snow

It's the sunny non-season here, but then we don't have seasons anymore.

I've never been sure which type of snow Spearmint are talking about in their song "Isn't it Great to be Alive".

I've never seen them in the same room together! QED!

Do not doubt the powers of a librarian who knows how to search for information. Like lyrics. ;-)

Not a picture thread because I have no camera with me. It was really gorgeous early this morning, though, before it started raining. However, I was under the impression that the city owned a few snow plows. Houston was pretty slushy, and Prince, Sullivan, Thompson, Mercer et al were covered with about 2 inches of slushy snow early this morning- I guess the theory was that the rain would just clear up the streets later?

Anyway. Very pretty if you squinted and ignored the slush.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmanchester!

otm - at least 6 inches where I live (4 miles north of the centre) and still coming down like the snow queen's cape.

still bucketing down with snow here in warrington, seen nothing like for about thirty years

Manchester snow made me think of this...

http://bakedbeansandglitter.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/joy-division.jpg

Imagine that picture, but with snow up to the hem of Hooky's coat.

I've just been for a two hour yomp round the local park and the grounds keepers have opened up the highest tee of the golf course there, so that all the kids can sledge down the massive slope below, it was a lovely sight. Where's your Broken Britain now, The Daily Mail?

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2010/images/20100105.gif

Are there any ilxors in Wiltshire?

40cm! Blimey.

My folks are in Oxfordshire but about 4 miles from the Wilts border. My Nan is in Gloucestershire and is just being sent home from the hospital after a fall, so the prospect of cold and ice there is making me a bit nervous. But still childishly excited to see snowflakes through my Oxford window.

(typed that and looked up and they seem to have stopped during the course of typing the post)

Work closed early, mayn't open at all tomorrow. Keep it comin'.

What's the best way to make an improvised sledge?

front door. screw driver. old candles for lubrication.

actually that's ridiculous. try an internal door first.

Large plastic bag e.g. concrete, fertilizer. Casual disregard for own life.

I like the sledge/bodybag idea. Nice and clean for the ambulance boys.

upturned landrover roof:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1213913/Girl-15-died-brain-injuries-60mph-sledge-careered-barbed-wire-fence.html

:(

sorry i'm just bitter that i don't get to go home early.

Actually it sounds like an awesome idea for a sledge, just not such a great way of stopping.

Mr Mills said the slope was packed with people sledging on a range of items from carrier bags to a washing basket.

is it that rare for people to own a sledge these days? society is in the gutter, because it couldn't stop its improvised sledge.

Sledges aren't that expensive, really.

They're a couple of quid from our local pile 'em high. sell 'em cheap shop. Mind you they're not very good and tend to crack in...erm...freezing conditions, we have discovered.

http://www.sledges.co.uk/Portals/3/Babylugewebbig.jpg

baby sledges: what could possibly go wrong?

>is it that rare for people to own a sledge these days?

Sledges I saw today: many, many garage forecourt style moulded plastic ones - these were clearly the most common. Lots of plastic bags and inflatable dinghies, tractor inner tubes and the like. One or two old-school wooden toboggans with proper metal runners - these were noticeably faster than the modern tat and extra points to a group of Polish lads who had one which comfortably sat six of them, bobsleigh fashion. Further points to the group of teenagers who had hauled a massive sheet of tarpaulin out with them.

(ahh yeah, x-post to Ned, I saw a couple of abandoned plastic sledges that had ruptured)

Heaton Park, Manchester this afternoon. Ruddy steep slope just in front of these waiting sledgers.

http://i48.tinypic.com/20axums.jpg

Nice!

Okay, I have learned something today. I'd never ever seen the words "sledge" or "sledging" before today.

Obviously not a cricket fan.

Hah, nope. I mean, I've probably heard it somewhere... just never in reference to flying down a snowy hill on some object.

I very muchly want it to snow overnight in London so I can have the first snow day of my life tomorrow, but I'm scared it's going to start snowing soon, before I leave central London, and I'll be stranded here and have to sleep at work and miss out on my chance at real actual day off from anything due to snow.

I don't think it's going to snow in London until much later tonight. It's not even snowing here (Surrey) yet.

Are there any ilxors in Wiltshire?

Yep, just for this week (work). Nice timing.

Oh, good luck! Will try an get an aid drop organised...

Ta, aim it at Swindon please and include some Xanax.

New Year's Day in Glasgow's east end. It's been several weeks of snow up here already.

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v8/p899499696-3.jpg

They gritted the pavement in Duke St. Amazing

I know! It was great to actually be able to walk halfway sensibly today.

Snowing pretty steadily in SE London since around 9:30pm - half an inch dusting over the garden. Supposedly this isn't going to let up until tomorrow afternoon. "18 inches" said the Evening Standard, trying to get everyone to go panic-shopping tonight...

no snow in dalston!!

Has Boris shutdown TFL yet? Time's awasting.

load of nonsense, it'll never snow in london. i have tomorrow off anyway so it better fucking not, last thing i want is to have taken a day off when i would have got one anyway.

'tis a bit mental out there

oh the snow is here now. it had better not be a snow day for you lot tomorrow! don't want my flatmate hanging round the flat all day while i've got work to do

off 2 work you go, slackaz

though tbh if i finish these two pieces now all i'll have to do is edit one article and make a chasing-money phone call, but i still want the flat to myself

at 4 when it started snowing I was all "lol yeah right, it won't settle" and now the balcony railing is abt 4" deep

relived childhood by building giant snowman, relived childhood some more by looking out of window to see teenage boys smash the giant snowman

Desperate for a snowball fite RIGHT NOW, but every other bugger here is asleep.

