Preparedness for when

meme30

When we were kids my dad used the ashes to grit our paths. It always worked, he used to scatter them from the house to the front gate and from the back door to the coalhouse! We never used salt.

fuddle

I have a cheaper version of yaktrax bought from amazon. They're yet to be tested but the reviews said not to wear on normal paving as will ruin the spikes. There lies a problem as the paths are rarely (although they were one day last year!) all frozen/iced/snowed on the way to school.

I wore my hiking boots last year and they were the worst thing I could have worn on sheet ice. Wellies, I don't feel stable in. If I go down the two girls go down too. I'd have fresh snow to walk on any day, at least you can get a grip.

'Wintery showers' here on the 8th (kittie ) but until then nothing severe in temps or weather. I am very worried as I've ran my stocks of everything down in order to move house next month so the feeling of 'it'll be alright' that I get because of my stocks is going. That's why I prepare, for a bit of peace of mind. I think I may need a bag of supplies just to get the feelings of 'it'll be ok' back.

mardatha

I did look at ash carriers but he said no need. I think I might get one anyway and make him use it. Re paths etc I don't like spreading ash on them because then your shoes always trail black into the house. But wind is a nuisance and it blows all over him so I think maybe yes get an ash carrier, TY!

pineapple

mardatha wrote: »

I did look at ash carriers but he said no need. I think I might get one anyway and make him use it. Re paths etc I don't like spreading ash on them because then your shoes always trail black into the house. But wind is a nuisance and it blows all over him so I think maybe yes get an ash carrier, TY!

I live in a row of cottages with a little access road along the front and those of us who put ash down are not popular (I only do it when no one's looking :rotfl:)
Anyhow local news has forecast possibly wintry showers for us starting this Thursday. But one of the benefits of being retired are no more 'Will I get to work?' moments or even worse 'Will I get back from work'? :eek:

Butterfly_Brain

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

I know I posted a link to an express story re the cold winter, but its not the only place I saw the predictions. The met office is making noises in this direction and a number of the weather prediction/forecast sites are also saying the same.

Mind you I also read a few scientific papers/theories where there is a new theory that from historical records and current studies that suggest we are in fact in a period of global cooling and that our actions re carbon have just delayed the big freeze lol.

At the end of the day its up to the individual if you want to prep for anything, or nothing and how much you do. For me the case is looking stronger for a very cold early December if not the whole winter so I am prepping for that, but having food stored up also will help me when food/wheat/flour/bread prices shoot up next year.

Ali x

Prices are already on the rise, I went into Asda today and the smart price flour is now 60p and I have checked online Tesco's has gone to the same price plus corned beef, sardines and pasta have all gone up too.

fuddle

I'm a huge snow fan. I go all childlike when it's going to be forecast, can't take my eyes off it when it's falling and get excited when it's time to go out to play in it. Unfortunately though, I grew up and got myself a family and now the joy is tarnished with utter dread if any one of us has to go out in it.

I never know whether to clear the snow off the path in front of the drive. I got shouted at (nicely, in warning) one year by a man up the street "I would do that hinny if I wor you, that's the council's path and you'll get done (sued) if so much as a pigeon slips on the clearing!" So now I clear a nice driveway that DH still can't get onto because we daren't touch the snow in front of it.

2tonsils

I will try to find the other links to the predictions of extreme cold and snow, other than the Express which I do think goes overboard to sell more papers. My friend in America says the warm wet air is currently holding off the cold system for the UK but he seems to think there may be snow and very cold nights/winds when the cold system breaks through. I still think that the UK is in for a rough ride with the weather for a few months yet and although its just my personal opinion it has stopped me booking a trip to the UK until at least April!

Meanwhile I found this comment about the deep freeze that hit parts of Europe in February this year. This comment refers to 540 dead but I believe the final total was almost 1000. Many of those froze in their own homes. Many in the UK and America didn't even know it had happened....

Here is the article:

Death-toll from European deep freeze hits 540 as Danube freezes over


February 10, 2012 – GERMANY – Thick ice closed vast swathes of the Danube on Thursday, crippling shipping on Europe’s busiest waterway, as the death toll from bitter cold across the continent rose to at least 540. As it has every day for nearly two weeks, the brutal cold claimed lives in several countries and killed dozens more in weather-related accidents. The 2,860-kilometre (1,780-mile) Danube, which flows through 10 countries and is vital for transport, power, irrigation, industry and fishing, was wholly or partially blocked from Austria to its mouth on the Black Sea. Navigation was impossible or restricted in Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, as ice covered the river or formed dangerous floes in shipping lanes. An official from the Serbian economy ministry said the commercial repercussions “could be very bad,” while infrastructure ministry official Pavle Galico said shipping would not resume for 10 days. Bulgarian authorities, who have banned all navigation on the river, reported 224 vessels stuck in ports, and Ukrainian rescuers in Croatia reached three crew members on a ship trapped in the ice since Friday. Temperatures in Bulgaria dropped to a new record low Thursday of minus 28.6 degrees Celsius (minus 19.5 Fahrenheit) in the northwestern town of Vidin. The country has halted all power exports due to the cold snap. So far, 28 people have been killed in Bulgaria as a result of the weather, including eight who drowned when the icy waters of a small dam swept through their village of Biser in the southeast. Serbian railways, meanwhile, said the famed Balkan Express train that runs from Belgrade to Istanbul would only go as far as Sofia for now because of the flooding in Bulgaria.



It was awful here in Greece as well, the wind was arctic and you needed thermals under layers of other clothes just to keep reasonably warm. We bought full sets of ski thermals including hats and gloves. Here is a photo of me in February 2012...I just needed to pull my fur lined hood up then I was ready to go for a walk...I had thermals beneath my clothes. The jacket has long fold back sleeves that pull down to cover your hands in the wind/snow

http://i1342.photobucket.com/albums/o772/2tonsils/hatandgloveslol.jpg

Some nights we needed both the wood fire and the central heating on at the same time and several nights we slept downstairs and kept the fire on as it was too cold to sleep upstairs. If it gets frosty or snowy we can't go anywhere as we live near the top of the mountain and none of the roads get gritted here. It would be deadly to try to drive on them. Many of the lemon and orange trees froze solid -then the fruit rotted when it defrosted.

This year has been much warmer than usual but I can feel a chill in the air now when the wind gets up.. In line for five days of storms so it will stay around 17 degrees in the day but drop to about 4 at night. We can already see snow on the mountains on the mainland.

meme30

Our access is via a cul-de-sac which is very narrow, virtually no path at all. At least half of the 32 houses clear their drives and the road in front of them.
I clear ours across to the neighbours opposite and the width of the house. They are in poor health and need to be able to drive to hospital quickly if needs be. It sounds a lot but then I do love clearing snow! By the time we drive from one cleared area to the next we can get out of the street ok. We have learned not to depend on the council.
One year it was 4 inch deep solid ice. The men at the bottom started digging out and the rest joined in. My older neighbour came out with whiskeys for everyone :rotfl:

fuddle

It gets bad up your way Meme. When my grandma lived up there, if there was such a sniff of snow we wouldn't venture any where near. There's a saying locally "Two top coats colder up thar in S!"

mardatha

That's what we do meme, we live in a short steep cul de sac of 10 houses in a tiny village of maybe 24 houses. The whole street turns out in snowy mornings with shovels . It's our social life in winter !