Bell's Banter 2021

[morninggents]

Like Mike I'm old enough to know how cold winters were when I was younger.
Snow would last for weeks at a time and I remember the first winter after I started work in late 1962. I travelled in to Leeds by train and for week after week the fields and roadsides were thick with snow well in to February/March 1963. Afraid I don't remember 1947 as I would have been just turning 3 years old.

[delta]

I remember that winter . I would of been nine . Seemed to go on for ages . Happy Days

[Colin McKay]

The 63 winter in Aberdeen was just perfect for a 7 or 8 year old. Apart from all the usual snow fun I remember jumping off the back of the bus (open platform on the back) and hanging on while another kid did the same until there were half a dozen of us holding hands in a long string being towed along (probably only walking pace) and all this encouraged by a cheery conductor. When the bus got stuck everyone else got off as well and helped push. Health & safety? We survived!

I think it was 86 or 87 in Kent when we had the worst snow. There wasn't an Aberdeen quantity of it but what there was blew off the fields into huge drifts and filled the lanes to the top of the hedges. A neighbour trudging along with a long stick stuck it in the snow and found himself sitting in the back of a 2CV, the roof had ripped open. Nearby we found a Range Rover with the side missing after the army had dug us out using huge mechanical loading shovels. Another neighbour was sent home in an army Land Rover after an op and after trying all day to get up to us they had to take him back to hospital. And because we had a 1 year old we had helicopter airdrops of supplies. Nothing like it since.

[GORDON STREETER]

The bad winter of 1962/3 I had to pushbike to work about 5 miles away and as the roads were icy I must have fell off at least 3 times most days. Some mates and me had ice skates and we used to skate along the main road into our village.
In our nearest town (Tunbridge Wells) all the cleared snow from the roads/pavements was dumped into a massive heap on the common and it was still there after Easter.

[Mike Harte]

Back in the old days, the one of the worst years for snow for us in North London would be 1967 or 68. I still lived at home, and when I got up to go to work, all I could see of my Hillman Imp was the top 6 inches of the car and the roof' and that was not drift, but just how much snow had fallen overnight. Instead of a twenty minute drive into work, I walked to the nearest tube station, went into Central London to get a train back out to Tottenham - buses weren't running; all of which took about 3 hours.

Whilst at work I walked along to my friendly car accessory shop and purchased a set of chains, which I fitted the next morning as that was the only way that I could have driven to work, the roads still being snow covered. And for my sins, I had to take my father and a neighbour to their work as they couldn't drive. That was the first time that I have ever known for my father to not go to work, apart from holidays - he had plenty of those!

[The Fat Clerk]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

The bad winter of 1962/3 I had to pushbike to work about 5 miles away and as the roads were icy I must have fell off at least 3 times most days. Some mates and me had ice skates and we used to skate along the main road into our village.
In our nearest town (Tunbridge Wells) all the cleared snow from the roads/pavements was dumped into a massive heap on the common and it was still there after Easter.

62/63 is still talked about in hushed tones in my home town of Bognor Regis, as that was when the sea froze!

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Back in the old days, the one of the worst years for snow for us in North London would be 1967 or 68.

I recall around that time returning home one night - a 2 hour run usually - when the snow started half way back and getting within about 10 miles of the destination near Epping we ground to a halt due to traffic struggling in a long gentle hill somewhere. The falling snow was turning to ice almost immediately.



There was an artic half way along. Trying sacks under the wheels and other things but just could not get enough traction. Eventually, with about 5 or 6 people pushing the trailer and the sacks and some grit and persuading the driver to use a higher gear, he got just enough forward momentum to move a few feet to where there was at least some grip and off he went.


The car that had been stuck behind him insisted on using about 4000 revs in 1st gear to attempt to move. Although it was a few years before I could take my test I was able to persuade them to try third and low revs and they too got going.


I think we were next up. No problem as my Father had stopped to assist the others before the slope started to get properly steep. And he knew what he was doing.


For the 62/63 winter we were living in Germany.