Did SS make it make it back to Dulwich, or should someone go out and look for her?

About two inches in Bow E3 in the past hour or so, with no signs of it stopping, and I really have to be in work at 6:30 tomorrow morning.

Best start walking now?

Well, the bike's staying at home tomorrow even if I'm not.

Did SS make it make it back to Dulwich, or should someone go out and look for her?

can see woman-shaped silhouette face down in the snow near flat, haven't gone to investigate yet because it's quite cold

I fear I unwittingly agreed to be the only person who'll turn up at work tomorrow when my boss asked earlier if I lived within walking distance
because a 1.5-mile walk including the path beside a river when it's snowy and icy is a great idea when everyone else is sat at home pretending that the bus isn't running along salted main roads any more

I am incredibly disappointed that I'm leaving for work soon and not still in bed for another 3 hours.

work closed. and booked leave tomorrow and friday.

greatest back-to-work-after-xmas EVER

thanks for this, meteorologists

only person who'll turn up at work tomorrow

^^^ oh hello
got snow up to my knees (have no wellies)
no other bugger here
lunch van is not turning up (ok so I knew this would happen and brought a sandwich but could really go for buying some greasy hot junk food right now)

Snow here in Paris too but it's very finely grained so I doubt we'll have much accumulation today (though it's been so cold that it won't melt upon hitting the ground, so who knows).

That reminds me: what are the different regional words that ILXors have for when snow builds up on the ground as opposed to melting as soon as it lands? Here in southern England it is "settle"; to Northern Irish partner it is "lay" I think, or maybe "lie".

(e.g. "snow is falling but I don't think it will settle")

I've heard other Americans use the term "stick", i.e. "this snow is going to stick." I use "accumulate" but I grew up on the coast of Florida where snow was only something on tv, so I learned my terminology from reading weather reports.

In Ireland we'd say "stick"

in my part of canada there is no word for this because when it snows it almost always stays, so it's just 'SNOW'.

That is a valid point which I had not considered! If you are in London now you must be laughing (or crying) at our inability to cope with a few flakes.

i did not realise anyone said anything other than "settle"

I think the Scottishism is lie. Or at least the my townism. Or at least the my familyism, which probably doesn't carry much weight since I was 21 before I learned that we're the only people in the world to say that you would clap a pet when you mean you would pet it.

Disappointingly the weather warning here for last night came to nothing much, but the mile long trudge to work through a thin layer of snow with nasty ice below still wasn't much fun. More fun than the havoc the cold and my insufficient heating is playing with my home electrical goods, though.

we're the only people in the world to say that you would clap a pet

You are not alone. My family claps dugs as well.

isn't the only reason there are crap contingency plans in London the fact that it would be a waste of money most years?

wahey! xpost

sorry my post just wondering at the whole country grinds to a halt find other ways of saying this brigade

No I agree, it's perfectly reasonable not to spend a shit load of money planning for something that happens roughly every 30 years.

Snowless here today and we are working thru the cold. Gits. Loads forecast for the rest of the week tho yay :D

Sorry LG, I'm sure that is the case and it makes perfect sense. This is definitely a lot more snow than this part of the country sees in an average year and I'm not surprised there is no contingency to deal with it particularly efficiently. Didn't mean to be harping to the contrary.

On the other hand, it is also not exactly never-seen-before weather (at least, not here, not yet), and we did get something fairly similar 9 months ago, so I'm still a little surprised at the completeness of the shutdown round here (Oxford).

(Though I know that "it happened 9 months ago" still doesn't mean anything about predicting the next one, just means people remembered trying to get somewhere and having to give up and went straight to "well I'm not even leaving the house" today.)

Newsnight last night ran a state the obvious report: "secretly we love snow because work is shit and we pray every day for apocalyptic disruption."

Haha, yes. I am just bitter because as mentioned upthread I was pretty much volunteered as the only person who could still get here in event of major whatever yesterday :(

But since I am ILXing and enjoying the peace and quiet and listening to music and stuff I can't really complain. Though I got fucking wet walking here and will get fucking wet walking home so eh but I guess that is my fault for not owning wellies.

I didn't realise you were bitter! Yeah an empty office is still better than business as uzh.

No I wasn't singling you out...more just that phrase everywhere, grinds to a halt.

If you're in London it's not even apocalyptic disruption it's a thin powdering of snow on the ground and still South East Trains is stopping all services after 8pm. Talk about a hysterical overreaction.

the news just now was 30 minutes on "frozen britain" wtf

it is fairly fucking it down now in bethnal green...it's not really sticking tho, I have a fucking rotten cold.

x-post they had "frozen britain" all day y'day

this fucking country is so embarrassing sometimes

http://i48.tinypic.com/5mfrmh.jpg

In Minnesota, when the snow hits the ground and does not melt, we say it sticks. 'Settles' is what happens when snow stops blowing around after a blizzard.

'Sledging' is the UK term for 'sledding' or 'tobogganing', Americans.

ATTENTION, BRITAIN: this is not a blizzard. In WC1 the snow is flurries but it isn't accumulating yet.

The guy next door has built a huge, towering snow cock (and balls) on the wall outside our houses.

It's pretty heavy outside London as far as I can tell, then again London is always a few degrees warmer than everywhere else, central London especially so. It's pretty white all over SE London now.

If I have to walk home from Elephant and Castle again, as I did the week before Christmas, I'm going to be seriously fucked off. How about some snow chains on the buses' tires eh?

Buses seem to be running okay for what I can see, the main worry will be that everyone in London is trying to pile onto them.

The flakes are very pretty, for now, and I am watching them with pizza in hand.

