MichaelJP wrote:


"Lawrence Jenkins" wrote in message
...
Don't blink you might miss it.
I'll tell you how mild it's been, there's been reports from around the
country, that squirrels have been seen selling their surplus nuts at car
boot sales. Hibernating animals are concerned that they'll be knackered
come spring/summer due to lack of sleep.

Anyhow over on TWO someone kindly posted this link to a fascinating
British Transport film clip over on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlC4Z4OOc-0

It's called "Snow Drift at Bleath Gill which is up in what used to be
called Westmoreland, filmed 1955. Blimey that looks cold in fact although
only 52 years ago it could be another world, how things have changed.

I was just reading a book on the 1947 winter, and apparently some of the
snow drifts in railway cuttings were so deep and set so fast that they
could not even be cleared with a specially-designed jet engine blower, and
had to be blasted with dynamite!

Different world indeed.. don't think anyone who has lived through a really
severe winter like that would be an internet cold weather fan. In fact I
think many of those fans would soon tire of it after a few weeks of chaos,
especially if gas and electricity were cut off.

Wrong! My first memory that I can date is of the 1947 winter. I was a little
young at the time, being born at the end of June 1944, but I remember my
father having to throw an old shoe on the fire as we were running out of
coal. However, that winter probably triggered my interest in the weather.
Many years ago, it was found that there were peaks of applicants wanting to
join the Met Office amongst people who'd experienced a severe winter when
they were young.

As you'd have realised I also experienced the 1962-3 winter, that being my
first winter at work. It didn't dim my fascination with severe winters.

Given the choice between a severe winter or prolonged heatwave in summer,
I'd take the severe winter. At least you can put more clothes on to keep
warm but in hot weather, once you've stripped off, there's little more you
can do. I've slept in a bedroom which had snow on the inside window-ledge
for three days (1961-2) and failed to sleep in various heatwaves. I know
which I preferred.

--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
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