Early Risers.

[Robert]

Has anybody had the snowman from Chatham dumped in their garden?

 

No - but the snowman probably had sense and wandered off of its own accord

[BoD]

Morning all

 

For the second weekend in a row I had to drop the family off at silly o'clock to pick up their coach tour This weekend it is Edinburgh and Glasgow Christmas markets. The roads are very interesting at that time of a morning.

 

Still, papers read, coffee drunk, modelling to be done. Every cloud........

[NGT6 1315]

Yes, Robert, we also had some snow in the air about thirty minutes ago. Can't tell whether this may have been the last of it, however.

[skipepsi]

A slight thaw seems to be happening, icicles look like the biggest problem at the moment.The strange cantilever snow is in a dangerous condition.

[trisonic]

I believe that the wind driven "cantilever" is called a "cornice" - they are responsible for a number of deaths near the peak of Everest (in case you needed to know......).

 

Best, Pete.

[Wherry Lines]

Morning all (just!).

 

Most of the snow has melted here. To be honest, we haven't had anything significant here since Monday, and certainly most roads have been clear. Still grey and dull though.....!

[45156]

Morning All

 

Great to see Don back in the fold, as I said yesterday.

 

Snow is starting to recede, what we had, but there is still the question of the frozen pavements, and the promise of more cold nights to come over the next few days, so we shall see what we shall see.

 

Not a lot more happening, but need to turn out later as Mrs 45156 wants to go to yet another Christms Fair.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[PhilH]

Early afternoon all. I am now officially getting old - I gave away my driving turn on the Mid Hants today as I really couldn't be bothered to get up at silly o'clock and spend my day getting alternately hot, cold and wet. I think this coming year will see me give it up as I'm getting to feel that way about it a bit too regularly now.

 

I visited Dave to have a nose round the new shed this morning - what a fabulous railway room. I'm sure he will be spending very many happy hours in there.

[Tony_S]

My clearing of the other half of the drive took longer than I thought but it was nice chatting to the other neighbours while I leaned on the shovel when taking a break. I finally got the Clio out of the garage but my wife decided that it would probably be better if I drove her down to the library. It was very slushy and generally damp down in Benfleet, but was still nice and crisp where I eventually took Robbie for his walk.

Matthew is chatting to his mum on the phone, something about geography. I get the phone calls about how to open bottles when the corkscrew is stuck.

Tony

[NGT6 1315]

I think dinner tonight will be Chinese style beef with onions . I just hope the meat will be good - last time I did this dish, it was rather poor quality, unfortunately.

[Tony_S]

I think dinner tonight will be Chinese style beef with onions . I just hope the meat will be good - last time I did this dish, it was rather poor quality, unfortunately.

 

 

Ask the butcher for British beef, I'm sure he will have something to recommend!

 

 

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all...

 

Not quite as cold as it has been earlier this week - just around -2°. It would seem this is what the weather's likely to remain like for the next few days. Dinner last night was good, by the way .

 

Have a good Sunday everyone...

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It looks rather wintery outside - but I haven't been out yet to see if it feels like it looks!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[skipepsi]

Morning all, I would have still been sleeping but I was assaulted by the cat. The cat in question weighs 5.5 kg so being jumped on is a massive wake up call.

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Fantastic! Great to see you back Don.

All our snow has now melted and all that is left are puddles on the decking!

Still very foggy down here and it shows no signs of shifting.

Had a mock driving test with a different instructor on a snowy, icy and foggy Friday and passed! The funny thing was that I was hoping I didn't have to do a parallel park because I thought I was rubbish at them, but it turns out I did it perfectly first time

The real test isn't that far away now...

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

 

Rather damp and overcast outside here. Snow is slowly disappearing as the thaw continues. The week's post arrived this morning as although the footpaths are still horrible the road is OK, so the postman was driven around by van. One of the reasons that the pavements are not passable is that more and more people seem to clear their drive and chuck the snow on the pavement. I pile it on on my lawn (or the rectangle of grass that aspires to be lawn).

[DDolfelin]

Well done England CC.

 

Traffic mayhem in our area.

Multi-vehicle pile-ups.

[45156]

Morning All

 

Still cold here, but most of the white stuff has now receded, but where it is still there, walking is treacherous. Forecast for -10 here tonight has now moderated to -4, much better, and there is also a prospect of temperatures in positive figures by the middle of the week.

 

Sad to hear that Phil is possibly giving up driving turns, but this really does seem to mirror the "real" railway where as the drivers got more advanced in years, the discomforts of being on the footplate took their toll. There was a very good series of articles in Steam World earlier this year written by a former footplateman saying just about the same things and debunking the romance of footplate work. However, Phil, I think that if your foot is still playing you up, all the climbing up and down the steps, the standing to get the signals sighted, and so on, would not help. It's a shame in a way, but is quite understandable.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Wherry Lines]

Sad to hear you are thinking of relinquishing your driving turns Phil. At the end of the day, you have to look after yourself. At least you can say that you've done it, and will have some fantastic memories.

 

If you wanted to keep active, could you take up diesels instead?

[Guest Max Stafford]

Still plenty of snow on the ground here after yesterday's minor retrenchment. At 3AM today when I came home from work the temperature was -7 deg. No complaints though, it's clear skies and bright sunshine now and though it's cold, it's dry. Easier to keep warm in this than in that horrible underwater gloom you get when the wind's barrelling in from the south-west lobbing sheets of rain. Even though the temperature's in double figures. That's the most depressing weather imaginable to me! If it's still like this in eight days it's going to be a nice week in the Highlands!

 

Dave.

[BoD]

Good aftermorning all

 

I don't know what the temperature is outside but I'm guessing it's not much above zero if it is indeed above at all. The snow is not giving in the slightest despite the blue skies and (very) weak sunshine.

 

I'm in total agreement with Dave though. I much prefer this to miserable grey and rain. If only there were some mechanism for shifting snow overnight so we didnt have to go through the messy slush stage.

[Tony_S]

We are just about to take Robbie for his "morning" walk but it is sunny with blue sky and a few fluffy type clouds. It isn't warm though, (but probably warm enough for Robbie to want to swim).

[BoD]

I have just picked Mrs S and daughter up from their weekend away and, according to the car, it is -4C already.

Given the amount of compacted snow that has turned to ice on paths and roads and the crispiness of any virgin snow I have no reason to doubt this.

Not a bit of frost on the windscreen thoiugh, although that could well develop overnight.

[Tony_S]

I'm not going out to check any of the thermometers but Google weather suggests it will be -3C and dry tonight. My wife is probably going to work tomorrow by train rather than drive in so I'll be ready to drive down to the station whenever necessary!

[Tony_S]

Thawed for the day.