This was like one of my childhood sledges/sleds:

http://www.32bitcolor.com/models/sled/sled.jpg

Now imagine a black rabbit riding on it, pulled by a little kid and that is 10-year-old me.

thin snow on the ground in cambridge but we weren't expecting it. before xmas however it was ungritted ice on the pavements for a week.

MDC, are you in Holborn today? Because right now, the hyoooooooge flakes have cobbled themselves together and achieved ACTUAL GROUND COVER.

miracle on old street

Along with "Yield" signs and prononcing their "r"s I am delighted to have "sticks" (as in snow) as yet another data point to prove my contention that Americans are more like Irish people than they are like Brits

Well that and being capable of hugging

i'm sorry, you should've just asked

40 per cent of Americans claim Irish ancestry, so that's basic common sense, but do Irish people say 'sledge'?

Suzy - no I'm at home today, had to do stuff this morning and didn't seem worth slogging in just for the afternoon.

...and sledging at Greenwich Park may be your reward. Would go to Primrose Hill but will be mobbed, yuck.

To: London
From: Edinburgh

Hi Folks,

I hear snow is bad down there! For those of you with long journeys, please feel free to leave anytime from now to avoid getting stuck!

Def means me tbh.

Would go to Primrose Hill but will be mobbed, yuck

wear a disguise!

we would say sledge yeah, maybe sleigh but only really santa has a sleigh.

The playground at the end of my road;

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4251298198_75807727bd_b.jpg

My desk at work;

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4250130603_4ac6b8b30c_b.jpg

i think you've mixed those two up

Silly me.

"sledge" has too many superfluous letters in it, which is why americans say "sled"; likewise we say "nee" and "elbo"

What is that 70s-tastic item to the left of the desk?

NIish boyfriend says "lie" not "stick" but says "bullhorn" not "megaphone" and pronounces "vase" and "data" the USish way and not the English way.

I have sodded off home too now. Screw the man. Strangely it took 25 minutes to get home (about the usual time) compared to 1h30 to get in.

All employees are expected to make every effort to attend their normal place of work at the scheduled time to carry out their duties. Our first priority is to provide healthcare to those needing it, and this is especially important when the weather is bad. The responsibility rests with the employee to get to their place of work and to advise their line manager of any difficulties that they are likely to encounter at the earliest opportunity.

Employees unable to attend work or having to leave early due to travel difficulties may be given the option of taking annual leave, TOIL/flexi leave (where applicable), unpaid leave, or making up the hours by agreement with their line manager. The line manager should consider any such requests in accordance with the requirements of the service.

Employees living within reasonable walking distance (i.e. 3 miles or 45 minutes walk) from their normal place of work will be expected to walk to work.

Managers may investigate employees travel arrangements where it appears that little effort has been made to attend work.

charmin'

The NHS needs to bust out the 4WD and stop addressing its employees in that tone.

The roads here are EMPTY. Could cross them at will on my errands, and every kind of shopping was 20 times less hassle.

you work at a hospital? xpost

Employees living within reasonable walking distance (i.e. 3 miles or 45 minutes walk) from their normal place of work will be expected to walk to work.

Well that's lovely but when that's 3 miles of ice under 5" of snow (unless already compacted into 1" of muddy ice) and you can't see where the kerbs are and you've got cold water up to yr knees it's going to be a lot longer than 45 minutes and no fun whatsoever

plus I dunno about you fitter people but 4mph is only my average walking speed if I don't have to stop for traffic every block, i.e. not when walking home through a city in any weather conditions

The NHS needs to bust out the 4WD

I read this as 'WD40' at first and was confused. I'm still confused (because I don't know what 4WD means), but at least I know they're not going to oil things.

^^^ me too!

four wheel drive?

I work in a Child Development Centre

I walked home in about 35-40 mins during the pre xmas snow, but Dog Kennel Hill was fuckin deathtrap; all the buses had given up mid journey at the top and loads of hapless old people and fatties were having to sidle down really slowly holding on to fences and lamp posts

i read it as 4AD and prepared for the rapture of J0hn D's return to healthcare

i walked a few miles along the grand union canal on christmas eve and the towpath was completely frozen. that was my most dangerous experience of 09.

When the NHS sends out e-mails demanding people walk to work for three miles it makes me think it's strange that the NHS of all people wouldn't factor in that not all of their employees would be healthy enough to consider that kind of walk in those kind of conditions to be all that reasonable, but then I think ah its the NHS

ITT: ILX posters casually mentioning ilicit or dangerous hobbies they engage in in an attempt to sound cool has been locked Steve, sorry; when I found out I did a speedball and beat up a biker gang

and there must be some smug fucker who lives 3 and a quarter miles out xp

from my home ofice window i can see the fields surrounding my little cotswold town full of people (most of whom i will probably know) having a great time.
looks fantastic.
thank you broadband and computer for making today virtually the same as any other day for me despite the 25cm+ covering of snow.
[though i dont normally play gnarls barkley albums at full volume in the office .. ]

there's another one

xposts that guy who walked 18 miles from kent to guy's hospital in feb just made everyone else look bad.

he made himself look like a fair retard too though tbf

i aint smug at all. i wish i was out there enjoying it with my kids/friends.

it was a sarcastic thank you to the technology that pays my bills.

Oh, hills. Being in Oxford, I forgot some people have hills.

We have some bridges though which are a bit like hills except 50cm tall.

that was an xpost re dangerous and illicit hobbies/gnarls barkley

the post I made before, I mean

xp

Yes,4WD = four wheel drive. MPx4A, that tone in mgmt mail would leave me wanting to phone in and tell them I was ill but GP said walking 200m to his practice for exam in these conditions was madness.

ah ha.
apologies.
got the flow of the thread all muddled.
must stop looking out of window and read text better.

