Snow.

[myglaren]

Only very vague memories of snow before 1978, when we came back from Sweden. Plenty of snow there of course, just taken as normal weather.

It was that winter, or the following one, when we were snowed in.
had to walk six miles to work. Only my neighbour and I and two others turned up and were sent back home again.

In the early sixties there was a bit of excitement. My dad worked at Fylingdales BMEWS and they sent a helicopter to take him to work, landed in the hospital grounds at the end of the street.
He did have to stay there for a fortnight before they brought him back for a long weekend at home, and a very generous bonus

[myglaren]

[mickthemaverick]

My memories of the 63 snow are mainly those of the huge mini mountain ranges that developed along the kerbs of our road. Dad and the neighbours were on a daily shovelling routine of clearing the footpaths by shovelling the snow into banks alongside the road. Walking out to the shops or to school became a new adventure of climbing the end and running along the ridge until you reached a house who had a car and consequently had cleared the snow across their drive to give the appearance of a mountain pass in the otherwise continuous bank. In those days only three neighbours on our side owned cars so us ridge runners only had three dips to negotiate on our run down the road. Many an attempt resulted in loss of footholds followed by tobogganing to the next dip on your back!!

[Stickyfinger]

[Dormouse]

Only very vague memories of snow before 1978, when we came back from Sweden. Plenty of snow there of course, just taken as normal weather.

It was that winter, or the following one, when we were snowed in.
had to walk six miles to work. Only my neighbour and I and two others turned up and were sent back home again.

In the early sixties there was a bit of excitement. My dad worked at Fylingdales BMEWS and they sent a helicopter to take him to work, landed in the hospital grounds at the end of the street.
He did have to stay there for a fortnight before they brought him back for a long weekend at home, and a very generous bonus

My wife has often stayed on at her hospital due to her colleagues not being able to get there because of the weather. Her dad ran a Post Office and once he sent two of his posties in a van to get her and another nurse (wife of one of the Posties) to their work. The Sister in her ward had said they were seriously short of staff and if they could get in it would be very much needed and appreciated. The roads were atrocious and all but impassable in places, yet his posties got them there and THEN they set about doing their "normal" rounds as best they could. Her dad always sent his posties out in pairs to do the rural rounds in bad weather and they did absolutely sterling work in conditions that other people just stopped doing anything! The posties on the town round didn't go home until all the outlying posties got back. The Gritter Drivers were locals too and would go out in all conditions to maintain some semblance of access for people in the outlying areas especially if it was for the local Doctors or Ambulances.

So, when people moan about snow and bad weather, just remember how many people actually go above and beyond to do things like deliver your mail and the like. Isn't it funny that camera crews and journalists seem to get there too!

[Dormouse]

In my run up to retirement I did two jobs. One was being paid to walk the streets of North East Fife with beautiful young Ladies - that story can wait a bit.
My other job was School Janitor.
In all weathers and at all times of day or night, as a main key holder, I was on call 24/7 and still expected to turn up for my shift. Shifts were anytime from 6.00am to 10.15pm in two rotas with your Shift Partner. If he or she couldn't turn up, for whatever reason including snow, you were expected to cover the core times of 7.00am to 6.00pm. So, when it snowed, we were expected to get to our schools (yes , schools, plural ) and clear paths to all entrances and fire escapes. Then we had to clear access driveways to the kitchens and finally turning spaces at the main entrances. If we had time (!!!), we had to clear stairs and steps and salt them but, failing that, we had to have at least one clear walking path from the street to the main entrance. All of this after we had checked the entire building and heating system was safe and functional.
So the next time you hear a parent or teacher complain they could not get parked in their usual spot in the car park, remind them that an army of gnomes isn't at their disposal and that everything they see that has been achieved, has been done by probably one person on their own. They may even have been out for 4 hours overnight dealing with emergency callouts and had no more than a few hours rest, facing the prospect of working all day until everyone else has gone and they can secure the building ready to start it all over again the next day.

[myglaren]

[Dormouse]

This is repeated so many times it is unreal

[myglaren]

^ Hadn't seen it until yesterday.
I use tepid water.

[Dormouse]

Saw this. Tell Citro Jim to watch the last bit of the clip.

[Paul-R]

I use tepid water.

Me too. If I can put my hand in it without discomfort then it's not too hot.

[Michel]

I've got other things to do, my speeding ticket safety class starts in fifteen minutes.

Bloody youngsters, being hooligans on the road! It's a disgrace I tell you!

[Michel]

I use tepid water.

Me too. If I can put my hand in it without discomfort then it's not too hot.

I've done this for the 30 years I've been driving and never, ever broken a window or windscreen. You'd have to be a cretin to actually use water hot enough to make it crack.

I always put a good squeeze of cheapo washing-up liquid in it too (I use a 2l milk container) as it seems to stop it re-freezing instantly. To those who say "oh, but washing up liquid has salt in it".. well, it may do, but the amount in a bottle is miniscule, so the amount I squeeze in is miniscule... AND they PUT SALT ALL OVER THE ROAD..

[RichardW]

I've broken a windscreen doing the opposite... for a while my eldest would only sleep during the day if he was taken out in the car. In the winter of 2010 when it was really cold, he was asleep in the car (Xsara Picasso) so we left it running to keep warm, we then went out in it, and it was about -10. Washed the windscreen, big bang and it cracked from side to side right across the middle - this was a replacement screen and it had picked up the tiniest chip right in the centre when only a few days old (like the size of child's little finger nail cutting!) - this was the stress raiser that started the crack.

[Dormouse]

You are right, the salt is a tiny amount. It is there as part of the surficant to aid cleaning. The water film on the window is aided by the soap lowering the surface tension, so once the water film goes away, or gets diluted, the tendancy to freeze increases again. Spot on.
PS there are Cretins out there.