Preparedness for when

pineapple

As a sheltered housing warden I was not supposed to clear the pathways on the scheme - in case someone fell and we got the blame. The (up to 90 year old) residents were supposed to clear the paths themselves with the grit provided! Of course I always ignored the directive as did the other wardens .
But I would rather people just left snow in situ if they are not going to put down grit after clearing it. I find that snow is much easier to walk on than an area which has been 'cleared' to leave an icy skimming of snow on the surface . I've gone skidding down a nearby slope more than once after some helpful neighbour has removed the top layer.
Anyhow I've had my car in for it's annual November service and tyre swap - I have winter tyres but just on the front. My insurance company actually considers this 'a modification' and some are a bit iffy about you doing it at all - even where it is just a tyre change. So best to check as we know how some insurance companies like to weasel out of claims.

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

Anyhow I've had my car in for it's annual November service and tyre swap - I have winter tyres but just on the front. .

I am a bit tentative writing this pineapple but we got winter tyres on all four wheels and only after we thoroughly researched. The tyre people would have turned us away if we were only getting two and the forums on our make of car say that having a mix of summer and winter is worse than having all summer. The insurance co wouldn`t pay up at all for a mix

I am only writing this is case other people go for two, please do your research first

2tonsils

I would like to know if you would like me to carry on posting the weather predictions from my friends? I am not sure whether they are helping people or not. Please let me know, thanks.

GreyQueen

Yes, please, 2tonsils.

I don't travel much, as home and work are only a few hundred meters apart, but those who are planning long drives to visit (or have people visit them) may find them very helpful.

Of course, we get what we get, and have to make the best of it, but info is a good thing if it can help people make wise choices.

I was thinking about a tree which came down in my parents' cul de sac a few years ago. It was a smallish street tree, sycamore I think, which was about 30 feet tall and grew on the grass strip between the road and the houses.

This tree was a few doors up from Mum and Dad's house and had been ailing for some time, with branches dying back and large fungi sprouting from the stem. Dad, who normally strictly minds his own business, actually discussed it with the neighbour whose house was beside it, pointing out that it was rotten and might fall on his car and did he think they should mention it to the Council?

The neighbour was rude and dismissive so Dad just dropped it and it did eventually snap in a storm and fall. Mercifully, it didn't land on a person or a car but it did fall across the neck of the cul de sac blocking all the cars kept in the garage block from getting out that weekday morning. Dad just toddled off to work on foot as usual but neighbour was greatly inconvienced, as were several other people.

Probably a good idea to keep an eye on your immediate surroundings and deal with nagging problems before they become urgent problems, as well as doing things like getting loose items like patio furniture and plantpots under cover if storms are brewing.

mardatha

The Scottish weather forum I'm in is getting very excited about snow.
Re floods - I'm just under 300m up and I wonder if I should rent out my sheds.... Bijou apartments maybe? Just don't mind the mower and the junk

2tonsils

Thanks for your feedback. I am going to stop posting on the Preparing for winter thread and will put the forecasts on here and on the Supporting thread as I know some people are on one and not the other.

Here is a link to one I have just seen and I must say my friends who predict the weather are backing it up. I now have access to images from the European computer model for weather which has been so accurate lately I am gobsmacked!...its a map forecast for 7th December and shows the UK in a bit of a deep freeze (-8) during the daytime on that date. I will update as we get nearer of course.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239556/UK-weather-forecast-Britain-faces-coldest-winter-100-years-Big-Freeze-follows-flood.html

Butterfly_Brain

Please keep posting the weather forecasts 2tonsils, they are really useful x

[Deleted User]

But MAR - Where will Peter go if you rent out your shed?

2tonsils

Well a quick update...we haven't started with the storms yet but had a really grey horrible day yesterday with a chill in the air. This morning it is strangely warm (26 degrees )with a hot wind. It still looks stormy in the distance but at least its drying my washing at the moment.

Greece got the EU agreement to the bailout but they changed all the conditions and put one in that Greece may not be able to do...so its still up in the air. No one is celebrating as no one thinks it is going to solve anything. So we are just carrying on scraping through and trying our best to survive. I still have the survival supplies in and the fuel. It seems no one can afford the diesel oil for heating and they have only sold 15 percent of what they normally do at this time of year. I can't see the oil suppliers lasting till the end of the winter, they are all closing down.

To save money the tax office made us print out our own forms and tax discs to be stamped at the post office so did that this morning. It's supposed to be saving them 80 million euros not printing them.

Prescriptions are not available at the moment unless you pay for them in full instead of on the health insurance, judges and municipal staff are also on strike. They moved the rubbish bins outside the village as they are attracting rats since the bin men have been on strike for almost three weeks. It's slowly getting worse and I am hoping we don't get really bad weather or an earthquake as I have the feeling there would be no one to save us!

fuddle

:eek: Who is Peter?

Good old PC, he's marked on my calendar as having a wintry blip on the 7th. When did you get that forecast Kittie. The sunset pics on that report are simply gorgous. Oh how I wish I could get one like that of my family walking the dog.

2tonsils I heard on the news that the bailout would mean that Greece can pay their suppliers so the Greeks can get their prescriptions etc. Is that not going to happen?