MPx4A, that tone in mgmt mail would leave me wanting to phone in and tell them I was ill but GP said walking 200m to his practice for exam in these conditions was madness.

Hehe yeah, exactly

the same special leave policy insists that you have to try and make dental and medical appointments outside of working hours or schedule it at the start or end of the day and work the lost time back otherwise, and it makes you wanna go "well NHS, I phoned my NHS GP and asked him for an early appointment and he subjected me to a Kafkaesque nightmare of pre-appointment phonecalls, then told me to come in at 11am two days later and kept me waiting for three hours, so I guess I'll just work half of Saturday and then get signed off with stress for eight months"

lol nhs tbh

NHS Sussex on BBC News jsut then being all smug about how many staff they've got in. "We've got 60 rooms to staff to stay in, and have booked 20 hotel rooms as well". No mention of this in the email: we expect you to come in and then not leave.

YA RLY those rooms must be at the Hotel California, yes?

outside my window

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs125.snc3/17270_656996112730_36910239_41788174_1927112_n.jpg

View from my window earlier this afternoon:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4251588096_2e434a1c29.jpg

the same special leave policy insists that you have to try and make dental and medical appointments outside of working hours or schedule it at the start or end of the day and work the lost time back otherwise, and it makes you wanna go "well NHS, I phoned my NHS GP and asked him for an early appointment and he subjected me to a Kafkaesque nightmare of pre-appointment phonecalls, then told me to come in at 11am two days later and kept me waiting for three hours, so I guess I'll just work half of Saturday and then get signed off with stress for eight months"

Didn't know whether to Excelsior this or Truth Bomb it.

NHS Sussex on BBC News jsut then being all smug about how many staff they've got in. "We've got 60 rooms to staff to stay in, and have booked 20 hotel rooms as well". No mention of this in the email: we expect you to come in and then not leave.

My neighbour's a nurse and they're apparently sending out 4x4's to take staff in to work. Bastards. I'm sure this is infringing some sort of human rights legislation? She misses out on a lift though, cos she lives within a two mile walk to the town centre, from whence she can (possibly) get a bus.

My work picked today as a fantastic time to tell everybody that no one's getting any form of pay rise this year. Really glad I made the effort to walk in two miles at 6am, cheers.

My neighbour's a nurse and they're apparently sending out 4x4's to take staff in to work. Bastards. I'm sure this is infringing some sort of human rights legislation?

at least they're not being taken to work by WD40

i guess the 'blizzard' is over now? perhaps the crappest blizzard that's befallen on london in the last 40 years?

Estimated chances of delays at Heathrow continuing through to Friday a.m.? I'm thinking 30%.

Dear Winter,

I LOVE YOU!!!!! <3<3<3

Katharine

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47061000/jpg/_47061196_greatbritainjpg.jpg

Look at Ireland over there all green and tropical looking.

Wow!

Get Stranraer! Just about the only bit of the mainland that's lush and green. Too bad I don't live there anymore...

Here's a link for the above satellite image where you can click through to some great big huge versions: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2010007-0107/GreatBritain.A2010007.1150.1km.jpg

Crazy as this sounds, people are suggesting that it might snow in Miami this Saturday night. It will be at or near the freezing-point, but that happens from time-to-time (tho rarely). What's different is that there will be rain. Freezing temperature plus rain apparently equals the potential for snow.

All those art deco hotels in the snow, that'll look great. Miami ilxors, I demand photos.

Also, any links to "Miami Ice" headlines or gifs of Horatio Caine taking off skiing goggles appreciated.

Don Johnson with socks on, sleeves rolled down.

N1ck Gr1ff1n gets his dream of an all white Britain...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CT0a-Hgumo

lol
"oh shit..."

Postbox near flat still says "Wednesday". Mildly annoying as I put something in it on Wednesday and the snow is no longer too bad near here, buses still running and everything. Is the post running elsewhere?

(Royal Mail website says it is not running in "some areas" and to take it to yr nearest Post Office branch, but seeing as the postbox in question is right outside a branch, presumably they're not collecting from there either)

Maybe the little metal sign has got frozen into the slot?

I like that answer. There are two little metal signs, but it's possible.

The pnuematic tubes are still frozen - you know, the ones going from the underside of the pillar box to the post office.

Prague's got like 20cm now, which is supposedly a hell of a lot above the norm. I'm lovin it.

We have definite thaw here in Glasgow.

bit of sleet today saw some disappear, but it still looks like narnia around here tonight

Today's forecast: thanks for not gritting the roads last night, Boris.

I am enjoying http://uksnow.benmarsh.co.uk/ but some people need to look up the definition of blizzard.

I'M NOT AT WORK TODAY!!!!!!!

the best thing about this snow is that I didn't even know it was supposed to happen and had no idea it had snowed until I walked out the front door to get the bus. and then all the buses were either crammed full or stopping far short of tube stations/their full routes and then my feet got cold so I thought fuckit FIRST SNOW DAY OF MY LIFE IS HAPPENING TODAY.

you have no idea how exciting this is for me.

Not going to a postgrad open day today, as the trains from Brighton no longer go to London. ARGH.

would appreciate being able to go to a fuckin football match sometime this year

and on the otherside of the world:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8453744.stm

Melbourne suffers hottest night as Australia swelters

2.5 hours to get to work, and then I discover the meeting I really had to make it for is cancelled. Roads basically impassable in much of SE London, trains majorly messed up.

