Winter Tales

[securespark]

The recent snow got me thinking.

What was the worst winter I have ever known?

Now, I'm a relative youngster (b1966), so wouldn't know the winters of 46-7 or 62-3, but I do very well remember being stuck at boarding school in December 1981 in West Yorks and not being able to get home. Mum couldn't get over. The Woodhead was closed, the Snake was closed, the 62 was closed and the railway was closed.

We were stuck at school until finally BR managed to get the snow plough down the line and we got on a train across the Pennines.

It was close to a UK version of the Indian trains, it was absolutely jam-packed, people and luggage everywhere, not helped by the fact that all of us boarders had huge trunks!

I can't remember the ins and outs, which station we left from (I think it was Pontefract Monkshill) but we got home eventually, albeit many days later than the planned end of term/ year.

I remember seeing news reports of sheep being airlifted from fields and a record -27 North of the border.

What are your Winter Tales?

 

[T1 Terry]

Can't match that one @securespark

Spent two yrs in Tasmania, first 12 mths working in Kempton in the Midlands, for a Superphosphate spreading company, both truck spreaders and two aircraft spreaders and we covered the whole state .... a postage stamp put in any of the other Australian states, but they thought water at the edge was the end of the world

To set the scene:
My truck workshop being at the foot of a valley, didn't really see the sun much at all, so when a cold front hit, it was pure torture for me being a mainlander .....

The water from the big house " The Grange" and the rest of the office, shearing shed, farmers house and aircraft hanger, was supplied by a windmill over the other side of the big hill. It ran 24/7 filling a big rectangular concrete tank halfway down the hill, the overflow created a sort of constantly running stream at the base of the ramp into my workshop.

This particular morning .... it was bitterly cold, even the wood fire was having trouble keeping warm ..... no water at the taps naturally, but we had filled every container we had and shut them in the loungeroom with the fire well stoked.

Stepped outside and immediately cancelled the idea of walking the 1km to the workshop across the frozen paddocks and down the hill to the road.

We had a truck driver sharing the house with us and he was Tassy born, refused to show us the scar where the second head was removed, but a good bloke and easy to get along with ..... he said he would drive his ute down and he drove in these conditions all the time
No hope his Ford ute would start, barely turned over, so he decides if we push it to the edge of the down hill slope, he could clutch start it, in reverse mind you, and we would get going from there.
We get it rolling, I jump in, he lets the clutch out and we immediately reverse the direction we are facing without losing the slightest bit of momentum, might have even gained some .... even at this stage I don't panic, he's done this before after all ..... I look over at him and his eyes are like saucers ..... don't panic as the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy says, but I realise I don't have my towel .....

I suggest he take it out of reverse now and select 3rd gear and slowly ease the clutch to see if we can get the rear wheels to grip enough to turn the motor over ..... we have picked up quite a reasonable pace by this time, we zigzag down the frozen road until the engine comes to life .....

We have completely missed the Y intersection that we needed to turn right at to head for the workshop compound, it is only the barb wire fences with icicles hanging off them that indicate where the road should be .... my original idea of giving the whole day a miss is looking better all the time.

Somehow, he manages to turn the ute around .... and instead of returning to house, he heads to the workshop

Fortunately, the other farmer has somehow driven from out of town, to the yard, got the big John Deer tractor going and is heading back out ..... he breaks the ice gravel up enough to get some sort of traction ........

Chapter 2 later if you don't put up enough of a fight not to post it

T1 Terry

 

[decrep]

chapter 2 chapter 2. Pleeeeaseeee!!!!!

 

[T1 Terry]

You know who to blame

Chapter 2
Ice tales from Tassie

I regain my composure, I don't think I was screaming like a school girl .... but there was every chance I was ..... we head into the office where it's warm(er) than outside, expecting to be sent back home .....

No such luck, most of the drivers haven't showed up, all claiming they were frozen in ..... note to self, get the phone on so I can do the same thing if it ever happens again.

Turns out, the assistant farmer, a really great bloke but a true local, was heading up to the house to pick us up

I now have the job of servicing all the trucks because they will be off the road for the next 24hrs, lucky me .....

Introducing the big water tank on the hill mentioned in the last chapter.

The water has formed angel wings where the wind has blown it out of the tank and formed a sort of ice flow hanging well clear of the side of the tank and ending in the frozen stream that runs past the ramp to my workshop ......

