Have we turned into a bunch of ninnies?.

dinosaw

dinosaw

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Today I cancelled my dentists appointment on Thursday, why?, because of a bit of snow and cold weather that hasn't even happened yet!. I feel like a right ninny for doing it. The problem for me is that my dentist is 30 miles away down the A41 which ended up being closed with 100 cars stranded last time it snowed in December. If I didn't cancel today then I would be due for half the appointment charge if I cancelled tomorrow and the full amount if I missed the appointment. It's due to snow on Wednesday and on Thursday afternoon and I know how people drive round here in bad weather, they haven't got a clue! and the amount of people driving RWD cars doesn't help matters. The thing is though, by warning people not to travel and people like myself not travelling it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy as the grit doesn't get spread and snow ends up settling on the roads. I don't remember a bit of snow being headline news in the past, train companies cancelling services before it even fell or people changing their plans because of it.
 
Well I will admit to being a first class ninny :lol:

I am nervous about driving in ice, but always seem to survive despite a slow 180 spin on my last outing several years ago, narrowly avoiding the churchyard stone wall! I do know how to drive in snow and ice, it just makes me nervous, not helped by an incident last month up a mountain in Austria which became snowbound very fast and all traffic without chains was 'asked' by the police to reverse :shock: I wasn't driving thank goodness, otherwise I wouldn't be here to tell you about it! So, I would also have cancelled the dentist as well, not something I need any encouragement to do under normal circs :lol:
 
How're we all doing in the cold? I really hope we get some snow here - where we live, in Whitchurch, Hampshire, it's very sheltered by the Berkshire Downs to the North and it's years since we had proper snow. When our kids were growing up in the 1970s, we got one or two really long spells when deep snow hung around for days or weeks, but nowadays a whole generation of kids have grown up without experiencing the joys of bunking off school to slide down the local hill on tin trays, plastic sheeting, or whatever is in the garden shed. Nobody has sledges here any more! I have a childish love of snow, especially now we're retired and can take time to enjoy it. Not much fun if you have to battle to work in it, or to the dentist, I know.
Our bird feeders have been even more than usual of a local soup kitchen the past few days, with all 6 feeders fully occupied by queues of birds. The feeders are hung on the metal frame of an old sunshade from a garden table, with the fabric removed and the arms shortened, which gives plenty of room to hang 6 feeders, and also perching space for birds whilst they wait for a spare space on their chosen feeder. It's right outside our big window on to the garden so we can sit and watch the show a few feet away. Today I've been giving them extra mealworms for a treat. I've been keeping a list of visitors to our garden this year - so far we're up to 26 species. Two days ago, we spotted two new species within ten minutes of each other, on the feeders - a siskin and a goldcrest. A male bullfinch has been regularly visiting our pond, which is quite unusual here, but at least now it's frozen apart from the area I try to keep open for the birds, the heron hasn't been able to come along for his breakfast. You can see the goldfish slowly cruising along under the ice. They all seem to hang out in a group together, it must seem a long winter for them. There have been up to a dozen blackbirds here the past few days, probably moving North from the continent. We're still waiting to spot one or two species we know will turn up, eg grey wagtails as well as the summer visitors. I do miss not having any chickens at the moment, but at least I don't have to worry about their drinkers all the time!
 
I think we have Dinosaw, although a 30 mile drive in conditions that are said might be a whiteout is something I would have done as a 20 something year old with little responsibility but would definitely think twice now. My OH, being a primary teacher, often bemoans the readiness of parents to chuck it in at the first sight of a snowflake these days (even though some have a 4x4 for the school run.)
Trains have been running fine here in the Midlands, just a dusting of snow. Drinkers have been frozen last couple of nights.
But, yes, on Monday we were told at work that we may want to take our laptops home in case we couldn't get in today. Everyone changes their plans and before you know it the whole thing has ground to an unnecessary halt - it was only a yellow warning here so about right.
Then again, during the last snowfall and ice up, I was out on necessary rounds in the pool car down in Rednal and witnessed a taxi go through a road closed sign to get half way up the residential hill only to slide backwards all the way back down. Better a ninny than a nutter!
Back in 1995 I was perhaps in the latter category with a seriously disfunctional attitide to risk - got stuck moored directly opposite the weir on the Severn in Worcester during the flood water. One night I saw a whole oak tree pass the window and go over the edge like a twig going down the drain. Gives me the heeby-jeebies just thinking about it now.
Just three months after getting this house with Carol was asked to join an old friend on a trip to fetch a boat down to Gloucester from the East coast of Scotland. Passed. Too much to lose. Never heard how that went - well I hope!
... So now proud to be a ninny and get kicks from not buying insurance (most of the time). There's a lot to be said for security, bricks and mortar, and a cellar to store all your junk :)
 
Ninnyism? I'd go beyond that - complete and utter wimps. I quite understand why it's unsafe to drive cars (though I've never owned one) but schools closing? Have the precious little darlings never heard of walking to school? Seven years, a three mile walk each way. We did not feel hard done by, it was normal. But of course, now there's a pedophile lurking on every street corner just waiting to prey on every kid!!!
Saw a news report yesterday from Kent. The journo described it as carnage. Syria is carnage. Yemen is carnage. Kent is one inch of snow.
Now I'm well aware of the comedic line that begins with ' We were so poor that ............' but for Petes sake.
If we are ever plunged into some kind of national disaster I worry how the population will cope with Survival of the Fittest going off air.
I read yesterday that it is only a matter of time before some genetic recombinant of bird flu or antibiotic resistant bacterium sweeps the world in a global pandemic. In the long term that could be the salvation of the entire ecosystem, including our species. I'd happily die for such a noble cause.
 