I remember playing football in what seemed to be about 8 inches of snow. The school had a huge grassy play area on a slight slope that was perfect for sleds. Most kids had traditional wooden ones with metal runners The play area became sheet ice and stayed that way for weeks. Great fun seeing how fast one could go to jump the concrete drainage channel at the bottom of the slope and get as far as possible up the slight slope on the other side. No health and safety to worry about.


More recently I think it was 2011 (?) when there was a cold snap in November that lasted a while. Snow turned to ice and lasted 2 or 3 weeks in many places. Then returned over the New Year as I recall.



Youngest daughter was living in London at the time, came out of her house to walk to the bus stop and promptly slipped on the sheet ice covering the road, cracking her head and ending up in Hospital. We drove down to see how things were progressing and I recall many side roads in London with plenty of piled up snow.


In anticipation of future ice events I bought some trainers with "special" soles that were supposed to extended grippy bits of rubber when ice cold. Mainly I wanted to persuade said daughter that, whilst not high fashion, something similar might be very sensible for her to consider.


The package arrived and as we still had a sheet of ice on the road outside the house I went for a test run. They were brilliant. I could indeed run on the ice (in so far as I could run at all in any situation!)


Didn't need to go anywhere the next day. The day after that the ice melted.



Other than to see if they still fit (brief indoor check) I have not worn them since. So far, as of my last check a few weeks ago, the special rubber does not seem to have perished. I would imagine it would last no more than a few hours if worn on regular weather days and I doubt driving when wearing them would be a good idea.


Oh well, it seemed like a sensible idea with valid reasons behind the logic of buying them at the time ...



In the mid to late 80s some friends with a daughter the same age as ours (eldest) at the time invited us round for Xmas day drinks. Seemed like a good way to break up the day and entertain the kids. Lovely weather for the walk. Positively Spring like. High 50's in the Fahrenheit scale if memory serves.



Funny stuff, weather.

[John Elwin]

I remember in, I think, January 1982 when central London had some very heavy snow. I walked into the West End from my flat in Ealing in quite deep snow.

[delta]

Some Wonderfull stories to kick of the new year .👍

[midgetman]

I cut my grass once on Christmas Day. That would have been about 88/89 IIRC.

Generally I would say we're not having the prolonged cold snaps we used to. Maybe we ha e some headline snow, bit I have to scrape the car screens much less, and manage to walk without sliding much more easily. I do think on the whole things are warmer than when I was a nipper.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Peter Mallett]

Not sure whether things are changing as much as moving. I remember winters in London in the early 60s when we had to scrape the ice off the inside of the windows. Also it snowed most christmases. It would be cold until around mid to late May. Then summers would be dry except for my birthday. I do recall the 1963 winter because due to my family splitting up I used to travel between London and Aldershot every weekend. Snow everywhere.

[John Turner]

Yep, 63 went on forever, or seemed to, anyway!

[Tel 911S]

I remember the 62/63 Winter . Snowed on Boxing day , freezing temps & the snow didn,t clear till about April . Probably the coldest Winter in the last 100 years .
But could be matched or beaten this year. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/weather/to...st/ar-BB1cqd3K

Weather seems to go in about 30 year cycles .
1930s was hot , with Viking villages on Greenland be uncovered after not being seen for hundreds of years , [ they are now under hundreds of feet of ice again ].
1960s were mostly cold , with lots of warnings about going into a new ice age .
1990s were hot again , leading to the Global Warming news .
Since then it has been getting cold again , which is where the " Climategate E mails , hide the decline, Kids will never see snow again " etc have come from to try to alter the records to fool people it is still warming up .

But if this new " Beast from the East " hits us , then it could be one of the worst Winters most people have ever seen .
Just what we need after the year we have just had .

[VIVA GT]

Sorry to take you away from all of this weather nostalgia but I just wanted to let you know that the festive season is now officially over as Mrs V has now taken our decorations down (with my help of course). For some reason I did take particular pleasure packing all of the Baubles away and stashing them safely back into the loft.

[delta]

Mrs Delta did the same today as well . Right then “Easter eggs”👍