Castle Aching

[Edwardian]

Even down here in darkest urban Berkshire it's been a bit nippy with the heating off during the day - I sat down to do some modelling on Thursday but hands were too cold so had to give up and do housework. Nice and sunny though, but not now - overcast.

 

 

Thank you both for reminding me of the good points of living in Sussex!! So far we have had a total of less than 5 minutes of snow! and while quite chilly, it's not that bad!!!!

 

Gary

 

The coldest house I ever lived in was in the South.  I had to wear 5 jumpers sitting at my desk.  In spring and autumn it was generally warmer outside in the sun, so I used to take breaks, strip off the jumpers and stand outside for a few minutes to warm up.

 

I bloody love the North, cold and all!

 

If it's chilly of a night, just put another Labrador on the bed.

 

 

5 minutes of snow!!!!!!! Here in the country of almost continuous appalling weather, I haven't seen a single snowflake yet!

 

Rain in Wales, by any chance?

 

Which is why the answer to the eternal question is "very"

 

(the eternal question here being "how green is my valley?")

 

Rain in showers, mists and drizzle,

Dampens all this sodden Wales;

I am soaked, but you are wetter,

Precipitation never fails:

Rain of Wales, rain of Wales

Soak me till I want no more

Soak me till I want no more.

[Edwardian]

Here in what constitutes The Far North to you lot ( I prefer to call it the southern edge of civilisation) we've had only an occasional dust of snow and some slight frost (-5°).   Barely winter at all!  Still almost T-shirt and shorts weather!  

 

Jim

 

Sorry, Jim, was that South Lanarkshire by any chance?

 

Clearly you are a Southerner to someone! 

[BG John]

Rain in showers, mists and drizzle,

Dampens all this sodden Wales;

I am soaked, but you are wetter,

Precipitation never fails:

Rain of Wales, rain of Wales

Soak me till I want no more

Soak me till I want no more.

I was shocked by your language when I misread this . Even though it's true .

[Nearholmer]

This morning, my son decided to play in two football matches, for two different teams, separated by fifteen minutes and five miles, and I watched both. So I know precisely what the temperature has been in middle England today.

 

Sub-tropical, by some distance.

[Andy Hayter]

Here in what constitutes The Far North to you lot ( I prefer to call it the southern edge of civilisation) we've had only an occasional dust of snow and some slight frost (-5°).   Barely winter at all!  Still almost T-shirt and shorts weather!  

 

Jim

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

 

Bunch of namby pambys.

 

 

Here, much further south than you lot, we enjoyed around 4 inches of snow yesterday and the temperature rocketed up to a balmy -3 C about mid afternoon.  Today no further snow (yet) and the temperature is resting around 2 degrees below yesterdays magnificent high.  If it chills down a bit later on I may be induced to light the fire.  

 

Cannot stop.  Off out to se a delightful young lady perform for what is the French equivalent of Children in Need or Red Nose Day - the Telethon.

[mullie]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

 

Bunch of namby pambys.

 

 

Here, much further south than you lot, we enjoyed around 4 inches of snow yesterday and the temperature rocketed up to a balmy -3 C about mid afternoon.  Today no further snow (yet) and the temperature is resting around 2 degrees below yesterdays magnificent high.  If it chills down a bit later on I may be induced to light the fire.  

 

Cannot stop.  Off out to se a delightful young lady perform for what is the French equivalent of Children in Need or Red Nose Day - the Telethon.

 

Someone further south than me on here that is unusual. We refer to driving across Beach Road as returning to England!

 

All that snow and I expect everyone carried on as normal unlike the UK, especially the southern part which grinds to a halt. We had a few flakes of snow on Thursday and the students I was teaching had to rush out to see them, so rare is snow in these parts.

 

Temperatures have been around freezing with a north wind for the last few days, cold by our standards yet only in the most exposed places do car windscreens freeze because of the salty atmosphere I assume?

Edited December 2, 2017 by mullie

[Compound2632]

The coldest house I ever lived in was in the South.  I had to wear 5 jumpers sitting at my desk.  In spring and autumn it was generally warmer outside in the sun, so I used to take breaks, strip off the jumpers and stand outside for a few minutes to warm up.

 

I bloody love the North, cold and all!

 

If it's chilly of a night, just put another Labrador on the bed.

 

 

 

Rain in Wales, by any chance?