It took me so long that I was charged £10.30 for a £2.60 journey on Oyster (£6.00 "incomplete" charge at Gipsy Hill, £4.30 "maximum fare" at Charing X). Any tips on how to get this refunded? Website is shit, phone line is shit, Overground staff can't help, queues at Tube stations are insufferable (well, maybe I can try again at lunchtime). I'm supposed to taking my two under-fives home from town today and right now I have a negative balance on my card. In theory, the system rights itself and restores your balance but I can't risk that in the evening rush-hour.

Tube window people might well try to fob you off to the phone line but they're not supposed to - just approach window with a 'WTF, wouldn't let me on' like any normal seeker of assistance and they will put it right. Lately when faced with seriously long queues I just suck it up and join, lest it be worse later.

Aye, couldn't really face it at Char X Tube, especially as I was so profoundly late for work. Will try at Picc Circ in a coupla hours. What else am I going to do with my lunch hour? Eat something?

Oh, ffs. At Picc Tube they were able to refund the diff btw the £4.30 I was charged at Char X and the £2.60 I should've been charged but couldn't do anything about the £6.00 entry fee (even though doing the former is a tacit admission the latter is incorrect). After 15min on hold to Oyster, I was told they couldn't do anything about this morning as they don't have access to Oyster usage details until the following day. JUST PAY ME WHAT YOU OWE ME.

So far I've been able to get into work really easily every day. WTF so unfair.

My printer doesn't work. This isn't even tangentially related to the snow, but the saga I'm embroiled in in my attempts to get it to work have made me as frustrated as Michael so this seems as good a place as any for me to moan about it.

its snowing in north little rock! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It snowed here in new Mexico last night.

must be the same storm. so happy making <3

rad pic

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/12/8/1291796462566/A-train-makes-its-way-tow-003.jpg

awes

Yours?

spent about 8 hours shoveling on saturday...about 3 yesterday..finished finally at 6:30 AM this morning with another hour...was a balmy -8.

fuck snow, man, you don't even know.

Where do you live?

minneapolis

I've got a bunch of friends there, sounds like it really sucks. Get one of these, imo: http://www.silverbear.biz/

that might be fine for clearing your driveway as it happens, but getting through a four-foot snowbank left behind the plow needs something else. i'd like to make my annual recommendation that everyone get one of these: http://backcountryaccess.com/index.php?id=136

the blade is way tougher than even the best hardware jobs, m-f will chop up debris like what. short-ish handle can be a little tough on your back, but since the scoop is relatively small, it's better than filling up a HUGE shovel with like 50 lb of snow imo.

I've used a scoop on snowbanks that big before many many times, but that does look like an A+ shovel.

i use a combo of large scoop shovel and larger gardening spade...spade to chop chop chop scoop to clean up and shovel debris after

How much dollars is that magical shovel?

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/mediaManager/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=473346&width=628&height=471

nah, from the guardian stet

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/snowiest-cities-top-10_2010-12-07?page=9

wtg my hometown at #3 snowiest

no snow here, boooo

http://uksnowmap.com/

snowed heavily for about 10 mins in london this afternoon

right good proper snow forecast for saturday

not that i'm complaining but weren't we supposed to get another 6" yesterday?

yeah hooray for that shit being wrong btw

looking like being the second year in a row my December flight to Belfast is cancelled

hope this year will not be as expensive as last year, when Ryanair gleefully rubbed their hands at all Easyjet's Ireland/NI flights being cancelled and tripled their prices

anyway someone will probably tell me that it serves me right for taking the plane for a short hop and the destruction of the world is all my fault and they will be right I guess

u need a pea-green boat and some fauna to keep u company o'er the irsh sea

and a spork

ok i don't think i've ever actually SEEN snow settle so fast - half an hour ago there was none on the ground in n.london and now it's all over the fucking place! so glad i got my run out of the way yesterday - as intense as running in the snow was last time round, i'm not sure i want to repeat it any time soon

This is insane.

This is what it was like in South London the other week.

It never used to snow this much. When I was a kid you'd get proper snow about once every three or four years. Now it's like three times a year.

there wasn't supposed to be proper snow today

they've lied to us.

they've lied to all of us.

when will it end.

i am on my way up to london from bristol in a couple of hours for the weekend. no snow down here, but is this snow in london enough to cause problems?

that train pic's HDR right

nah, england is pretty much all blue and orange, as commemorated in irn bru, our national drink

how do you explain the green stripe then

if only there was a gif to convey the mystery

perhaps the green and yellow arrow represents the verdant untamed pastures from whence england wrested its national drink

there were rumours that irn bru contains some organic compounds but it turned out they were mostly petrol and the rest is just iron, water and a few lathanides

irn bru is fucking delicious btw I would drink it all the time if the schools vending machines had it

My school did have Irn Bru vendies, that's probably why nobody I went to school with has any teeth

figured that've been all the fighting. wait, "donnybrooks." did i say that right?

anyway lol climate change

It never used to snow this much. When I was a kid you'd get proper snow about once every three or four years. Now it's like three times a year.

― Matt DC, Friday, December 17, 2010 6:30 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i basically never got proper snow as a kid....once maybe iirc

90-02 were unusually mild winters apparently

A bit of a blizzard here at the moment.

not a drop of snow here

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/5268234351_a5a3ec0629_z.jpg

you will have the chance to make some friends today, literally

That sounds a bit like "may you live in interesting times".

that too

Enjoy it. Do not want any more snow up here thanks, last week was a right pain in the arse.

