SPRING 2012

[Marilyn]

So perhaps put 'bath night' off for a few more days?
Oh...can you imagine the good old days when folk had to duck outside to the wash house and toilet? It must have been awful.

[Stanley]

Ray, Rochdale town hall has magnificent Victorian gents toilets.....
Dry morning with hard frost and glass fallen back from 30.6" to 30.5" in last hour. Forecast is for freezing rain followed by snow arriving in next couple of hours. After that there will be a plague of locusts.
Maz, we had an outside toilet at the shop at Sough, an old fashioned tippler. I well remember rushing out there in the middle of the night on an urgent mission, slipping and sliding on me bum across the sharp ice in the yard. I was in me short shift at the time. Happy days! I once went to a farm in Minnesota where they have seriously low temperatures and in winter they kept the seat of the outside lavatory in the kitchen to keep it reasonably warm.

[Stanley]

Just off for walk. I've popped back in to report that the freezing rain has arrived and is doing exactly what it says on the tin. Everything it falls on is coated with ice. Go carefully out there!

[Moh]

When it began raining this morning the car froze solid all over, there was a very keen frost last night. Quite misty now and still very cold. We had a tippler toilet when we lived in Trawden until we put a bathroom in (our old bath was behind a partition in the kitchen and the wash basin in the back bedroom!!)

[Pluggy]

I'd rather have much seriously colder weather so water fell as snow, its utterly miserable outside in this heavy freezing rain. A couple of degrees warmer so the rain got rid of the snow would be nice too.

[Sunray10]

Oh, thank you Stanley. I have been in Rochdale town hall but I didn't know about those gent's toilets. Its a grand building. I remember getting caught up in those swinging doors they have there.

Freezing rain has now turned to "ordinary rain" but still a bit slippery underfoot. Could be a short spell of sleet/snow this evening clearing later on to give a frost overnight -1 30f.

[Wendyf]

What a miserable day! Everything is covered in ice, Every stone in every wall has icicles dripping, and even the wire mesh round the hen run is coated in ice. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it.

[Marilyn]

Some artistic close up pics might make some stunning entries for the calendar competition, Wendy.

[Whyperion]

London local weather forecast last night/morning : Snow to North and West of London , nothing planned for Essex, so the evening shopping trip to Essex Location brings up SNOW ( light but nevertheless Snow ) , likewise return to South London MORE SNOW , gentle white covering , not enough to cause road problems.
Car has been really difficult to start ( new battery last year , new alternator drive belt + tensioner (3 times) this year ) so possible starter motor wearing after 10 years - they can run out of true and have difficulty spinning. And gearbox is S T I F F until oil has warmed up a bit.

[Stanley]

Here's a pic of the relatively warm backyard at 10 East Hill Street shortly after the rain started to fall. The 'orange peel' effect is clear ice.
Wendy, in about 1958 I was up on Bleara side with Bess my old terrier and there was a brisk breeze and mist. As the mist hit an exposed surface it immediately turned to ice and built up on the windward side. Pig wire fences were converted to what looked like window shutters as the ice built up in a knife edge on each wire about 2" long. Same on leccy wires, poles and sharp edges on walls. Weird effect and I've never seen it quite so bad again. Funny thing was the ice was dark grey, could have been pollution in the mist. In N America I have seen 'ice storms' which are slightly different in that it is rain that freezes when it hits anything, it can build until it breaks wires and tree branches and can even bring pylons and poles down. I think what we saw yesterday was the latter rather than the Bleara side ice. On Bleara I noticed that the ice was building on Bess's coat and I had to shove her under my donkey jacket while we got down the hill.
Pluggy is right, for a while, until the rain eventually warmed and melted the ice, it was deadly underfoot. I managed Valley Gardens in the morning but at noon went no further than a trot on the old sidings. Glass steady on 30.5", yard surface dry and a frost but perhaps not as keen as yesterday. Forecast is sleet turning to rain later.

[Moh]

Just back from Bury shopping with daughter Jayne (she bought me some Opium perfume for my birthday and I got 2 nighties in M & S with birthday vouchers off my grandaughter Kelly) there was lots of snow still hanging around and the wind was bitterly cold.

[Sue]

We still have far more snow than surrounding areas eg Todmorden, Bacup, over to Blackburn, Burnley etc. In fact many pavements are still inches thick with frozen snow

[Whyperion]

Despite a warming sun air temps still cold but dry , snow in the shadows didnt melt , warmer under glass but if out cold everywhere probably a degree less than forecast at a guess and review of BBC reported temps.

[Stanley]

Moh, you have brought back many memories! I used to live with a woman who loved Opium and it suited her. Lovely heavy perfume. I was once in a group at a Further Education training session at Chorley and we each had to make a statement that was completely different than the ones we had already heard. I said that someone near me was wearing Opium. A nice lady from Clitheroe button-holed me later and told me she was most impressed, it was her. (It takes a strong woman to wear it!)
Conditions underfoot where snow was lying were if anything, worse than the day before. This morning we have a frost, glass is rock solid on 30.5" and I doubt if things will be any better.

[Wendyf]

Still coated in a layer of solid ice.

[Stanley]

Wendy, just back from a quick trot round the sidings while Jack emptied himself. Went no further because if anything, it is worse underfoot today than yesterday once you get off the cleared footpaths onto the ice covered hard snow. Only good thing as far as you're concerned is that the mud has frozen!

[Cathy]

Feeling for you all, gosh Wendy not just snowed in but 'iced in'. I'd be thinking of every excuse i could not to get out of bed each morning.
We are fine here, quite cool in fact, even had a few showers over the last few days and some rain overnight, most days are about 23C.
Summer... what's that, still I much prefer it on the cool side. Stay warm if you can, and be careful.

[Wendyf]

Yes Stanley, we have been mud free for a couple of weeks now, it's blissful! I love cold bright weather better than anything, but this dull, cloudy, below freezing stuff is a bit depressing. I am looking after a friend's ponies as well as my own at the moment so I am doing a lot of tottering around with hay and buckets of water. The ponies really struggle on sheet ice...thought I had a disaster on my hands trying to get one across the yard to its stable last night. Just like Bambi, but not a pretty sight.
I have been taking some pics of icy things, will post them in a bit.

I have just tried but failed to put the pics in my post....it was dead easy last time I tried. Is it me or has something changed??

[Wendyf]

Ice netting!

Iced wall

[Moh]

We have all lost our Avatars!!!! Still, dry but very cold day.

[Sue]

Gosh Wendy we can't see grass like that!

[Sunray10]

You can relax - it should start getting milder from tomorrow. By midweek it will be quite mild.

[Stanley]

Good pics Wendy, same down here. That ice on the wire netting would have been a sharp edge facing the wind and dark grey the day Bess and I got iced up. It built up on my metal donkey jacket buttons as well.
Glass still hovering a fraction below 30.5" but I have an idea it's ready to fall. Frosty outside and no real prospect of a change at the moment.

[Sue]

Its 1C today, warmest for days. It is 3C in Manchester this morning

[Moh]

Very murky and damp, hope it does warm up.