Talking of the weather....

[Big Al]

Old tree Man has no heating and the country is grinding to a halt but this weather is so cold that we picked our son up for the holidays last night and driving down the A19 the heater was on full tilt but still blowing cold as the temeriture of the engine was below 60 deg C with the wind going in the bonnet. Looks like it will have to have some foil in front of the radiator.

Also it was that cold this morning that we had to scrape ice off the INSIDE OF THE WINDSCREEN.

Looks like the day after film is coming true, lol.

[Green Aura]

Does your car have a recycle air button, Al? I had a similar problem driving down south the other week until I realised if I switched it to recycled it warmed up nicely because there was no cold air coming in from outside (except when I opened the window to have a fag )

[old tree man]

2012 have the mayans got it right

[MuddyWitch]

Talking of the Mayan thing...my youngest will turn 21 on 12-12-12...& she's training to be a vulcanologist!

MW

[Keaniebean]

Also it was that cold this morning that we had to scrape ice off the INSIDE OF THE WINDSCREEN

I've had to do the same thing several times, but I do work night shifts, so not surprising.

However do get a bit chisseled off at work, I basically work in a big sardine tin, well that's what it looks like from the outside! The other night the thermometer was showing -14oC and our heating never works,but they still just expect you to carry on regardless, so much for health and safety I would work anyway but I just don't like all the pretence. My company doesn't give a F£$%, why don't they just say so!

[KathyLauren]

Does your car have a recycle air button, Al? I had a similar problem driving down south the other week until I realised if I switched it to recycled it warmed up nicely because there was no cold air coming in from outside (except when I opened the window to have a fag )

While I sympathize with you for the exceptionally nasty weather you are currently enduring, you Brits are amateurs when it comes to cold!

The recycle control will give you faster heat, but it will also give you humidity. If you leave it on for any length of time, your windows will fog up from the moisture in your breath that isn't being replaced by fresh air. In cold weather, you need fresh, dry (drier, anyway) air on the windshield.

Blocking the radiator is the way to go. On the Canadian prairies, you will see most vehicles driving around with covers over the grille, or with a sheet of cardboard inserted between the grille and the radiator.

[Graye]

I think we need lots of lessons from people who live in places like Canada on how to really cope with this cold weather, especially driving. I suppose we still might rank about middling in that department though. I remember plodding over the mountains coming down into Granada one winter with 6 inches of snow and more falling. The authorities just told everyone to stay off the roads as they weren't coming out to help and there were no gritters etc. Fully laden lorries and most Spanish drivers were just taking mad, revving runs at the hills with the expected consequences. We eventually managed to wend our way through the mayhem and gently tootled along at about 15mph all the way home. One sensible Spaniard in a little van latched onto our tracks and did whatever we did and I suspect we were the only two to get home that night.

However one thought which keeps haunting me is my very first driving lesson. It was actually on a frozen lake in Sweden in one of those lovely old two stroke Saabs. I often shiver at the complete craziness of that. I was only 16 so might have an just a shadow of an excuse. The car owner, my friend's father, certainly didn't! I suppose it was feet thick, but... Our car now stays parked, completely covered in snow and ice, and we put our boots on and walk everywhere. Much better all round!

And I must agree about thoughtless employers. I went to a fruit and veg shop this afternoon where I felt cold in all my outdoor gear. I could see no sign of heating, the door was propped open and the poor girl who served me looked positively blue. All she had other than jeans and a sweatshirt was a scarf and some fingerless gloves. I bet the owner was sat in the back counting his cash over a nice cosy fire...

[crowsashes]

theres a minimum safe working temp for work places so you can strop politely to get the heating turned up. no maximum as i found out though when at college the inside temp was about 34 degrees c in last week of sept/begining of oct when we had that mini heatwave seems mad to be thinking less than 2 months ago i was out in flip flops now im in snow boots!

[Big Al]

Does your car have a recycle air button, Al? I had a similar problem driving down south the other week until I realised if I switched it to recycled it warmed up nicely because there was no cold air coming in from outside (except when I opened the window to have a fag )

It does GA, it's also got climate control as opposed to the normal air con.......

Mind you a better option is to stay at home and keep warm with an open fire.

As for winter driving, The transport secretary said on the news this last week that this bad weather ia a " one in a 20 year event" . I wonder if that's the same " 1 in a 20 year event " that we had in January / february 2010.

If it is I might invest in a set of winter tyres but having said that i am such an old fart that I KNOW how to drive in bad weather and I can still have some fun with a rear wheel drive car, .

[Big Al]

2012 have the mayans got it right

I got really screwed up over the end of civillisation in the year 2000, stockpiled food, water and weapons etc and even the bloody computer didn't even fart let alone die "!!

As for 2012 if the mayans were able to predict the end of time or whatever why didn't they predict their own demise? [ assuming they have demised and they didn't predict it,:lol: ]

I'll probably stockpile food, water and weapons, insist the son comes home for that weekend etc then be the source of amusment for weeks to come but heck what's new there then.

[Flo]

Declare your stockpiling weekend Christmas Big Al and then you will just be acting normally like most of the rest of the population.