Castle Aching

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

I don't know if I've told this story before. 

 

A little background first. Melbourne is situated on the far south eastern corner of Australia. As a result while it doesn't snow we get really penetrating cold winds coming up from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in winter. These are accompanied by very cold rain.

 

Anyway this would have been back in the early 90s IIRC. One of the English soccer teams came to Melbourne to play an exhibition game and they brought a lot of their mad supporters with them. It was late July which is a really cold part of the winter and it was blowing a freezing gale, it was raining and the wind chill couldn't have been much over 2 degrees C. 

 

These supporters who had clearly had confused Melbourne with our warmer north like Cairns in tropical Queensland were all over the city dressed for warm tropical weather - T shirts, shorts, sandals etc. while we native Melbournians had heavy winter gear on. If these mad soccer supporters hadn't looked so silly I think we would have felt sympathy. They were clustered together in groups - the reason I guessed was the same reason that penguins cluster together on the ice trying to keep warm. 

[Edwardian]

49 minutes ago, Malcolm 0-6-0 said:

I don't know if I've told this story before. 

 

A little background first. Melbourne is situated on the far south eastern corner of Australia. As a result while it doesn't snow we get really penetrating cold winds coming up from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in winter. These are accompanied by very cold rain.

 

Anyway this would have been back in the early 90s IIRC. One of the English soccer teams came to Melbourne to play an exhibition game and they brought a lot of their mad supporters with them. It was late July which is a really cold part of the winter and it was blowing a freezing gale, it was raining and the wind chill couldn't have been much over 2 degrees C. 

 

These supporters who had clearly had confused Melbourne with our warmer north like Cairns in tropical Queensland were all over the city dressed for warm tropical weather - T shirts, shorts, sandals etc. while we native Melbournians had heavy winter gear on. If these mad soccer supporters hadn't looked so silly I think we would have felt sympathy. They were clustered together in groups - the reason I guessed was the same reason that penguins cluster together on the ice trying to keep warm. 

 

Clearly they weren't from the North East

 

Snow, and not a goose pimple between them ....

 

[Nearholmer]

It’s all about choosing the right anti-freeze.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

59 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

It’s all about choosing the right anti-freeze.

 

 

Austrian white wine (for those with long memories)?

[Caley Jim]

We've twice visited my friend in Melbourne in Feb/March (their autumn).  While I was going about in T-shirts and shorts, Ian was wearing long trousers and a jumper.  Clearly he had gone soft in the Oz climate!

 

Jim

[drmditch]

13 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Clearly they weren't from the North East

 

Snow, and not a goose pimple between them ....

 

 

Actually, snowflakes on bare shoulders aren't too uncomfortable.

Managing heels on icy cobbles can be a problem though!

[Caley Jim]

48 minutes ago, drmditch said:

Managing heels on icy cobbles can be a problem though!

Speak for yourself!   I cannot comment as I have no experience of that!

 

Jim

[Andy Hayter]

15 hours ago, Malcolm 0-6-0 said:

I don't know if I've told this story before. 

 

A little background first. Melbourne is situated on the far south eastern corner of Australia. As a result while it doesn't snow we get really penetrating cold winds coming up from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in winter. These are accompanied by very cold rain.

 

Anyway this would have been back in the early 90s IIRC. One of the English soccer teams came to Melbourne to play an exhibition game and they brought a lot of their mad supporters with them. It was late July which is a really cold part of the winter and it was blowing a freezing gale, it was raining and the wind chill couldn't have been much over 2 degrees C. 

 

These supporters who had clearly had confused Melbourne with our warmer north like Cairns in tropical Queensland were all over the city dressed for warm tropical weather - T shirts, shorts, sandals etc. while we native Melbournians had heavy winter gear on. If these mad soccer supporters hadn't looked so silly I think we would have felt sympathy. They were clustered together in groups - the reason I guessed was the same reason that penguins cluster together on the ice trying to keep warm. 

 

Sounds like one of my work colleagues who had a business trip to our Italian plant in February. WE all know how far south from the UK Italy is and how warm it is (in summer). Turned up for the tour around the outdoor storage area in  jacket and trousers.  The temperature was an unexceptional minus 11C.  He did not speak any Italian but swears he caught someone say, "Stupido Englese."

[CKPR]

On 26/08/2021 at 09:18, Edwardian said:

Clearly they weren't from the North East

Oh, I dunno about that  - the night life around Bigg Market in Newcastle is (in)famous for people being somewhat under-dressed for the weather. Many many years ago on a freezing cold snowy Friday evening  in mid-winter, I set off with some friends to go from Durham to Sunderland Poly to see The Fall.  Wrapped up in big coats, scarves and gloves  and shivering in an inadequately heated car,  we drove past a bus stop near the Penshaw monument  at which we espied  a group obviously waiting for a bus into the Toon and who were in shirt sleeves and skimpy dresses amid the falling snow.