I live in Wisconsin and the roads still aren't clean from the storm last weekend. It was basically the worst combination possible, starting with freezing rain, then turning to snow, then becoming a blizzard (strong enough to knock down like a dozen trees in my neighborhood and keep the power out for hours at a time), and then freezing over the next morning. I was plowed up to the top of my back bumper!! Gotta love this weather.

yeah we had back to back snow emergencies here in mpls, and most of the main arteries are still about half a lane too narrow, and many side streets are mildly treacherous. pretty fun to bike in, though, tbh! just a litttttttle scary when you come up on the little black blobs of death---snow compacted to glassy ice the color of pavement. small enough that they're not a thing for cars, but lump enough that roll over one on a skinny bike tire, you're gonna eat shit in front of a bus. do not want

gbx all my mpls bike bros have had studded tires, do you use y/n?

nah, too pricey :-/

also, really, 80% of the time studs are over-kill. it's usually just cold here, not snowy as all hell.

i did, however, suddenly remember that my bike ~came with~ cyclocross tires (32s) that i took off immediately and that have been in my closet for the last two years, unused. i put em on for the first snow fall and it was fucking magic. i'm so stupid.

yeah I can't imagine what minnesota is like right now. we all saw what happened to the metrodome.

total anarchy iirc, they're playing football outdoors now

we've been reduced to savages. SAVAGES.

Insane blizzard of snow in north-east London. Took me about an hour to drive less than two miles home from the supermarket. Our skybox can't pick up any signal, virtually all the football matches have been called off, can't go out because child is ill, all the makings of a great weekend so far.

winds > 35 mph?

Not here, it's dead calm

just woken up and there's fuckin loads of snow here but it's not snowing now and winds are light

anyway lol climate change

reckon it's time to catch up with http://ifglobalwarmingisrealthenwhyisitcold.blogspot.com/

here in north west of england, six inches of snow. had great fun today with friends and my two year old god son building snow men and snow cats and general snow merriment.

Pinefox in the snow, where do you go
To find something you can eat?
Cause the word out on the street is you are starving
Don't let yourself grow hungry now
Don't let yourself grow cold
Pinefox in the snow

― Nicole (Nicole), Friday, 4 October 2002

I saw an actual fox in the actual snow on my way back from town today. I sang a wee song to myself. Twee is me.

nothing wrong with that imo

I saw one too, on the snowy roof of a garage

i basically never got proper snow as a kid....once maybe iirc

90-02 were unusually mild winters apparently

― nax arrrrrgh (nakhchivan), Friday, December 17, 2010 1:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

it snowed during the gulf war and about once during the 1980s iirc

yeah i can't remember that far back

they had some decent snow in the early 80s judging by old photos

i remember the snow in november 92? 93? not as much as any of the last three winters tho

yeah possibly in 92-3. vague memories of that, cos of all the e i was necking while dancing to jungle.

proto-jungle ardkore surely

i was a baggy babe, fookin a

most of my earliest memories involve rail fairs

back when thomas the tank engine really existed and you could touch him and he would touch you back

proper fucking days out

lol

I had to teach people how to walk properly in snow conditions - heel, toe - while trying not to be too mocking about snow wimpery in that nice Minesotan way I have.

did u succeed?

the forecasts for snow seem fairly inaccurate

the last lot that's throughly fucked up most of england wasn't rly predicted at all, iirc friday's forecast for london etc was for maybe a lil light snow later in the afternoon

so basically if it's going to stay cold (which it probably will) there's a good chance of another lot w/in next few days, in which case xmas is going to be totes owl city

forecasts, man

nah forecasts for 24/48hrs are usually good

snow just difficult tho

My friend stopped teetering immediately. Student who came to interview me for a dissertation wore high-heeled ankle boots was advised to point toes to 10 and 2.

I want to go ice skating.

...and was advised...

http://i.imgur.com/wt09X.jpg

central heating at our house has failed

ffs

britishers are cute when it snows

dunkirk spirit lj, dunkirk spirit

don't let them win

grateful 4 dressing gown and socks tbh

u don't ordinarily wear socks?

slippers at home, socks only when it's cold or I am leaving the house

look at churchill there, you don't see him complaining about a bit of snow

looks pretty grumpy to me

he hate students and impromptu dancehall soundsystems

he'll have cheered up in a week or two

I think the Galvatron/MF Doom look rather becomes him actually

he's still feeling smug that the cenotaph got merked by gilmour jr and he didn't

"Churchill, can you save me money on my car insurance?"
"I don't snow."

we got a bit of snow. gardens & pavements lightly covered in a tiny layer. Nothing like the snow 2 weeks ago. If we got a heavy snow shower i suppose it could be.

re 80s snow, there was mad snow in the winter of 1981-1982 iirc (I do not recall as I was 18 months old, but there are photos of me in about 6000 layers sitting on a teatray being dragged on a string by my mother to the shops)

anyway I just spent 30 hours in an airport not going anywhere, mr spacecadet's birthday and Christmas plans dashed, not sure if we can even get a refund cz we bailed before the official cancellation as it was pretty obvious what was going to happen (again) and we wanted to start the 3-hour drive back at dusk and maybe reach the motorway before 100% dark, even icier roads, even tireder us, etc

flight was finally cancelled just now, 5 hours later, kinda like last night when it was "rescheduled" at 8pm, staff told us to wait and we would all be booked a hotel, then at 10:30 staff said "oh lol, did we say hotel? couldn't get through to the hotel expenses authoriser. we're going home. ps the departure lounge is now closed, go and spend the night in the unheated, seatless, glass-fronted check-in area"

(sorry for rant - insert tired and bummed out but glad not to be in a fucking airport any more emoticon here)

jesus that's grim

that's horrible. which airline?

f1y b3 (not quite sure why I am googleproofing but have vague paranoid fantasies of having to lie to get the refund and the airline employing a crack team of googlers, y'know, instead of any actual useful operational staff)