I carefully walk across the now solid stream, enter via the side door and have to use petrol to get the "Black boy" sump oil burner to light the diesel to get it hot enough to start the oil burning ..... not a good sign for the start of the day .....

Once the area warms up a bit, a screwdriver through the chain to pull the big roller door up, the only way I could get enough purchase on the chain, couldn't hold it with the hands in the ski mittens .......

Drive the 10 yard tipper truck in first, doesn't even crack the ice in the frozen stream ....
Carefully place all my tools around the oil burner so they warm up, then start the service process, swapping tools regularly to keep my hands warm.

Finish that truck, back it out, still doesn't crack the ice ..... must be coffee time, surely ..... trudge up to the office to hang the keys up ..... the two bosses are nice and warm in their office, so no plans to send me home ........

After a few coffees, I've warmed up enough to feel all the cold aches, back out to get the 12 yard tipper ...... that doesn't crack the ice either
At least the workshop/shed is warm now, repeat the service process on it and fix a few things that I find in the process .... skip lunch, no wish to walk back out into the wind that is now rattling the roof.
Back the truck out, it's now 3pm, still no sun to be seen, still doesn't crack the ice .... forget this for a joke, hang the keys up, tell them I'm going home ... to much protest until I tell them I'll leave my tools available so either of them can service the other trucks .... neither of them take me up the offer, I shut the workshop roller door, close the air flap for the oil burner, get the old Fordson tractor/spare aircraft super-loader fired up with half a can of Aerostart, and drive back to the house ..... I plan to quit the next day, wife agrees ..... warm up by the fire .....

The next day, sun is shining, still snow everywhere, but the road is no longer frozen .... not a word is said about my rather blunt departure the previous afternoon (think the bloke we shared house with had warned them I was ready to walk) and life returned to normal ..... but I still put out feelers looking for work elsewhere .......

If you don't put up enough resistance, part 2 tomorrow, the second job in Tassie

T1 Terry

 

[Ian Key]

My father used to tell the tale of helping the coal lorries from Heanor get across Morely moor to Derby power station in the winter of 1946 - 47. He was riding shotgun in one of the snowploughs and the snow across the top of the moor was 8+ feet high and although you could see where the road went it hid any parked cars. Didn't make much difference as they just ploughed them out of the way. The coal had to get through no matter what.

The winter of 1981 - 82 was very cold often reaching -15C for days on end. I was working for a soft drinks company delivering pop door to door and it would freeze on the back of the van sending multi-coloured ice spilling down the sides. It was that cold an apparently unfrozen bottle of pop would freeze solid in front of your eyes if you shook it before breaking the bottle a minute later. We stopped deliveries for 10 days.

 

[siteguru]

I remember winter 81/82 ... my Dad was the Transport and Cleansing Inspector for the local council, so was responsible for managing bin collections and road clearing/gritting. I remember that winter he went to work on a Wednesday morning, and got back home at Friday dinner time, having worked all the way through (with occasional naps in the office).

 

[securespark]

They let him home early? Part timer!

 

[salty]

2010/2011 was pretty bad, heavy snowfall and just didn't thaw for about 5 weeks. I was gritting for the Council then.
And we were out everyday, sometimes 3/4 times a day. That's the worst I've ever known.

 

[Alb]

Still remember 62-63 vividly.
There were mountains of snow at the roadsides which never actually melted until Easter. To my 5 year old self it was the equivalent of tackling the Himalayas!
Like every other kid around me, I walked to school and back through the snow on my own twice a day. No nonsense of being taken to school by parents back in those days!

 

[Rolfe]

I remember 1981-82 (I moved house at the beginning of 1982, from Lanarkshire to Hertfordshire) and it was "interesting". I remember 2009-10, I had just got the Golf and was finding out about winter tyres the hard way. Unfortunately all the photos are on my computer and I only have access to my phone. I remember 2010-11.

But I have no memory at all of 1962-63, when I was nine. I think maybe I just accepted it as normal.

 

[T1 Terry]

You know who to blame

Chapter 2
Ice tales from Tassie

I regain my composure, I don't think I was screaming like a school girl .... but there was every chance I was ..... we head into the office where it's warm(er) than outside, expecting to be sent back home .....

No such luck, most of the drivers haven't showed up, all claiming they were frozen in ..... note to self, get the phone on so I can do the same thing if it ever happens again.

