scrubbedexpat097

My son is in Cambridge and I spoke to him today. They have had a covering and right now it is "pretty picture" mode, but there has been a lot more in other areas. He sent me a beautiful picture of the river and the house boats covered in snow. Made me quite homesick

scrubbedexpat097

Cambridge by the river and on the common

quoll

Aw thanks! Just called the aged rellies and they said they did have snow - so much that no one could get out to go out for lunch for mum's birthday! Dad went a purler on the ice on Saturday and a couple of cyclists and a motorist got him home and he is OK thank goodness.

Beedubya

I just heard on Smooth FM that Heathrow is still closed and travellers will have to spend another night on the floor, hope it clears up quickly enough for everybody to get home in time for Christmas.

Beedubya

Lovely pics, like a postcard.

Lothianlad

Pershore, in Worcestershire, England, got down to a lowest night time temperature of -19.6C last night under clear, frosty skies, bright moonlight, over a deep snow cover.

What I found the most beautiful in this severe winter weather have been the fantastic hoar and rime deposits brought about by freezing fog and temperatures at night and in the early morning as low as -16C as it was when I went to work the other morning. Breathing in the cold air was quite something, exhilarating in a way I suppose. The scene was like something out of Dr Zhivago - everything covered by a thick coating of hoar and rime crystals at least an inch in depth - all the trees and hedges and bushes and even the sides of walls all covered in this thick white mantle, truly spectacular to look at, and the top layer of the snow was very crunchy as I trudged through it because of the layer of frost on its surface.

My wee Patterdale dog George actually likes the snow, even where it's really deep and the cold never seems to bother him much, and he will be 14 in February.

Forecasters predict lows of -26C in parts of England (no, not Scotland - England!) later on this week.

This current harsh winter in the UK and elsewhere in northern Europe is apparently being caused by a persistent blocking of weather systems by means of very high pressure over Greenland and Iceland.

The UK will never, ever learn to deal with severe winter weather, no matter how often it may happen. Air ports in Moscow, Helsinki, Stockholm, Warsaw, Berlin, Munich, Prague etc are covered by up to 80cm or more in snow with temperatures hovering around -30C yet still remain operational!

UK airports receive about 20cm of snow, or even less, with temperatures hovering around -5C to -10C and everything closes down.

Grayling

That is because these are very rare events and the expense of the personnel and equipment needed to keep them open could not be justified......it is justified in colder countries which experience heavy snow regularly.

This is no different to how parts of countries such as the US and Australia virtually shut down when there are floods.....or even heavy rain at times

How much time have you ever spent living away from Britain. Your views are very naive and myopic

Mummy in the foothills

An inch of snow gave us a school snow day here last winter, yet one hour up hill near the ski slopes they carried on like nothing happened. They live in snow for months at a time so are prepared with snow clearing equipment, we've had snow twice in the last 17 years.
Comparing London's airports to say Minnesota or eastern Europe is apples to oranges.

ukintexas

Completely agree. I was in the UK for Christmas last year and actually felt Christmassy. This year, am in Houston and feel nothing. Blah!

Beedubya

Although I have never REALLY felt Christmassy living here in Australia, I have always made the effort to get into the spirit of things.

I don't know if it's because my daughter's kids are older and have none of that "What will Santa bring us?" way about them any longer so I am just basically giving them money, as it's too difficult to buy for teenagers.

I have bought them a few bits and I haven't even got any wrapping paper in and it is 4 days before Christmas, no tree up, just a few token decs I could be bothered with only because they have little lights and I like them , I haven't gotten into the spirit one little bit, is that because the grand-kids are older and it's just not the same OR is it because last year was spent in the UK and the comparison is too vast and I have just shut down........

J.J

Feeling nothing but good stuff; Content, familiar, a pub crawl, snow, carol service, Salvation Army band, country lane walks (oh yeah, there is also dirty roads, mucky car, slippery pavements, shops with stuff out of stock, but who cares about all that)

sallysimmons

Word! Even here where we regularly get dumped on with inches and inches of snow over a 5 month period, our local government has cut back a lot on clearing the roads.

When British people moan about the lack of government help clearing the snow, I wonder if a) they understand basic budgeting and b) they're the same people who just voted for Cameron and his austerity measures, which makes it even less likely that the country can afford to pay for salt, trucks and personnel on the off-chance that the country gets a few weeks of snow.

They can't have it all ways.

Lothianlad

In all of my 28 years I have never lived away from Britain - it has been a desire of mine to experience life in a country far away from Britain and Europe generally, if only on a temporary basis - I would definitely plan on coming back here at a future date as there are far too many things here in Britain or aspects of life here that would draw me back, the mere thought that I would never be able to have any of them as part of my life any more would just be too depressing I reckon. But it would be great to experience a different culture and outlook on life and different attitudes and a different climate at least for a few years or so. That is not lilely to happen now, really. but never mind. Maybe I am naive and myopic because I haven't shared any of your experiences of other far away countries. I don't include any Continental European countries here as I don't regard them as "foreign" in the sense that they are more or less familiar to most Brits anyway, easily reached on short haul flights - breakfast in Edinburgh and lunch in Prague sort of caper.

This current winter in the UK and northern Europe....it was gratifying to know that all this snow and interminable freezing weather IS indeed causing chaos over there on the Continent, too - many UK airports may well have seized up because of the severe wintry weather, but it seems that airports such as Brussels, Amsterdam Schipol, Copenhagen and Paris Charles de Gaulle have also been scenes of disarray and non operation.

These scenes in my own home city this extreme winter of 2010/11, worse even than that of 2009/10, may show the snow but don't actually indicate the intensity of the cold we have been subjected to since the third week of November, down to -20C, and this particular December is set to be one of the coldest and snowiest ever recorded at Edinburgh International Airport. I
t's been such that I even longed for a day such as the one in September 2008when I was in the south of Egypt with the Archaeology group (Aswan, Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings) where the shade temperature was +46C! On second thoughts no, scrap that notion...being very nordic and fair skinned, very easily sunburned, and natively acclimatised to Scottish conditions the Egyptian heat actually made me feel quite ill on one occasion in particular in spite of all precautions taken, like drinking squillions of bottled water each day. I'd opt for Edinburgh's current Arctic weather all the way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUYOO-tgmDA

Mummy in the foothills

I was reading something on BBC online about the severe weather you are having. They were saving this may be only two of a few years in row that this weather would happen. It comes in cycles apparently and after having mild winters for so long no one is prepared obviously, So stick the cat litter and a small shovel in the boot and stock a box with food blankets, matches and candles in the boot too, it sounds like it isn't over.
Stay warm.
Oh I also agree about the heat, when we hit 40 I'm totally useless and will feel faint and vomit if made to stay out too long. I'm only good in sunshine up to about 26/27

Beedubya

Ach Lothianlad don't be too dismayed, emigration for lots of people is over-rated...............especially when you are fair skinned and fry up in the heat like a slice of sizzly bacon