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Original poster

winter is cold - SHOCK!!!!!!!!!!

50 replies

SheherazadetheGoat · 07/01/2009 08:26

i watched the news with growing incredulity last night. it is january, the temperature is below freezing. i am on the same latitude as oslo, how is this news?

OP posts:

throckenholt · 07/01/2009 09:33

it is also easier to cope with a snow season where you know you will be knee deep in snow and are geared up for it, compared to something that moves from freezing to not and back again - that is when you get black ice and accidents, and burst pipes.

sunnygirl1412 · 07/01/2009 09:35

The Times2 section today had a whole long article about being fashionable yet warm during this cold snap. Apparently, it's OK to wear thermals (as long as they are the nice M&S ones in interesting colours), and tights under your trousers - usually a fashion no-no, but less so than frostbite, we are told. You don't have to wear your smart work coat, you can wear your weekend 'duvet' coat - as long as you accessorise it properly with cashmere scarves, of course. You can even (gasp) wear flat shoes, not heels when it is icy underfoot!!!!!

hippipotami · 07/01/2009 09:37

roffle at sunny

Niecie · 07/01/2009 09:41

Lol at Times.

Better not go out until I have that cashmere scarf though.

TsarChasm · 07/01/2009 09:42

Yes it is January after all and if winter is too mild then that brings other problems.

I agree with Riven though. Next time they start on about it on the news, transpose in your head 'cold snap' for 'heat wave'. I swear, if on the rare occasions we ever get a heat wave, they say exactly the same stuff. Dangerous temperatures, struggle to keep cool, hose pipe ban, scare scare scare.

pagwatch · 07/01/2009 09:44

I walk DD to school - about 15 mins walk. When I collected her the other mums were that I had walked her in the morning.

She is a perfectly healthy 6 year old ( well except for the broken arm) she had warm clothes and boots on. It was actually quite nice.
Am I odd?
Because it didn't occur to me not to walk

TsarChasm · 07/01/2009 09:46

It makes me walk more because I can't be bothered to do all that ice scarping palavar with the car in the morning, so I make more effort to get us out of the door on time

TsarChasm · 07/01/2009 09:47

'scarping'/'scraping' whatever

Niecie · 07/01/2009 09:50

No you aren't odd to walk Pagwatch. I like walking in the cold sunny weather (although it is very dull here now - I wonder if it might snow). Rather that than mild and damp. Yuck.

sunnygirl1412 · 07/01/2009 09:52

I have to confess that I hated walking the boys to school when it was icy underfoot. I have an irrational fear of slipping over on the ice, and as a result I tense up and take tiny steps (which probably makes me even more likely to fall over). The stupid thing is that I haven't slipped over on the ice for years - I don't even think I can remember the last time! So why am I such a wuss?

scaryteacher · 07/01/2009 09:53

It's warming up in Brussels though - it was -15 when we put the bins out yesterday, and today it was -9 at the same time. The snow is still here, and the sky looks like it may have some more there.

compo · 07/01/2009 10:00

I am the same as you sunnygirl. It was ds who went flying twice yeserday!

belgo · 07/01/2009 10:10

scareyteacher - I've just seen on VRT that some of the lakes in Anterwerp have ice 12cm thick and you are allowed to ice skate on them.

scaryteacher · 07/01/2009 10:35

It's supposed to warm up to -1 here (Brussels) today, but I don't think it will. It was bitter when we were waiting for the school bus this morning. Even ds was in rugger shirt, fleece and huge jacket with gloves and hat. Normally (being just into stroppy teenager mode) he only wants the fleece, not the jacket as well.

DH tells me that a woman in high heeled boots slipped on an icy tram step when alighting yesterday and got stuck. The driver didn't see her; off went the tram and she got pulled under and killed. I'll be in my Timberlands and Hunters til all this sneu stuff hag gone.

scaryteacher · 07/01/2009 10:36

Whoops, should be 'has' gone. No disrespect to hags intended.

cory · 07/01/2009 10:42

Just back from Sweden. Not much snow, but sea freezing over. We let the kids walk out on the sea ice (in the shallows) to feel how it rocks under you- unlike lake ice which snaps.

Us parents stood on the beach laying bets in whose kid would go through the ice first (and it wasn't my little perfect boy either ).

And my db gave a demonstration of how you do ice rescue by crawling on your stomach on the ice to distribute your weight.

All very educational.

ginnny · 07/01/2009 10:51

My dss were moaning about being cold this morning so I told them when I was little there used to be ice inside the windows when we got up, no central heating or double glazing just crappy little gas fires in the kitchen and sitting room.
Now that's cold.
They are little softies!!!

PestoMonster · 07/01/2009 11:06

Quite right Ginny . We too had ice on the insides of the windows, but we didn't have heaters, just a coal fire in the living room, that would go out overnight and have to be re-done in the mornings. It would never be warm by the time I set off for school and I used to come down and eat my breakfast in the kitchen huddled under a blanket.

We were tough in my day

whitenoise · 07/01/2009 11:08

the last few years have been really really mild, THIS is winter, teh last few years have just been cold

midnightexpress · 07/01/2009 11:11

I don't know if this is true - any Scandinavia-based Mners might be able to confirm or otherwise, but I heard that on the news in Scandianvia they have the same sort of '...and finally' story, and when the weather is like this they have a story about how completely crap the Brits are at dealing with a bit of cold weather. I do hope it's true.

I must also say that it is quite funny to watch the weather-related news on 'national' TV, which only ever kicks in when the SE is affected, and then it's 'arctic', ''chaos' yadda yadda yadda. We get snow and ice every year in Scotland and it barely gets a mention.

Marne · 07/01/2009 11:25

I like this weather, we are in the south West so rarely get this cold weather (i cant remember the last time we had more than a cm of snow), its just a shame that so many of us have the flu so cant enjoy it, i did managed to take the dog for a walk yesterday in the frozen field behind our house, the air felt fresh and crisp and made my soar throat feel beter.

I hope this meens we will get a hot summer this year, last year wasn't great.

mysterymoniker · 07/01/2009 16:19

that everywhere is thawing out already

waits patiently for next Ice Age

McDreamy · 07/01/2009 16:20

Come to Buckinghamshire Mystery - we are not thawing!! Roads are ice rinks!

herbietea · 07/01/2009 16:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

francagoestohollywood · 07/01/2009 16:55

It's been snowing for 2 days here in Milan and people are and (not me, I love it)... it was totally normal to get lots of snow here until 20 yrs ago. But of course the news go on and on about being "an emergency". The emergency being that the council is so disorganized...

Of course every summer the news go on and on and on about how hot it is . Again, it is Italy, it's bound to be hot.

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