Mike Tullett wrote:

with all the cold weather. It was great in 62/63 in my first year at Uni.
(courting at that time), but a re-run would go down like a lead balloon
with me. I'm fed up with having to watch I don't slip, or that the cars
don't, or having to leave the boiler on at night to stop freezing in one
of
the feed pipes. 9 days of frost and snow on the ground is enough for me
now.


Sounds like we're more or less the same age Mike - I started work in July 62
instead of going to university. However, I still have a hankering for the
really cold weather, even after the clang I got on the back of my head
almost a fortnight ago - still feels a bit sore. Perhaps I ought to get a
crash helmet to wear when there's icy weather?

At least with the 62-3 winter it stayed freezing most of the time and so
wasn't so slippy as it is these days with all the thawing and refreezing.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."

Mike Tullett wrote:
with all the cold weather. It was great in 62/63 in my first year at Uni.
(courting at that time), but a re-run would go down like a lead balloon
with me. I'm fed up with having to watch I don't slip, or that the cars
don't, or having to leave the boiler on at night to stop freezing


Even I find I couldn't agree more. Here it's Day 12 of the Big Freeze,
with a severe frost every night and snow (down to 8 cm this morning).
We've been carless and snowed in now since Friday 18th, and I'm now
thoroughly fed up.

What's more the forecast doesn't look too good, either. I'd never
thought I'd found myself really wanting a good new-fashioned winter
mild wet spell.

Trevor
Snowed in in the Sidlaws, NW of Dundee
Weather; http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~taharley/

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice writes:
Much better new fangled things than simple time clocks available now
called "programmable room stats". They enable you to set specfic
temperatures for programable periods of the day and/or day of week.
Decent ones allow 6 periods/day and different programs every day of
the week. You don't *have* to have different settings each day, ours
doesn't and it has a "copy" function so set up one day then copy it
to all the others. And some will start the heating cycle the correct
amount of time before the first set point such that that set points
temperature is reached at that time.

If your heating really is on 24/7 I suspect you would see a noticable
drop in your fuel bill after fitting a programable stat and setting a
night temperature of say 15C. 61 maybe still working, heating the
house to 19C during the day, if there is no one there, is wasteful as
well.

Thanks for all the info. Now that I'm retired, I'm at home most of the
time. I got into the habit of keeping the house fairly warm for the
benefit of my elderly parents - my father in particular almost always
seemed to feel cold. Now they are no longer with us, I have turned down
the thermostat somewhat.
--
John Hall "[It was] so steep that at intervals the street broke into steps,
like a person breaking into giggles or hiccups, and then resumed
its sober climb, until it had another fit of steps."
Ursula K Le Guin "The Beginning Place"

In article ,
Graham P Davis writes:
snip
At least with the 62-3 winter it stayed freezing most of the time and so
wasn't so slippy as it is these days with all the thawing and refreezing.

Also the council were much better then at gritting or salting roads and
pavements. Most shops and householders also cleared away snow from the
pavement outside their premises.
--
John Hall "[It was] so steep that at intervals the street broke into steps,
like a person breaking into giggles or hiccups, and then resumed
its sober climb, until it had another fit of steps."
Ursula K Le Guin "The Beginning Place"

On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:14:20 +0000, John Hall wrote:

Thanks for all the info. Now that I'm retired, I'm at home most of the
time.

Being home most of the time you might not see much saving in fitting
a programmable stat but probably will have an improvement in comfort,
warm first thing, bit lower during the day when you are active, then
higher in the evening and drop back even lower overnight. I certainly
would not go back to a normal room stat and simple time switch now.

I got into the habit of keeping the house fairly warm for the
benefit of my elderly parents - my father in particular almost always
seemed to feel cold.

My Dad does, his feet feel like ice cubes all the time and his hands
feel cold but then he is 95. Don't know what his room stat is set to,
wouldn't be surprised if it was the mid 20's, I melt when I visit...

--
Cheers Dave.
Nr Garrigill, Cumbria. 421m ASL.

On Dec 29, 10:16*am, John Hall wrote:
In article ,
*Graham P Davis writes:
snip

At least with the 62-3 winter it stayed freezing most of the time and so
wasn't so slippy as it is these days with all the thawing and refreezing..

Also the council were much better then at gritting or salting roads and
pavements. Most shops and householders also cleared away snow from the
pavement outside their premises.
--
John Hall *"[It was] so steep that at intervals the street broke into steps,
* * * * * * like a person breaking into giggles or hiccups, and then resumed
* * * * * * its sober climb, until it had another fit of steps."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ursula K Le Guin "The Beginning Place"

It's looking like the "I'm fed up club" might be fed up for a fair bit
longer. Out to the end of the first third of January, the UK weather
looks very cold and the models are showing all sorts of possibilities
for snow and ice in different areas. It'll be a case of drawing on
mental reserves for many, relying on others and being ever so careful
venturing out. I echo Trevor's comments. Every time I look at a new
model run, I'm looking for a breakdown. There's some indications that
heights will begin to lower to our N and NW on the gfs, but that's at
T240+ and there are also hints of more warm air advection to our west,
as pressure may rise over the UK. Not a happy outlook for many, as the
Atlantic looks very blocked.

I must say I'm rather heartened by the veiw expressed by many on here
that a continuation of the cold will not be a fantastic, marvellous,
wonderful, life-affirming, ecstacy-inducing, period of our lives. It
makes a welcome change from previous Internet winters. Mind you, I'd
quite like a couple of days of heavy snow in Dawlish..........then it
can melt on a sou'westerly as quickly as it came, for me!! (Sadly, I
feel that if it does snow here, it may actaully stay for once. I'm
keeping my eyes on the weather for a New Year's day trip to Yorkshire.

Dave Liquorice wrote:

My Dad does, his feet feel like ice cubes all the time and his hands
feel cold but then he is 95. Don't know what his room stat is set to,
wouldn't be surprised if it was the mid 20's, I melt when I visit...

When my mother was living with me, the lounge thermostat was on 26 generally
but 27 in cold weather.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."

John Hall wrote:

In article ,
Graham P Davis writes:
snip
At least with the 62-3 winter it stayed freezing most of the time and so
wasn't so slippy as it is these days with all the thawing and refreezing.

Also the council were much better then at gritting or salting roads and
pavements. Most shops and householders also cleared away snow from the
pavement outside their premises.

In the 50s and 60s, I don't recall pavements ever being salted and cleared
by councils. I found the salting of snow-covered pavements in sub-zero
temperatures in recent decades to be more of a hindrance than a help as it
made nice crunchy hard-packed snow into dangerously slippery icy slush.

The amount of salt used in the 50s was less than nowadays and meant roads
could stay ice-covered although they'd been gritted. In the 55-6 winter,
council workmen had to remove ice from roads using pickaxes.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."

"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...

In the 50s and 60s, I don't recall pavements ever being salted and cleared
by councils. I found the salting of snow-covered pavements in sub-zero
temperatures in recent decades to be more of a hindrance than a help as it
made nice crunchy hard-packed snow into dangerously slippery icy slush.

The amount of salt used in the 50s was less than nowadays and meant roads
could stay ice-covered although they'd been gritted. In the 55-6 winter,
council workmen had to remove ice from roads using pickaxes.

--

In '63, it was well over a month before the local council got up to us. This
was mainly due to the number of cars that had been abandoned on the hill,
and had to be dug out by hand. When they finally did clear the road for
traffic, they came up fairly regularly and dumped piles of salt at strategic
points along the lane. It was up to us locals to spread it where it was
needed. including our own (steep) driveways. They were pretty good about it
once they got their act together.

jim, Northampton