[Compound2632]

54 minutes ago, CKPR said:

a group obviously waiting for a bus into the Toon and who were in shirt sleeves and skimpy dresses amid the falling snow.

 

Don't forget dad,  out in vest and shorts on Sunday morning, washing the car.

[monkeysarefun]

On 26/08/2021 at 19:55, Caley Jim said:

We've twice visited my friend in Melbourne in Feb/March (their autumn).  While I was going about in T-shirts and shorts, Ian was wearing long trousers and a jumper.  Clearly he had gone soft in the Oz climate!

 

At  technical college we had an exchange teacher from somewhere in the  north of the UK .

 

He turned up at the start of the school year in January which is our summer and he was a brilliant white colour . The second week of term he arrived on Monday morning  by far the most sunburnt person I have ever seen in my life, he looked physically ill and was an intense burnt red everywhere plus blisters.

 

He'd spent Sunday lying on Bondi beach, which he thought was harmless like being at Blackpool apart from the shark alarms and not raining and no where to buy curried  whelks or whatever.

 

He'd  discovered the hard way that the Australian sun has an intensity that is unmatched almost anywhere else, helped by a thin ozone layer that lets in even  more burny rays. We didn't help by occasionally  clapping him on the back and going Gday sir.

 

He was off for 3 weeks after that, including 3 days in hospital on a drip. 

 

He'd have been better off if he'dj jumped into a pot of boiling water instead. 

Edited August 28, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Donw]

I believe ladies have a thicker layer of body fat than men. However I suggest you do not mention that to your wife when you are feeling the cold and she isn't.

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

They are also, on average, smaller than men, giving a higher surface area to volume ratio, which causes greater loss of heat, which is probably of greater significance unless the body fat becomes ….,, er ..,,,,,,,significant.

[Donw]

10 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

They are also, on average, smaller than men, giving a higher surface area to volume ratio, which causes greater loss of heat, which is probably of greater significance unless the body fat becomes ….,, er ..,,,,,,,significant.

With a complex body shape that may not be true longer arms and legs on a man may actually increase the ratio of surface area. It also depends on where the fat is held. I probably should have stated a thicker layer of fat just under the skin on women.

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

Do men, on average, actually have longer arms and legs in proportion to overall height? I’ve seen plenty of short, stumpy men, and tall, gangly women, but that probably doesn’t constitute a scientific survey.

[Edwardian]

While I'm sure discussing the female physique in the name of Science is an entirely legitimate use of our time here, it seems to me that the problem of fleshy exposure to chill air falls away if we retreat into the Edwardian period.  I think both sexes would look a lot better if we all adopted Edwardian dress.

 

Here come the girls .....

 

[Nearholmer]

1 minute ago, Edwardian said:

think both sexes would look a lot better if we all adopted Edwardian dress.

I’m really not sure I could carry a dress like that with my waist.

[Edwardian]

17 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m really not sure I could carry a dress like that with my waist.

 

Personally, I was going more for the Fat Controller look.

 

[Nearholmer]

Hmmm, not so good …… with no disrespect to yourself, when I see a person dressed as TFC, it tends to shout ‘Pompous Pillock’ to me.

[Edwardian]

12 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Hmmm, not so good …… with no disrespect to yourself, when I see a person dressed as TFC, it tends to shout ‘Pompous Pillock’ to me.

 

Pomposity is an occupational hazard in my line of work, so I'm sanguine at the comparison; if the top hat fits ..... 

 

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m really not sure I could carry a dress like that with my waist.

I am trying my very best not to laugh out loud at the moment Kevin and failing miserably.

 

Having been a tall and skinny bit of nothing for most of my life I could just about do it if breathing wasn't a priority.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

While I'm sure discussing the female physique in the name of Science is an entirely legitimate use of our time here, it seems to me that the problem of fleshy exposure to chill air falls away if we retreat into the Edwardian period.  I think both sexes would look a lot better if we all adopted Edwardian dress.

 

Here come the girls .....

 

 

You do realise, I'm sure, just how outrageously scandalous those ladies were at Longchamps in May 1908 - no corsets, skirts split to the knee (how else do you suppose they're striding out with such confidence?) - discussed here.

  

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m really not sure I could carry a dress like that with my waist.

 

They're designed to hold you in.

 

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Hmmm, not so good …… with no disrespect to yourself, when I see a person dressed as TFC, it tends to shout ‘Pompous Pillock’ to me.

 

So it works - it's perfectly caught his character. 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Compound2632

[Annie]

3 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

You do realise, I'm sure, just how outrageously scandalous those ladies were at Longchamps in May 1908 - no corsets, skirts split to the knee (how else do you suppose they're striding out with such confidence?) - discussed here.

No corsets? - Wow, - respect.

[Nearholmer]

Surely they must have been “corset conditioned” up to that date …… if anyone grew-up like the that woman on the left without wearing corsets, their parents would have been consulting eminent medical specialists.

[alastairq]

That's what a diet of porridge did for you....