 

Which is why the answer to the eternal question is "very"

 

(the eternal question here being "how green is my valley?")

 

Rain in showers, mists and drizzle,

Dampens all this sodden Wales;

I am soaked, but you are wetter,

Precipitation never fails:

Rain of Wales, rain of Wales

Soak me till I want no more

Soak me till I want no more.

 

Wettest holiday we ever had was a week in north Wales in August one year. The driest place we went was down the slate mine.

[Donw]

For some years we lived in Shropshire which is the coldest place in the England holding record low temperatures. I was up and off to work at 5am on the night they recorded -25.2 at Shawbury as we were some 600ft higher it may have been a touch lower. Shropshire is a far as one can get from the sea in the UK which is the reason why it gets so cold only Braemar and Altnaharra have recorded lower temperatures. So those English Northern places cannot say all South are softies. At that time around the Wenlock edge we had eight weeks when it didn't get high enough about freezing to even start to thaw. For some days the Diesel was going waxy in the vans and we had to leave the engine running while working or risk being unable to return to the depot. That sounds more like Northern Siberia where I believe in some places diesel engines are kept running non stop. 

 

As for rainfall Western Scotland is rather wetter than Wales and the Lake District is just as wet. Those on the Eastern side are notably drier. To put that into perspective I believe there are places where in the Monsoon they probably get more rain in a day than the wettest bit of Wales in a week.

 

I do find that in the last couple of years I seem to be feeling the cold more. Old age I assume.

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

In the monsoon, people walk about with an umbrella, while wearing a tee-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, smiling.

 

In Maentwrog, people only walk about if they have to, and they wear a stout hat, two jackets, thick trousers, boots, and a miserable frown.

 

The difference is not simply because nearly all the people in Maentwrog are Welsh, and hardly any of those in the monsoon are.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Nearholmer

[Andy Hayter]

 

All that snow and I expect everyone carried on as normal unlike the UK,

 

Well yes and no.  I had to go shopping in the next town yesterday - 8km away and 600m lower (5 miles and 2000ft).  The road had been ploughed but not salted - overnight temps below minus 8 and at that point salt stops doing its job.  So it was a rather slow and careful journey; leaving the road is a mistake you are unlikely to make twice.

 

Don

at the risk of making this sound like a Monty Python "you were lucky" sketch, you were lucky.  In 2012 our water main froze for 19 days - that is the main, not the pipes inside the house.  Not fun - well not for the OH, I was in Istanbul for a lot of the time and not exactly popular.

[BG John]

Wettest holiday we ever had was a week in north Wales in August one year. The driest place we went was down the slate mine.

In 1976, I had a holiday in Cornwall, and came home early because it was so hot. In 1977, I went to Wales, and came home early because it didn't stop raining!

[Edwardian]

 

at the risk of making this sound like a Monty Python "you were lucky" sketch, you were lucky.  In 2012 our water main froze for 19 days - that is the main, not the pipes inside the house.  Not fun - well not for the OH, I was in Istanbul for a lot of the time and not exactly popular.

 

Just for that you can go and eat some cold gravel and sleep in a shoebox in the road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE

 

 

I used to miss cold, bad weather when I lived in the Caribbean.  

 

When a squall hit the harbour, the sky went dark and grey and the rain drove onto the shore.  It was still warm wind and warm rain outside, so I used to turn my office AC to max and stand tat the picture window, looking out and shivering!

 

Possibly I was a little homesick for Northern climes!  Pining for the fjords, perhaps?  

 

The locals believed that to be caught with one's head uncovered in a rain storm was to invite death.  In contrast to what I have just recounted, I found walking in warm rain a wonderful contrast to the cold rain of home!

Edited December 2, 2017 by Edwardian

[Regularity]

The locals believed that to be caught with one's head uncovered in a rain storm was to invite death. 

 

And strangely, this is true, for one day thus will come to pass, even for those who have never walked with an uncovered head in a rainstorm, which I imagine to be a very small number.

 

Anyway, in the mid 80s I was a student in Preston, and in my first term it rained at some point during each and every day!

[corneliuslundie]

I can report that there was enough snow on the Berwyns on Thursday morning for it to be easily visible from the train near Welshpool. Definitely cold. But no snow in Newtown.

But today was much milder. And, shock, horror, today it was raining in neither Newtown nor Manchester - whence I went for the model railway show.

