Preparing for Winter V

Primrose

It occurred to me that this would be the ideal weather for sorting through my large garage freezer, defrosting it and updating the inventory which is rather out of date. I could lay all the contents out on a sheet on the garage floor and be certain that with the current sub zero temperatures, nothing would start thawing through while the defrosting takes place.

However, whilst the spirit is willing the flesh is currently rather weak. Sitting snugly in a warm room seems a much more comfortable option. I will doubtless be cursing my inactivity before too long when I need something from the freezer thought and have no idea where it!!!8217;s stored !

Primrose

mardatha wrote: »

I'm having an ongoing argybargy with Scottish Borders Council. This village is surrounded on all sides by farms and yet the council won't allow them to use their tractors to clear our roads. They used to, but for some stupid elfinsafety reason they don't any more. Whole village plus outlying farm houses, gamekeepers and shepherds cottages, all cut off unless we can walk to the main road - where there are no buses. Magic.

I should tell your local farmers that it is better to ask for forgiveness than to seek permission and just let them get on with it !
Naming and shaming the jobsworths is usually an effective way of ensuring they keep their heads rather lower next time it happens!

mardatha

Found out from a neighbour - the couple who have the farm nearest my house are away on holiday..
A ski ing holiday.. :rotfl::rotfl:

[Deleted User]

We are 2 degrees above freezing outside this morning and the snow is beginning to look ragged. He Who Knows has gone off to walk Cookie still wearing his Yak Trax and with a walking pole but it's not as slippery underfoot as it looks apparently. I'm very glad of our stores and the equipment we've got in times like these, we've not needed to go out and we've been able to keep the house warm, I know these wintery conditions don't happen often but it's chaotic when they do all over the country not just in the soft south. Someone on the Newswatch programme was slating us in the south because the news was 'only making a song and dance about the snow' as it was coming to the south, the north has apparently had snow for weeks. We're NOT southern softies and I get quite cross when things like that are put across as a northern attitude, the Back in time for Tea programme is taking the same attitude to this half of the country as well and it's so rude. I don't see all northerners as 'Flat cap and Whippet' living in terraces and only eating pies and hot pot , people are diverse and individuals wherever in the country they live. People who live in the south are just luckier to have slightly more benign climatic conditions most of the time which is not a crime. To quote Shakespear 'Cut us and we bleed' just the same blood as you all do in the north!

mardatha

I think the anger up here is directed at the media MrsL, the tv and papers who make the fuss, not the people. The (very few) people I know from southern England are all really warm-hearted, practical & sensible.
We found out from a neighbour that the access road into the village is littered with abandoned cars so that even if the council ever remember about us and send a gritter, it won't get in. And he saw the Mountain Rescue landrover getting stuck at the top of my street bringing home a nurse from his shift at the hospital

THIRZAH

The Mountain Rescue near here had to help dig out a snow plough on Thursday.

We are in the north and do get snow most winters. Some people are prepared but some are not. A lot of roads have been cleared of snow but some are still blocked because of abandoned cars.

The supermarket looked as if it had been looted yesterday-no milk and hardly any bread. They'd sold out of minced beef too.

The pavements are bad even in the town centre.

mardatha

I've seen pics of supermarkets here and they're the same. And on the council FB page is somebody on a remote road saying he has run out of food and coal. The council gave him a number to call to get help - but anybody who lives rural up here should surely know better! How hard is it to watch the weather forecast and pay attention to the warnings? Although he will next winter lol

Wednesday2000

It's thawing a lot here, hurray!:T

fuddle

Some folks just feel the need to moan, compare, shout it's not fair, brag and put down. I had frustrations living in the South with people and I have frustrations living with Northerners.

It goes back to what money was saying about pressure to conform to expectations where you live. It happens on a local level - money with the local language, me with the local norms of growing veg. Be or do anything from what is expected locally and it causes a bit of agro. It stands to reason that comparisons nationally will be offensive and annoying.

I felt annoyance myself when. The council bigged up a primary school deep in the Dales that didn't close when all the others were. It was billed as 'they have more snow and coped'. That school had 6 children in total, all local, the teacher was local, the cook, cleaner was local. They could all walk. We live in a time where children can't access their local schools, where parents have to commute to meet their work commitments and teachers live miles away. Rarely do people live and work in their immediate locality. And more so in the South. It's not the amount of snow that falls on the road that causes problems but the amount of traffic using it. The South is rife with traffic. It takes one car to abandon, one lorry to jackknife and the gritters and plough become traffic jam fodder. Nothing moves.

greenbee

The other thing to remember with the roads in the south is that the kids don't learn to drive in snow, they grow up with little experience of it, so when there is snow, they don't know what to do. I learned this when I moved south from East Anglia where we regularly had snow - and soon realised that the best thing to do is stay in as everyone thinks their journey is essential!

Due to the fact that snow and very cold weather are rare here, we also don't have the stocks of grit/salt and the number of gritters/snow ploughs that they do in snow-prone areas.

Thankfully the farmers have all been out helping - they've had to clear the back roads so they can deal with lifestock anyway.

As Fuddle says, the reason for school closures is usually due to teachers living too far from the school. The kids may be able to get in, but without the correct ratio of staff the schools can't open. Mind you, most of the parents couldn't get out of the village here when the teachers couldn't get in so it wasn't a major issue - parents who could work from home still worked, and those who either couldn't or don't work outside the home helped out with childcare.

Thankfully it's thawing, so my taxi to the airport should get through tomorrow. The one who dropped me off yesterday hadn't bothered to check local weather/road conditions and was relying on his satnav. FB and twitter would have been more helpful.