When I lived in Derbyshire, a County regularly snowed on, I used to carry a pair of snow tyres in the back of my Mini. Often I fitted them during the lunchtime break ready for the drive home. Problem of course was other drivers getting bogged down and blocking the road. I remember fitting the tyres to get to a favourite country pub, charging through several snow drifts to get there only to find that I was the only one who made it and the pub was shut!

Here in France many people have a whole set of snow tyres kept for Winter and in the less snowy areas people have snow chains, which are actually very cheap, but if I remember correctly they can't be used in the UK. Chains do have drawbacks- a friends mother had her windscreen smashed when a chain on the vehicle in front disintegrated. You can also get a sort of 'glove' that wraps around the tyres- they are less grippy but don't readily disintegrate or damage the road surface. We have snow chains- a remnant of the Dordogne, but here we shouldn't need them. Having said that, for the first time in three years we have snow here (about 5cm and still falling) and if we needed to get out we'd have to fit the chains and I'd be wishing I'd practiced beforehand as they aren't simple things to fit at all, despite what it says on the box.

I wouldn't hesitate to cancel an appointment Dinosaw, if forecast conditions were going to make driving hazardous. It's not being a Ninny, just being sensible. Anyway you may have found that when you arrived the Dentist hadn't.
 
I think that's part of the reason why so many schools close - nowadays the teachers often live well out of the catchment area, and one of the bonuses (apart from some sort of a private life away from the gaze of teenagers one teaches) is the occasional day when driving to work is not possible.
27th species in the garden today - a fieldfare foraging on the lawn. They arrive in large numbers in the autumn but have long since cleared the hedgerows of berries, and the hedge cutter has been round and removed any other scraps of remaining food. Unusual, therefore, to see them in the garden here at the moment, especially one lone bird.
Minus 7.5C. here overnight, unheard-of. I put out a big dish of water for the birds at 7.00 and it was frozen by 8.00. Topped it up with a kettle of boiling water, which made it just about lukewarm, and watched a robin having a good bath. Thin icing of snow and bright sunlight making everything look magic on the dog walk this morning. I'm now sitting watching the birds and drinking very-welcome hot coffee.
 
We had a message from our ex-neighbour in Sussex this morning. Minus 10! That is the coldest I remember it there.

Chris - I've never dealt with snow chains, but luckily the driver of the car in Austria used to live in France and he knows how to put them on, I understand they are a bit fiddly and timeconsuming; unfortunately we were in a hire car, and didn't have them.
 
Yes, Marigold, watching the birds and drinking coffee is exactly what I'm doing as well. It's a great way of passing time. Not a lot going on with land birds here but the sea birds seem unphased by the cold. It reminds me of the impressive insulation they must have.
Despite the cold the sun is streaming down. The light is clean and sparkly which always lifts my spirits. It's the dreich days that depress me.
 
Husband has been constructing a model SE5A plane, complete with swastikas, for over a year now. Beautiful, meticulous work, and recent burst of slow activity means he's reached the stage where dope, tissue and sanding sealer have to be applied to various parts of the wings. Hence the choice of hypothermia from having sufficient ventilation with the workshop window open wide and the door shut, or suffocation from toxic fumes throughout the house. Guess which option?
 
It was -5 here at 5.30pm yesterday when I went up to shut the chickens up so I presume -10 would have been about right overnight, drinkers frozen solid. The cold has (I think) claimed it's first casualty for us. No sign of Count Orloff this morning, only a pile of white feathers under the bushes, his comb had been so blue over the last few days that it was virtually black and I presume he has keeled over out of sight and then been picked off in the night, could of course be a return of the fox but I'm inclined on balance towards the former. In some ways it is a blessing as he has been a shadow of his former self since his son took over, always remembered for his victory over next doors Peacock and his obsession with running water.

Swastikas Marigold?, you can't own up to that sort of thing online, you will be getting a visit from the local thought police.
 
I don't think that deciding to avoid unnecessary risk is being a ninny, especially when there's a financial penalty involved. The difficulty always is that while one may be able to cope with the conditions oneself , it's all the other idiots who can't that cause the problems! I have in the past driven in some quite atrocious conditions (for the UK) both in Suffolk and now in Shropshire, but only out of necessity. I need to visit Hereford (25 miles) to collect some new (non-urgent) specs but as I don't have time to do that until Friday or Saturday I'm waiting to see whether the snow settles. it keeps trying but tends to stop after about quarter of an hour so at the moment there's only a light dusting.