Turns out, the assistant farmer, a really great bloke but a true local, was heading up to the house to pick us up

I now have the job of servicing all the trucks because they will be off the road for the next 24hrs, lucky me .....

Introducing the big water tank on the hill mentioned in the last chapter.

The water has formed angel wings where the wind has blown it out of the tank and formed a sort of ice flow hanging well clear of the side of the tank and ending in the frozen stream that runs past the ramp to my workshop ......

I carefully walk across the now solid stream, enter via the side door and have to use petrol to get the "Black boy" sump oil burner to light the diesel to get it hot enough to start the oil burning ..... not a good sign for the start of the day .....

Once the area warms up a bit, a screwdriver through the chain to pull the big roller door up, the only way I could get enough purchase on the chain, couldn't hold it with the hands in the ski mittens .......

Drive the 10 yard tipper truck in first, doesn't even crack the ice in the frozen stream ....
Carefully place all my tools around the oil burner so they warm up, then start the service process, swapping tools regularly to keep my hands warm.

Finish that truck, back it out, still doesn't crack the ice ..... must be coffee time, surely ..... trudge up to the office to hang the keys up ..... the two bosses are nice and warm in their office, so no plans to send me home ........

After a few coffees, I've warmed up enough to feel all the cold aches, back out to get the 12 yard tipper ...... that doesn't crack the ice either
At least the workshop/shed is warm now, repeat the service process on it and fix a few things that I find in the process .... skip lunch, no wish to walk back out into the wind that is now rattling the roof.
Back the truck out, it's now 3pm, still no sun to be seen, still doesn't crack the ice .... forget this for a joke, hang the keys up, tell them I'm going home ... to much protest until I tell them I'll leave my tools available so either of them can service the other trucks .... neither of them take me up the offer, I shut the workshop roller door, close the air flap for the oil burner, get the old Fordson tractor/spare aircraft super-loader fired up with half a can of Aerostart, and drive back to the house ..... I plan to quit the next day, wife agrees ..... warm up by the fire .....

The next day, sun is shining, still snow everywhere, but the road is no longer frozen .... not a word is said about my rather blunt departure the previous afternoon (think the bloke we shared house with had warned them I was ready to walk) and life returned to normal ..... but I still put out feelers looking for work elsewhere .......

If you don't put up enough resistance, part 2 tomorrow, the second job in Tassie

T1 Terry

If I don't get more likes I won't post part 2 either I thought I'd at least get a few pleas not to post any more stories .....

T1 Terry

 

[securespark]

2010/2011 was pretty bad, heavy snowfall and just didn't thaw for about 5 weeks. I was gritting for the Council then.
And we were out everyday, sometimes 3/4 times a day. That's the worst I've ever known.

I was working for a national company who decided it was business as usual.

But after an unspecified (but huge) number of snowy prangs, they decided it was emergencies only!

 

[Susanna]

I can’t remember the exact year, but definitely a wee bit before 2010, when I retired. Heavy snow and freezing temperatures in the afternoon, meant that our clients were collected by their ramp transport a little earlier than their usual finish time. After locking up, I left for my journey home, a distance of 13 miles, at just before 16.00, taking a colleague part of the way so they could access a train rather than the bus they usually would take. Traffic on a steep hill less than a mile into the journey was almost at a standstill, both up and down, as cars slithered in all directions, blocking sections of the road. Fortunately, when it was my turn to slither down, I managed to miss a vehicle stuck in the middle of the road. I finally arrived home just after 23.00, totally exhausted.

Good old social services expected staff to travel into work the next day, with the same weather conditions, even though the day centres were closed, rightly so, to clients, due to health and safety concerns.

I declined to repeat that hideous journey, so had to take A/L.

 

[Gomev]

Still remember 62-63 vividly.
There were mountains of snow at the roadsides which never actually melted until Easter. To my 5 year old self it was the equivalent of tackling the Himalayas!
Like every other kid around me, I walked to school and back through the snow on my own twice a day. No nonsense of being taken to school by parents back in those days!

I too remember 62/63, the snow was two thirds up our front door in Brighton. Also remember was it 66/67 when it was similar.
Same with the schools walk to school, none of this shutting them down because it's too difficult/dangerous to get to when there's an inch (2.5cm) of snow trying to cover the ground.

