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Original poster

You know it's a bit chilly outside when...

254 replies

sixteenfurryfeet · 01/12/2023 18:07

...the lid of your wheelie bin is frozen shut. 😂

Come tell me the random little signs of winter where you are. ❄🌨

OP posts:
Mrsweasleysclock · 02/12/2023 01:00

My hips creak as I walk, like an old cupboard door that's been chewed through by termites.

ZZTopGuitarSolo · 02/12/2023 01:01

The grass above my septic tank is always clear of snow long before the rest of the garden.

Mamanyt I whine about winters being too long in Maine - I can’t even imagine Alaska.

ScottBakula · 02/12/2023 01:05

I can tell its cold here by the stupid design of the roof gutters , a lot of the houses have no or very very small gardens but each house has a gutter that collects the rain / ice / snow and its directed straight onto the pavements .
So a frozen river forms every 25 / 30 foot along all the pavements 🙄😡

IBegYourBiggestPardon · 02/12/2023 01:08

My hips, knees, fingers, little toes and neck throb like anything.

My bladder goes into overdrive. Downside especially when I've just started to warm up in bed and suddenly I need to go wee again. It's then a debate of can I just wait till the morning or do I have to get out and get cold again.

Left my uniform folded on the floor near my bed this morning so I could get up and grab it and quickly put it on. It was freezing cold. I was tempted to quickly blast the hairdryer over it just to warm it up slightly but didn't think my next door neighbour would appreciate my hairdryer blasting off at 5am this morning

The Nutella in my cupboard has set like a rock

My iPhone is literally dying the second it's taken off charge. I've had to plug my clock alarm back in cos I was late for work yesterday. Phone crapped out on charge and I woke up 15 mins before we open up. It takes me 15 mins to drive there. Thankfully the roads were fine unlike this morning.

During winter the only time I'd see my DCAT was meal times or bed time. Or the parts I could see that weren't shoved under his blanket. The rest of the time he'd be in the conservatory snuggled right under the radiator. Non of the other radiators were any good for him it had to be that particular one. Sometimes if I wasn't working I would switch the heating on when I got up to feed him and by the time I'd woken back up again he'd have finished eating, come back on the bed for a cuddle and as soon as he heard the radiator coming on, scarpered back into the conservatory and curled up into a ball on top of one of my old teddy bedding quilt covers. He's no longer with me anymore, if he was, this year he would've had to much to his Kitty disdain, make do with a hot water bottle instead cos I can't afford to put my heating on unless I'm drying my washing. Exception today though cos my living room was 8 degrees.

Caswallonthefox · 02/12/2023 01:20

You nearly go base over apex going to your local sainsburys after 6pm

DreamTheMoors · 02/12/2023 01:42

@ZZTopGuitarSolo

I’m in Central California. It rarely gets below 45-50 here during the day. At night it sometimes freezes, but the National Weather Service sends out warnings because of our citrus groves.
We have terrible, awful, deadly (Tule) fog during the winter, the result of which is many accidents and some deaths, but here on the valley floor it just doesn’t get very cold.
It did snow here once, in 1981 and before that in 1961 I think it was. Lol twice in the last 60 years.
I live at the foot of the Sierra Nevadas - lots of snow up there, thank goodness. Our drought is over for now.
Maine is such a beautiful state. Stay safe in the snow.

BensonStabler · 02/12/2023 01:46

I have a condition called raynaud’s which causes my hands, and other extremities to be painful in even mildly cool weather, and just utterly excruciating in this winter weather…

So between now and Spring I will permanently have my hands tucked under my boobs 😄 the only upside of having big low hanging boobs is that they are really toasty underneath!

BarbaraWoodlouse1 · 02/12/2023 02:05
  1. You can make your packed lunch and leave it in the car overnight ready for work the next day.
  2. You walk down three floors at 2am to check the dogs are under blankets and add a bit more coal to the fire.
Fraaahnces · 02/12/2023 02:06

When my dog sits outside on the lawn refusing to come inside - looking for all the world like a sled dog wanting to hunker down in the snow.
Also when I have energy. It’s 37’C and humid af where I live today. I’m a wilting flower on the couch in the aircon.