No experience of them, but that sounds proper ridiculous. Do you have insurance? Did you pay for the flights on your credit card? You might get refund that way?

fuck them

fwiw fly be if you saw a passing spacecadet trying to board your flight, THEY WENT HOME EARLY AND MISSED YOUR OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION, please charge them £93875983759 and revoke their passport to enter *space* ty

also fuck u fly be, u suck and I will not use u ever

they ought to have admitted their failure to manage sooner (which failure is i guess forgiveablet because nobody manages snow very well here)

can't blame them for the snow meaning the destination airport was running for reduced hours, guess I can't blame them for having 2 planes in a row with serious engine problems undetected until everyone had boarded the plane (the day before the same thing happened at the other end and the plane we were sent was supposedly a replacement) though that didn't inspire confidence, but yeah, can't help thinking that on various counts someone could have said "you know, this isn't really happening" a long time before they did

we were the luckier ones, too - we only turned up for the flight yesterday morning, some people had been waiting a day or two already. Thurs/Fri flights had been cancelled by they destination airport, which is obv totally not the airline's fault, but it meant tensions were high by the time we were put on the plane which didn't go anywhere

ps fairly sure all airlines are rubbish, or at least all the ones in my budget, unfortunately - have in my time thought "never using the guys again" about every airline operating the route in question. this living on a different landmass to the inlaws thing could get inconvenient. should look into the train-boat option again except slightly put off by the only two options here being "leave at 5am" or "arrive at 5am"

Tried to get three planes today. When easy jet cancelled the first one they just said "this flight is cancelled, please leave the airport". Have just got off my third attempt -- we were going through the safety demonstration when the captain said City closes at 10.30 because of noise regs, so they wouldn't let him start the engines and three planeloads of people all trooped off their cancelled planes.

Now in a huge queue to get rebooked and put in a hotel. This flight cost £8 more than the EasyJet one. WTF economics.

jeeez, i just popped in to say that a friend of mine is now completing a nine-hour round trip from here to back here after her train got cancelled halfway to london, but i am paling in comparison.

that sounds really awful space cadet, stick it to them

Never seen snow like this in Exeter.

am on train towards cheltenham. visibility looks to be about 100 metres. is lovely and terrifying.

didcot parkway cooling towers in the snow = beautiful

Friday night my father and I drove up north from London. We were trying to get to Southport - all fine until we hot the roundabout at the junction between the M6 and the M58, when everything just stopped dead. We sat in the car from 11pm until 4:30am, with the snow slowly turning the car into an igloo. It was cold and boring, but also serene and lovely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=3N5mQYnOSpY

that's the best IDM track I've heard this year

srsly when it slows into that booming noise it's like the apocalypse or some shit

am now listening to it on rpt

Hell, you're absolutely right. Shame it's only 31 seconds long.

we're going home. ps the departure lounge is now closed, go and spend the night in the unheated, seatless, glass-fronted check-in area"

Have done exact same at JFK in New York, in years past. The airport is like 2 hours' journey from ANYWHERE on public transit (more so before the AirTrain), and since they canceled our flight and re-sched it for the next morning, there was no point in my going 2 hours home and coming 2 hours back, plus other people were laying over and HAD nowhere to go. The shittiest part was the airline making us sit on chairs in a giant freezing space with floor-to-ceiling glass windows letting all the cold in. We weren't even allowed to lie down on the floors because we might be mistaken for vagrants. My sympathy SO with you.

how do they stop y'all people lying down on floors? would've thought any attempt at "please don't lie on the floors" would be greeted with a hearty "fuck you". people power etc.

omfg @ eurostar q.

re: 80s/90s/00s snow
I couldn't name specific years, but I remember there being plenty of snow down south in the early 80s. Also, there was a tonne of snow in February 1991. But since then there didn't seem to be much for ages until the last few years.

Security guys came around and woke you up or whatever, if you laid down. I imagine a hearty "Fuck you" would get you removed from the airport entirely, and then you wouldn't be able to get on that flight no matter WHEN it was re-scheduled for.

So much for limiting authority, eh?

if i turned up to find that eurostar queue i would turn right back around and go home, not one second of hesitation.

xp so fucking ridiculous, petty officialdom right when people need it the least :(

We weren't even allowed to lie down on the floors because we might be mistaken for vagrants.

i would suggest that perhaps the airport and airlines should get their shit together, so that their customers are not mistaken for vagrants. i believe vagrants sometimes sit up as well as lie down, in any case.

that eurostar clip is insane

i was waiting for a cab at saint pancras (satan's pancreas as i called as a child....yes) during last thursday's snow, and the queue was about 0.00000002% as long as that

still wanted to stab someone tho, possibly one of the french ppl who tried to queue jump

we're going home. ps the departure lounge is now closed, go and spend the night in the unheated, seatless, glass-fronted check-in area"

Count yourself lucky you weren't in germany where they have bussed in clowns on stilts to entertain passengers.

i can only think those ppl have some life or death reason for getting to the continent

Got stuck in Berlin for three days before Christmas last year and will now never go anywhere in late December ever again.

did u commemorate your struggles in a festive 'downfall' parody edit?

i am totally paranoid about getting stuck in somerset after xmas

(but kind of hopeful about getting stuck in london BEFORE xmas)

Would've admired Hitler's restraint tbf.

thetrainline.co.uk appears to be down :/

Meanwhile, here's a very impressive snow-cock indeed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_moog/5274892740/

last night was the coldest in much of the south-east for over 20 years apparently, -10c in central london, -14c in the sticks

petty officialdom right when people need it the least :(

Oh, wait til the next day: One of my co-strandees was a white Christian American woman who'd been doing social work in the Middle East and was bringing back a lot of chadors and burquas, and I think she was wearing some local costume cos she didn't take any Western clothes with her (the organization told them not to, for safety). Even though she was going home to Detroit, she got stopped and searched at every checkpoint, and we may have waited for her to come out of every one.