The problems with chains in the UK Chris is that the roads are gritted, so if you start out on untreated roads once you hit clear tarmac you have to remove the chains. I remember my father fitting chains in 1963 but the roads were covered with about 6 inches of packed snow - the way they are in Switzerland.

I only had half a mile to walk to school but my primary school was the only school in Cardiff that didn't close, despite having outside loos. It was frozen loos that caused the closures back then. Ours didn't freeze because the caretaker kept three braziers alight ... Can you imagine the Health and Safety outcry if they did that now? Of course we were all used to open fires and any interference with the braziers would, we knew, have resulted in a clip round the ear!

Sorry to hear about the Count, Dinosaw but as you say it may have been a blessing in disguise.
 
No need for chains and winter tyres with one of these. Top speed of 50, the NCAP safety rating must be off the charts. If someone in front of you blocks the road theres a decent chance you could just go over the top of them. A snip at £15,000. If you are a bit more flash with the cash then you can pick up a Chieftain tank for £50,000.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sultan-CVRT-all-aluminium-tracked-tank-Cummins-6BT-engine-fresh-rebuild/332561841448?hash=item4d6e3afd28:g:p-EAAOSwqfZajDHn

Sounds like you have similar to us weather wise Margaid.
 
Daft question - do you need an ordinary driving licence to drive a tank, or something more specialised? That one looks big enough to live in.

I am sorry to hear about the Count, he was a handsome bird, but possibly it was a good thing, it sounded as though he had heart problems. Birds that leave memories are always the best ones :D
 
MrsBiscuit said:
Birds that leave memories are always the best ones :D
Click to expand...
Yes, like the naughty lively boys in a Primary school class. I always liked the ones with a bit of spark.
Danny Jones, where are you now?

dinosaw said:
Swastikas Marigold?, you can't own up to that sort of thing online, you will be getting a visit from the local thought police.
Click to expand...

Yes - if you buy a kit for a German WW2 plane it will come with an adaptation of the swastika design, more like an Iron Cross. Tony has had to spend several days making scale templates of the proper thing. No point in making a scale model if the detail isn't accurate!
 
Thanks everyone for kind words re the Count, he'd had heart trouble for quite a while, his son Nitwit is if I'm being honest a far more impressive bird than he every was even in his prime.

You need a category H license for tracked vehicles to drive one Mrs B, you can drive one on your provisional as long as you are accompanied by a H license holder.

Marigold said:
No point in making a scale model if the detail isn't accurate!
Click to expand...

Quite right. Interestingly a village in Germany has just voted to retain their church bell which was struck in 1934 with a swastika emblazoned on it as well as Adolf Hitlers name.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43210993

I've never thought it is a particularly good idea to airbrush history despite the arguments about creating a shrine to the Nazis.
 
Well it turns out I did make the right decision. Reasonable amount of snow here which has reduced traffic to a crawl. On the plus side I got out my pipeline coat for the first time today, first time I have bothered to use it in nearly ten years and I was warmer in it outside than I was inside with the central heating on without it. Has a lovely funnel hood which is wired so you can close to a to a one inch gap anything warmer than this and it is too hot to wear.
 
Pipeline coat?

Have you seen the short video on BBC site of a bus sliding towards a stuck Mini or similar. Scary.
About 30 mins ago a bit of what I presume is storm Emma started. I think we are on the margins, but it's making the glass rattle in the woodburner. Other than that it's a balmy 10!
 
It's what the workers on the gas and oil pipelines in Alaska and Northern Canada wear, I got the chance to pick one up at 35% of it's retail price a few years ago. Was told at the time not to even think about working in it at anything more than -5 or I would be way too hot. Not very fashionable, it's huge and does down almost to the knees. Haven't seen the bus yet, will see if they put it on the news tonight, -3 here and we just had a blizzard. You could tell it was cold last night as one of the Thuringians chose to go in the house to sleep, bet the other 3 think it's a right wimp.
 
Schools round Thurrock area been shut all week although roads been ok and we have run a full bus service all week, just one little diversion where people abandoned cars on a small hill. which would be classed as an ant hill in Wales. But first sign of snow First Bus and TFL stopped running buses for several days. Greater Anglia suspended trains services on Monday and no snow fell, lots of angry commuters. My boss rubbing hands as he supplied all the replacement buses.
OH has been toasty warm in all her thermals and windproof gear and striding about in sensible boots whilst I watch people in stilettos trying to get from A-B very unsuccessfully.
On Monday we ran out of milk in the Lakeside office and I ran round to Tesco and people were going feral grabbing milk and bread and getting into fights. One woman was just shoveling bread and milk into trolleys, as she had grabbed the last 10 or more semi skimmed I just reached into her trolley and grabbed one.
Our girls have taken to camping in the coop all day, as OH put a bale of straw in there Sunday it is lovely and warm. Funny how little territorial disputes vanish in these conditions and they cosy up for mutual benefit
 
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