On Wednesday, 7 September 2016 11:05:15 UTC+1, Lawrence Jenkins wrote:
On Tuesday, 6 September 2016 19:47:55 UTC+1, John Hall wrote:
I've just stumbled on a link to a PDF file of an interesting set of
slides (by the look of it) produced by Stephen Burt on the winter of
1962-3:

https://www.rmets.org/sites/default/...32013-burt.pdf
--
John Hall
"Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin"
attributed to Sir Josiah Stamp,
a former director of the Bank of England

John. I see RD Blackmore's 'Lorna Doone ' winter of 1683/4 is on the second slide and is the coldest of the lot for that said period.

I too stumbled on a thread of mine on 'weather banter'about that winter and novel from many years back when Philip Eden was very active and seemed to like me then , you're in that thread as well.

Anyhow interesting and nostalgic for like many of us I lived through that winter in London and vividly recall the smog before Christmas and very etched in my mind until the day I die is the moment it started snowing in Camberwell , London on Boxing day 1962. The other thing that strikes me is when recalling the conditions that we lived in those days is how much better things are now in terms of comfort.

But that first snowfall of 1962 Boxing Day: I was ten and have to say this was only the second big snow event I could recall up until that tender age. I'm from what used to be known as a working -class family (now there is a non-working class) however that Boxing Day in my fortunate large 4 Bed Victorian semi in Camberwell it was bleedin' perishing. We had one 2- bar electric fire in the lounge where my dad sat and a paraffin heater plus the oven when it was on, oh and a gas 'ascot' water heater in the kitchen. I know I've said this many times before but with double glazing unheard of, central heating unaffordable (energy prices far, far, higher then today and insulation not even on the radar; well it had to be said the weather was always with you in the home let alone outside. So winter when cold was always a bitter cold and miserable experience yet I loved it and still yearn to live through that once again , which is stupidly naïve as I can move somewhere like North America and live in a barn and experience it all again..

So the scene is set 'Boxing Day 1962 ' My mother, sister and me are waiting for my dad to come back from the Harrow Public House in Lettsom Street just of off Camberwell Grove to go to our traditional Boxing Day dinner and my Nan and Grandads, its about 1:30 pm bitterly cold as we wait with our coats on for him in the kitchen trying to stay warm. He is late and probable had well over the then non existent limit as drink driving laws hadn't been yet legalised. So its around 1 in the afternoon, bitterly cold indoors let alone out and if I'm correct the early part of the day was sunny, but I do vividly recall those leaden grey clouds starting to move down from the North and getting so excited when the first snowflake fell.

Well me dad turned up eventually in his firms Morris flat front van (not one seat belt) and we drove through the settling snow about two miles to my grandparents. The other major social difference between now and then was the fact not one shop was open as we drove up Lordship Lane which was eerily deserted with my dads Morris tyres leaving the only marks in the newly fallen snow. By the way the van was bloody cold as well as vehicles than had fixed belt driven fans which cooled the engine precisely when you wanted it to get to operating temperature . So bitterly cold, dad driving us over the limit in a van with no seat belts all now totally illegal or seen as unacceptable conditions and it makes me wonder how did we survive it all . Well we did and we loved it all.


But that winter.......

I'm rambling now so I'm stopping right here

We were never really cold that winter, what with two permanently roaring fires in both rooms downstairs. What I do remember is the outside down pipes freezing solid, so neither bath nor sinks emptied. Two of his sons held on to a ladder while Dad went up and carefully blow-torched them. It seemed to do the trick.
I also remember how sunless it seemed, due to a factory chimney close by producing masses of vapour semi-permanently obliterating the sun.