First snow of the season

[Antipodes]

Snow forecast here above 900m on Wednesday.
Shocking season really....

 

[rossbyjove]

I remember 81.
I was a hippy squatter in Frome, went sledging all night, got a collapsed lung as a result.
Next morning flown to Yeovil by helicopter as Frome was cut off, it landed on the big roundabout next to the hospital.
Fun times, i would go back !

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yes, they started to ban us from wearing uniforms off camp in the middle '60s.. Some of my mates were beaten up by a mob of "Ban the Bomb" idiots.. Then the IRA started to really increase their campaign for independance. I was at Odiham in '65 when they tried to steal armaments from the armoury, they were armed with rifles and pistols. I was on "Fire Piquet" that night and we were given "pickaxe" handles to patrol the airfield.. We were called to the armoury and we laid into the morons with the staves.. It was next morning we were told about the guns they had on them.

Weapons and servicemen seemed to have little logical distribution. I recall around twenty years ago having to attend an air force base in North Yorkshire. My van was stopped at the gate and I had to get out to be escorted into the guardroom for ID checking while my van was examined for UVBT threats. Having been cleared to proceed and returned to the van I realized the 3 x 4 foot diameter concrete pipe sections standing erect by the gate had a slot in at eye level and the muzzle of a damn big machine gun was pointing my way. Someone was inside as the gun moved slightly as I watched. The barrier was raised and I drove onto the site. By comparison Kirton Lindsey army (Rapier Barracks) never appeared to have weapons out from under lock and key.

 

[Bryang]

Weapons and servicemen seemed to have little logical distribution. I recall around twenty years ago having to attend an air force base in North Yorkshire. My van was stopped at the gate and I had to get out to be escorted into the guardroom for ID checking while my van was examined for UVBT threats. Having been cleared to proceed and returned to the van I realized the 3 x 4 foot diameter concrete pipe sections standing erect by the gate had a slot in at eye level and the muzzle of a damn big machine gun was pointing my way. Someone was inside as the gun moved slightly as I watched. The barrier was raised and I drove onto the site. By comparison Kirton Lindsey army (Rapier Barracks) never appeared to have weapons out from under lock and key.

In late'65 I was sent on a short detachment out to Malayar to help repair a Belvedere helicopter. It was stranded out in the "wilderness". So I was given a 303 rifle to take out with me, but no ammo... When I was " briefed pre opp" by the the RAF Regiment SNCO, he looked at my rifle and passed a remark suggesting that I should have brought something more modern than a "blunderbus.. I was actually charged with being in default of local safety regs.. I was issued with a (Belgum) FN and a brief intro to the weapon... When I got back to the UK My punishment for the charge was to take a weapons course with the RAF Regiment ( Rock Apes)... They gave me a right beasting..

 

[blackcloud]

A certain regiment has bases around our vicinity .One has a public road passing through it and if you loiter for any length of time a military police vehicle will soon investigate.The other one has an amazingly more relaxed approach given the sounds from the rifle range and frequent helecopter flights.

 

[JohnRB]

63 was bitterly cold

I was one year old and nearly died of pneumonia. Apparently the treatment was to keep a kettle boiling by my cot. Good job electricity was cheaper then!

 

[Newbeeneil]

I was one year old and nearly died of pneumonia. Apparently the treatment was to keep a kettle boiling by my cot. Good job electricity was cheaper then!

You were lucky to have an electric kettle!
I don't think we had one in our house until the mid 70's

 

[JamezF]

You were lucky to have an electric kettle!
I don't think we had one in our house until the mid 70's

You were lucky to have water! We used to scrape frost off inside t'windows and warm it up in us hands.



James

 

[JohnRB]

You were lucky to have water! We used to scrape frost off inside t'windows and warm it up in us hands.



James

Well I say kettle, it t'were a wire me old dad connected to the back of a street lamp and the watter were sweat wrung out of ma 6 year old brothers clothes when 'e got in from his 16 hour shift down t' pit. It were reet tough in Leeds in the 60's

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You were lucky to have an electric kettle!

my mother told me that they didn't have an electric kettle in 1963, which was lucky really - as they didn't have electricity that far from the village!

 

[blackcloud]

We lived int cardboard box bi' side of t'motorway.
Not many folk ad ccarrdboard boxes int those days

 

[JamezF]

Bizarrely the Met Office are forecasting temperatures back up over 10°C here from Sunday. The high for today was less than 2°C!

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bizarrely the Met Office are forecasting temperatures back up over 10°C here from Sunday. The high for today was less than 2°C!

James

lucky you - it hadn't managed to creep much over zero at middday here for a few days, today was a heatwave when it hit 2 degrees at lunchtime - before plummeting down again.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I drove to Swansea today. The temperature here in the Aeron Valley has hardly risen above zero for nearly a week. Pavements are treacherous in some parts of Lampeter. The fields and hedgerows are white with frozen snow.
From Carmarthen on there’s hardly any snow at all and the roads were dry.

 

[pargyle]

lucky you - it hadn't managed to creep much over zero at middday here for a few days, today was a heatwave when it hit 2 degrees at lunchtime - before plummeting down again.

It's a bit of a culture shock down here in the Costa del Fareham.. barely crept much above a couple of degrees since Saturday ... despite being covered in horticultural fleece I think its done for my broad beans as they are looking very sorry for themselves. They may survive and sometimes, even when they are decimated by frost they will regrow from the lower portions .. heating the house is costing a fortune so I hope it does come back up next week.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's a bit of a culture shock down here in the Costa del Fareham..

I bet. I’m surprised it’s not national news. I guess it would be if there were no strikes.

 

[pargyle]

I bet. I’m surprised it’s not national news. I guess it would be if there were no strikes.

Ir's so cold we had a male walrus the size of a small cow basking on the beach at Calshot !

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/p...-warning-for-residents-to-steer-clear-3950102

 

[JamezF]

It's a bit of a culture shock down here in the Costa del Fareham.. barely crept much above a couple of degrees since Saturday ... despite being covered in horticultural fleece I think its done for my broad beans as they are looking very sorry for themselves.

As are mine. I've not checked the field beans yet. They're supposed to be a little more hardy.

I've also discovered that because the fleece was wet and then froze, where deer have walked over it they've punctured holes in it with their hooves. If it weren't so cold I'd be out there lining them up for a trip to the freezer.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ir's so cold we had a male walrus the size of a small cow basking on the beach at Calshot !

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/p...-warning-for-residents-to-steer-clear-3950102

I hope folk leave the poor chap alone. Didn’t one have to be put down as it got too stressed by onlookers ?

 

[pargyle]

I hope folk leave the poor chap alone. Didn’t one have to be put down as it got too stressed by onlookers ?

The local wildlife people and the coastguard have been discouraging people from getting too close ... at one point some idiots were trying to get close up selfies with him... blithering idiots. It would have served them right if he had decided to take a lump out of them.