Is any one else preparing in case of another bad winter?

[mankyscotslass]

Or is it just me, like DH says?

I have been buying cheap bags of salt in every other shopping delivery, and other bits and pieces.

I have a few bags of cheap grit/ cat litter too

I also got a few more fleecy blanket/throws type things, and have invested in heavy duty walking/wellie socks.

Dh thinks I am nuts!

I need some new wellies, and a shovel. Digging the car out using a fish slice and dustpan was no fun whatsoever, and of course shovels were sold out everywhere as soon as the first drift hit town.

The blacknerries were out even earlier than last year which is a sign it'll be ahrd

(grandad does talk rubbish but he's usually good on weather)

I have good boots, fleece suit for ds4, etc anyway- campers ahoy!

We;re away for Christmas, guests at a new forest lodge (get us!) which could be nice in snow, but there's no way to get to ds3's SNU apart from car so if that can't get through that's it really; ten miles in snow across steep roads- er no LOL

The berries on the trees were out early here too, and were a heavy crop!

well we know where to go in case of catastrophe Tits.
Mind you, dh has a lot of homemade wine on the go, so we will be ok.

We've got a holly tree near us that's loaded with berries as well and there's been a good crop of elderberries, sloes and blackberries this year ~ blackberry wine's maturing in the garage at the moment so we can drink our way out of anything the weather throws at us!

I've not really thought about stocking up yet; I'll probably get some extra salt in after we get back from holiday, put some milk in the freezer and start storing a shovel in the car if snow is forecast. I'm kind of curious about what will happen if we have a harsh winter when it comes to schools. Earlier this year, the schools in Leicestershire were adamant that they weren't going to close after they were criticised the winter before for closing too quickly when it had snowed. So staying open was all fine and dandy (as we all slipped and slid our way to the school gates!) until one of the teachers at DDs school slipped on some ice and broke her arm outside one of the classrooms. It'll be interesting if we get a bad winter, whether the school will take the same line and insist on staying open.

I am moving house, I really could not handle another winter in a partially heated, draughty house (rented).

I nicked a sledge out of a skip the other week

when it snowed last winter, sledges were like hen's teeth !

I bought a big long roll of something that covers the path and steps so it won't be icy. I will forget to put it down though!

I have a big post-it stuck on the calendar on November to get in extra bird food for the feeders. Poor birds staved last year!

Starved!

Dammit! I wasn't preparing for anything but I'm going to now...

Panzee what's the non-slippy stuff? This might be what I need for the hill to get the car up the bloody hill!

I'm going to stock up on salt, de-icer stuff too too. We have one of thesesnow shovels from last winter, bloody great it was .

We have a wooden sledge and a plastic one lying around somewhere.

I need to get proper cold weather boots, my sister has some Sorel boots which she bought for a Polish winter so I might save up for a pair.

BelleDameSansMerci I think it's a bit like this

ooh Meglet, thanks!

On my kitchen board is a list of what winter clothes each of us needs!! Granted we're in Germany so there will more than likely be snow but i doubt it'll start in the next few weeks!! Just want to be ready!! Ds2 had the best snowboots from aldi last year-i'm getting everyone a pair this year!! We'll be the moonboot family!

Panzee that's ideal! Thank you. Two of those and my neighbours and I will be able to get our cars up the little hill and out to freedom (if they grit the roads this year). Thank you.

I'm getting some snow socks for my useless rwd car

What are snow socks? I have useless rwd car too (and it's an automatic with fat tyres ie crap in the snow). Do you mean snow tyres?

That's a really good idea about the grit and salt. It was very bad and snowy when I had DD, then I was snowed in for a week when she was two weeks old. It was so hard!

DH is preparing (which surely means there wil be no snow)

He has bought snow socks for the cars, grippy things for our shoes, grit, salt and a snow shovel. He has also bought some grippy mat stuff that you can use if you are stuck on a hill.

Snow socks cover the driving tyres google autosock (on phone so links too tricky!)

You don't need to buy special mats to get you up a slippy hill, just take your car mats out and lay them under the tyre...works a treat

I must look for our car mats. I believe they may be in the vicinity of the car carpet, actually, which has not been seen for some time...

Thanks for the tip!

I've just bought waterproof gloves for my DCs, because when the snow came last year and they were out building snowmen and playing snowballs, their hands were soaked through and freezing with normal gloves on. And I couldn't find waterproof gloves anywhere ... all totally sold out! That's my top tip