I shan't take offence at the ditty as it is a fair representation of reality.

However, I can report that i have seen a photograph of Blaenau Festiniog with blue skies, though it has never been like that when i have been there.

Interestingly, when we were in Kosova the temperature often dropped to about -15 degC in winter but it never seemed as cold as a cold, damp day in Wales - not even when we had two metres of snow.

However, unexpected things do happen. A few years ago my wife and I sat outside a cafe by the sea in Durres, Albania between Christmas and New Year, basking in the sun, a pretty normal situation. However, last winter they had snow, something unheard of. There were photos on Facebook of orange trees with the fruit covered in snow.

Jonathan

[wagonman]

I remember a holiday in Beddgelert where the grey of the land merged seemlessly with the grey of the sky – even when it wasn't actually raining. Not the sort of thing you'd forget. After a couple of days trying to keep dry inside slate mines etc we headed for the coast and found ourselves in Conwy...in bright sunshine.

[St Enodoc]

Someone further south than me on here that is unusual. We refer to driving across Beach Road as returning to England!

 

All that snow and I expect everyone carried on as normal unlike the UK, especially the southern part which grinds to a halt. We had a few flakes of snow on Thursday and the students I was teaching had to rush out to see them, so rare is snow in these parts.

 

Temperatures have been around freezing with a north wind for the last few days, cold by our standards yet only in the most exposed places do car windscreens freeze because of the salty atmosphere I assume?

Well I reckon I'm further South than most of you, but that's probably not what you meant.

[Londontram]

I spent a whole week in a caravan on Anglesey once and I mean in the caravan as it poured it down with driving rain for the whole seven days. Can you imagine just how damp the caravan was by the end of the week.

[drmditch]

Excuse me, all that is needed to cope with snow, rain, and miserable weather is to stay inside and get on with the railway!

[TheQ]

When we moved to the coast of Norfolk I told SWMBO, she wasn't convinced when we promptly had a very soggy winter.

Parking in the Hebridies, was a case of parking nose away from the wind, if you could, to stop the rain being driven through the the radiator to soak the engine.

 

In the days of Castle Aching of course the whole of Britain was colder and soggier...

[BG John]

In the days of Castle Aching of course the whole of Britain was colder and soggier...

Are you sure? I thought it was an age of constant sunshine, where everyone was fit, healthy and happy, even those in poverty. The occasional snow on and around Christmas day was a cause for celebration, as it made the joyful season more romantic, and provided the opportunity to ice skate on the village pond.

[Poggy1165]

Wales is absolutely gorgeous when the sun is out, but can be very wet and grim at other times. I recall a boyhood holiday at Penmorfa (just outside Porthmadog) when the first week it rained 24/7 and the second week was pure sunshine. Imagine if we'd just gone for one week!

 

As to "history" bear in mind that there was no double glazing or central heating. Again, as I kid I remember ice inside the windows and getting dressed under the sheets of the bed. Just one fire in the whole house, with maybe a paraffin heater in another room if it was really cold or if someone was ill. No wonder people used to wear layers and layers of clothes! In fact, if you go back to the 17th century, it was common for blokes to wear hats indoors, a fashion which seems to have come around again in recent years.

[Hroth]

In the 70s, my parents had just bought a house which the previous occupants had installed storage heaters.

 

The first winter we were there coincided with a vicious long cold spell and yes,there was often ice inside the windows. The storage heaters were about as much use as a chocolate fireguard!  That summer, they had gas central heating installed, though double glazing didn't follow for quite a while. However, the house never felt so cold again!

 

Just remember "Visit Wales, its not always raining!".

[Edwardian]

Well, yes, I have lived in houses with ice on the inside of the windows.

 

One of the fine things about a forsquare North Country stone house is that it easier to keep warm than many houses we've lived in.  Now, in the winter I have the luxury of living in a house which is at least warmer than the temperature outside!  Some houses I've known seemed to let the heat out and seal the cold in!

 

Have just been reading some notes from the WNR's Chief Permanent Way Consultant.  Thanks, Don.  I will make a further attempt to get the cork and the track print-out down and report once that is done.

[BG John]

I think the sun does shine sometimes, but if I look up to see, I risk slipping over in the mud that I need to concentrate on squelching through .

[Caley Jim]

There's no such thing as bad weather

Only the wrong clothes!

 

Jim