On 6 Jan, 23:23, "Dave Cornwell"
wrote:
"Andy M." wrote in message

... Woodford, Manchester is reporting -15C at 22.00 it and Ringway have
been cold all evening. *Probably the wind direction across the snow
fields??

----------------------
Phew - I thought that was Woodford, Essex for a minute. I thought I was
going to have to run the blankets round to Ron ;-)
Dave

I was wondering earlier today how many people in this widspread cold
snap are going to end up with burst pipes on exposed plumbing (!),
bearing in mind v few of us have had to worry about that sort of thing
for many a year and we've all grown rather complacent?

Attitudes have changed markedly: My aunt (who died in 2008 aged 99)
would never leave her house in suburban Manchester, unoccupied
overnight from Nov - March, "in case the frost got in and the back-
boiler burst". I always thought that was being a bit over-anxious but
I'm not sure it didn't have some basis in fact - possibly harking back
to her winters of the 1940s or, more probably, being instilled with
her parents' worries in the harsh winters of the late 1800s - both
exacerbated by the meagre domestic heating provision that most people
suffered until the 1960s, if not later.

- Tom.