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/stjamesparkeast.jpg

^ Frozen lake in St James's Park, London

two stories on bbc about ppl falling in frozen lakes

this really is unusually cold, and about a month before the usual coldest period in mid january

maybe the thames could freeze over?

http://i.imgur.com/QrxYb.jpg

^^^needs a memeable arsenal footballer photoshopped in there somwhere

oh NBS that spot is one of my favourite views in london! it is like a mystery austrian castle.

hey yall protip if theres a bit in the middle of yr tiny-ass lake thats still got birds actually floating in the water then the lake isn't really frozen, and you should probably not go walking on it

snowing here, btw

tbrr anyone walking on frozen lakes in a place where lakes don't usually, or properly freeze is kinda insane

where are you, gbx?

maybe the thames could freeze over?

really awesome account of that in the faber book of reportage

my friend's sister and dog fell in a lake couple weeks ago, emergency services had to get em out. sister went after dog.

poor deer
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340156/Children-dead-deer-entombed-icy-lake-magical-trip-Father-Christmas-country-park.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=iTkaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA655&lpg=PA655 (24. The frost still continuing...every moment was full of disastrous accidents &c.) xxp

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340156/Children-dead-deer-entombed-icy-lake-magical-trip-Father-Christmas-country-park.html

this is my favourite URL ever

footloose deer park

who makes the icies

i am in minnesota, usa. we got a couple feet of snow pretty recently, and it broke the roof of our local american football stadium.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAyLX2hY7E0

we like our frozen lakes here v much (good for fishing, snowmachining), but ours freeze up real good. rivers, less reliable. my dad and his dog have both broken through the ice on separate occasions. last time was two years ago---he's 65yo+ and got himself up and out and back to the house w/o incident. O_O

holy shit @ metrodome vid - it looks like some sort of reverse birthing process

It looks like a breakfast cereal commercial. They should try it during the interval at next year's Superbowl. (bah dum pish!)

Hell, you're absolutely right. Shame it's only 31 seconds long.

― State Attorney Foxhart Cubycheck (Billy Dods), Monday, 20 December 2010 15:52 (Yesterday)

seeing as it took 9 minutes to record, could try slowing it down to 9 minutes

I saw an actual fox in the actual snow on my way back from town today. I sang a wee song to myself. Twee is me.

― ailsa, Saturday, 18 December 2010 17:01 (4 days ago)

i just did the same, twee scottishes represent.

rip snow

it's alive and well I assure u

snow can't make up its mind about london

Shit is slowly melting here. And the snow too.

Plane angst update: airport automatic parking system has charged us for the week's parking we originally booked PLUS the 3 days' parking we actually used and will not refund the full week because it's the airline's fault (but I am betting the airline won't either). Don't know about the 3 days as they didn't answer that part of the email.

On the plus side, the snow and burst heating pipes at work mean today is to be spent "working from home" which I am hoping means "looking at work email once every 2 hours while playing Braid", except that some people there actually seem to be emailing me questions which require thought and research to answer. How very rude.

In my garden. Our partridges have made it to another December. It's a Christmas miracle!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5283206990_2efb0d9ef5.jpg

omg cheap xmas dinner, right there

haha j/k partridges ur fine beasts and it is cruel 2 exterminate ur lyfe 4 the purpose of whimsy

that said u appear 2 b red-legged partridges, i.e. non-native partridges, hence less integral 2 the fauna of albion, hence mebbe blind eyes can b turned 2 violence against immigrant populations

<3 partridges

don't think I've ever tried them

they're nice, a lot of flavour

aw 4 a second I tht u meant the <3 ornithologically

but now I see u as a gore-jawed savage rending the flesh of our plump adorable featherballs w/o compunction

mind u I wd quite like 2 do the same now

they're great birds either way

The snowman kebab looks like a poor option either way.

Oh hark, an echo!

*polite chuckle*

http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/294/cache/train-trip-sweden_29429_990x742.jpg

"close that window u grokkbard"

Caek are u on the Polar Express with Tom Hanks and the dead-eyed children?

Ned needs a couple of pair trees.

That would be like four trees?

partridge family needs a bus imo

xxxp, i am on the national geographic photo of the day website

what do you look like

naked eritrean w/ hoops iirc

almost regret not having to take a train cross country

overground halfway across the city on friday when the snow's pretty much all gone really not the same

bristol to sheffield for me tomorrow. should be lols.

xxxp, i am on the national geographic photo of the day website

― caek, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 19:08 (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what do you look like

― conrad, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 19:16 (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

naked eritrean w/ hoops iirc

― caek, Wednesday, 22 December 2010 19:18 (44 minutes ago) Bookmark

:)

intercity trains were running fine from bristol through cheltenham and to the north on monday. but i spent 3.5 hours in cheltenham station waiting room waiting for a 9 mile journey north on the local train. 4 inches of snow on all the roads - ok where they are busy, not so where they aren't and the buses and taxis had called it a day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-AvCFskYIY&feature=player_embedded

SNOW DAY

Can we say a big FU to Wendy's for not even pretending to shovel and salt their sidewalks, ever. it rained onto old snow early this morning and my walk past their lot was a death defying skitter over black ice.

it's snowing

tuesday was 80degrees, wednesday 28, today 42

THIS. IS. DENVER.

today 32, visibility 100 ft.

THIS. IS. WEST TEXAS.

yeah sign me up for 4-5 more months of this shit