BarbaraWoodlouse1 · 02/12/2023 02:16

The sky looks so beautiful it stops you in your tracks. 🌅

Tonight1 · 02/12/2023 02:19

Mrsweasleysclock · 02/12/2023 01:00

My hips creak as I walk, like an old cupboard door that's been chewed through by termites.

Oh bless you - nothing interesting here except I wear my coat to bed and don't see neighbourhood cats as much 😳

Think it's -4 now but the heating isn't working.

Previous poster who talked about Nutella....fab!!!! That means my coconut oil will have solidified again!

adventadvent · 02/12/2023 05:03

LubaLuca · 01/12/2023 18:44

Your teenage son leaves the house wearing a coat. No nagging required, not stuffed in his bag, actually on and zipped up.

This
Finally in year 10 has realised that the blazer doesn't cut it

Simonjt · 02/12/2023 06:48

ScottBakula · 02/12/2023 00:57

@ZZTopGuitarSolo you are made of stern stuff!

@Simonjt , at first I thought you had some kind of electric element or heated water pumped under your drive that would cost a fortune.
But the waste water sounds like a ingenious idea .
In the UK can tell if pavements / roads have waste water / sewage pipes close to the surface as they defrost slightly quicker so it seems very sensible to make proper use of it like you have

I think you can get ones like that, but only really rich people will have them as they would be so expensive to run. So we have two sets of pipes, one is water mixed with antifreeze that is in the drive system, the other is the waste water, this fills a small tank before it officially wastes, and the drive pipes run all around this tank, it keeps the water just warm enough to melt ice until outside temperaturea drop below about -10.

Izzy24 · 02/12/2023 08:22

CVVW · 01/12/2023 23:52

Totally miserable for 6 months out of 12?

That's awful.

Edited
Show quote history

Well, no, a bit overdramatic… but i really miss daylight !

CrunchyCarrot · 02/12/2023 09:20

sixteenfurryfeet · 02/12/2023 00:04

Hardcore cat. Respect.

I should have guessed when I started this thread that it was going to be largely about cats!

Show quote history

😂😂😂

Crucible · 02/12/2023 10:04

I'm seriously considering a four poster bed with thick curtains around it.

Ihateslugs · 02/12/2023 10:15

Despite my boiler kicking in at 7am, my house is still only 15° hence I’m staying in bed this morning! The heating is set to come on over night if the temp drops below 10° so it’s usually up to its day time temp of 19° quite quickly.

LadyGaGasPokerFace · 02/12/2023 11:06

@fetchacloth there are no padded bras in the world of the H cup boobs…

Puffinshop · 02/12/2023 11:18

It's pitch dark on the walk to school. I look out the window at 9.30 at work - still pitch dark. I get my lunch, it's sort of light. I pick up my son at 3.30. It's almost dark again. 😫

I live in the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie. I pray for snow for the extra brightness it brings.

chaosmaker · 02/12/2023 11:22

Iloveanicegarden · 01/12/2023 23:56

@chaosmaker cwtch Welsh for cuddle.

as ch is a letter then the correct spelling of cwtsh is with an sh as you should know if you are Welsh

Derbybound2022 · 02/12/2023 11:26

car door was frozen shut this morning!

MrsSkylerWhite · 02/12/2023 11:26

My husband considers a cardigan 😁

Original poster
sixteenfurryfeet · 02/12/2023 11:28

I remember chatting to a Canadian former work colleague of mine once, she'd not long moved back home. We were on the phone for quite a while, and I then said something about having three inches of snow on the ground here, and she said oh, we've got three metres here. We'd chatted for half an hour, and she was so used to that much snow she hadn't even thought to mention it!

OP posts:
justasking111 · 02/12/2023 13:31

When you start googling you tubing kegel exercises because your tena lady just in case isn't doing the job and you're a bursting dam.

MooseBeTimeForSnow · 02/12/2023 15:26

We don’t get huge amounts of snow here, maybe 18” max, but it does get mighty cold. In the depths of winter it can be -40 and below with the wind chill. When it’s that cold you do not do anything outside without most skin covered. Nostril hairs freezing is an interesting experience! if you wear a buff over your nose and mouth, the tiny bit of warm air that escapes freezes on your eyelashes and eyebrows (and condenses in the inside of your glasses and freezes).

I hate grocery shopping at that time of year as quite a lot of people just abandon their carts in the parking lot and don’t take them back to the corral. And parking is a gong show as no one knows where the lines are.