 

[Susanna]

I agree with you @Gomev and @Alb - I don’t think my schools ever closed owing to weather conditions, and walking to and from school was perfectly normal.

Health and safety regulations about classroom temperatures and the staffing ratios now mean that schools will announce closures if they suspect that compliance will not be possible, rather than crossing their fingers and hoping that the students education will not be disrupted by having to send them home when teachers fail to arrive.

Unfortunately, parents are apt to complain if little Johnnie has to keep his coat and gloves on because his classroom is a bit chilly! Maybe children are not as hardy these days, growing up with centrally heated homes and double glazing?

When I was a child, car ownership was significantly lower. Traffic jams non existent. Today’s world is vastly different.

 

[GaryMG4]

Still remember 62-63 vividly.

Me too, loads of snow in London, everybody out clearing the snow from the pavement outside their houses, pretty sure I didn't miss a school day.

 

[T1 Terry]

Part 2
Ice Tales from Tassie
Chapter 1

I somehow scored a house and 15 acre of land to buy in Molesworth, and ended up taking a job as the mechanic at Ace Bus Service in Montrose
We hired a caravan and the wife (no2) and a 6 week old baby and I lived in the front of the property in Molesworth. There was a back road through the hills and down to Montrose and that was the reason for taking the Bus mechanic job .... and it was nearly double the money I was getting as the all round fleet mechanic, truck driver, aircraft loader driver, farm equipment mechanic and assistant aircraft mechanic.

All was great, until the first winter snow ..... having to fit chains for 5 kms of the drive each way to get up the hills, didn't take long to wear thin on the level of enjoyment ..... and we couldn't seem to raise the $10,000 to buy the house and 15 acres ...... mostly because our grandparents weren't born in the suburb we wanted to buy property in Thought we might run off back to the mainland (complete with house and 15 acres maybe) so I needed to find somewhere closer to town to live ..... and the wife wanted to simply get out of there after the B/S with the money people.

The boss at the Bus yard got word that I needed time off to go house hunting for a rental ..... found 3 for us to look at and went referee for us that was totally unexpected. Picked a place at the top of a rise with a road running down to main access road to the highway .... nice quiet spot we figured ..... very inexperienced still regarding snow and cold weather it turned out .....

T1 Terry

 

[MG Clive]

I didn't realize the weather in Tasmania was so different from mainland Australia.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

In 78/79 we had a large amount of snow on the heights between Bury/ Bolton and the council had cut a single track path through the 3m high drifts. There were four of us , three underage who had found a pub which would happily serve us , but was on the other side of the drifts. The eldest had passed his test and could borrow his mums Mini on a regular basis which gave us the freedom to explore. On the way through the drift ( bob sleigh run ) with the walls looming overhead he thought it would be a good idea to nudge the walls to create a minor fall ( ha ha ) each nudge became more forceful until...... the front end dug in slightly and we spun ending up at right angles with the front and back bumpers nearly wedged against each wall , blocking the lane. That's when we noticed headlights at either end of the constriction each waiting their turn to pass through the half mile canyon. We got out and manually hoisted and pulled it around before sheepishly carrying on .
Didn't even notice it was cold !

 

[OriginalBigAl]

Whilst I'm in the groove so to speak , I will regale you with another, involving the best piece of driving skill I have ever done.
The 81/82 winter had the roads covered in ice which even the salt didn't shift. Bury leisure centre has a car park which is exited by three 90 degree corners linked by short downhill stretches of straight road one of which is around 100m and goes past the main vehicular entrance for Bury nick. After a game of Badminton I left in my Hillman Avenger and thought I would test my driving skill. The first RH bend was approached and a touch of brake , steering and hand brake had me sliding into it at around 45 degrees . 20 m to the next LH bend , same sort of thing but opposite had me gracefully going left ready to straighten out for the 100m straight . Now impressed by my own confidence I let it carry on sliding left until I was a right angles to the down hill stretch and continued sliding down past the open garage doors of the police station with my headlights shining into the interior and a self satisfied grin reflected back from the interior mirror. Now heading for the third RH bend the direction of which is 180 degrees away from where I'm pointing , loads of RH lock , more handbrake and a perfectly executed half spin had me nicely aligned on the exit road.
I do not recall my parents mentioning any Swedish connections/ relatives, s perhaps there's a bit of Viking DNA floating around unnoticed , can't stand boats or water though!