The pipes froze and cracked. Our first house in France was an old watermill next to a river. Even the river froze. But another year during a wet winter the river flooded across the garden and the house was an island.
Jacqueline 29, I was born on Dec 1st 1962, can I ask which date you were born.
Don't answer if you think it's too weird to ask.