Stormy Weather

[BBMmk2]

www.com down these parts!! I just cant imagineas to how much water has come down!!

[Serial_Apologist]

www.com down these parts!! I just cant imagineas to how much water has come down!!

That's a motor repair service, BBM!

[BBMmk2]

That's a motor repair service, BBM!

I did a play on a phrase there SA! :)

[salymap]

I haven't had my 2 minutes of extra light yet S-A It's absolutely pouring down, windy and even the seagulls and pigeons have sought shelter.

And I planned to go out on Monday- thanks

[Anna]

At 8am this morning it was pitch dark, the wind was gusting between 34-40mph and the rain torrential. It did improve from lunchtime onwards and there is some blue to the SW now and the makings of quite a pretty sunset. However the Met Office rainfall map shows an ominous red and orange blob will be directly overhead here at around 9pm tonight with further heavy rain around 3am.

I'm glad to read S_A's forecast of drier weather, nice as it is to have this mildness this constant rain is really so depressing but good news we've had an extra 14 minutes of daylight! (I notice marthe hasn't been around lately, hope she's ok and had an enjoyable Christmas)

[gurnemanz]

Just back from Germany for Christmas - Freiberg near Dresden. Deep snow when we arrived was gone in two days with the English weather which we seemed to bring over with us, so people were disappointed to have a wet not white Christmas. We were lucky to attend a Christmas concert in Freiberg cathedral, a beautiful building with a famous Silbermann organ.
Incidentally, the only direct flight from UK to Dresden leaves from Southend with the unlikely-sounding East Friesian Airlines. Sounds a bit dodgy but was fine.

[mercia]

quite a pretty sunset.

Anna, I thought I ought to let you know [if you didn't already] that there's lots of Stargazing with Brian Cox on TV next week [8/9/10 January] BBC2

[Anna]

Anna, I thought I ought to let you know [if you didn't already] that there's lots of Stargazing with Brian Cox on TV next week [8/9/10 January] BBC2

Thanks mercia, I did notice whilst out shopping today the new RT contains a pull out chart - Explore the Galaxy with Brian Cox! I didn't buy it, perhaps I should. Thanks, he's a bit too pretty, all teeth and hair, but with Patrick Moore gone, probably the new face of stargazing? (Or, as we like to call it, Dark Sky Tourism!)

[Petrushka]

Torrential rain here for much of the day. Very dark still at 8am and pouring down. And my umbrella chose this to be the morning when it refused to go down!

A trip to http://www.umbrellaheaven.com/index....afb89c26ee7aa8 is called for.

[Nick Armstrong]

(Or, as we like to call it, Dark Sky Tourism!)

Grey drizzly day gave way to outright pouring rain at nightfall... a night to stay in!

Problem is, houseguests want to go out!

[Anna]

Grey drizzly day gave way to outright pouring rain at nightfall... a night to stay in!
Problem is, houseguests want to go out!

Are houseguests your young French contingent? Tricky! Are they suggesting heading Up West and Clubbing (although that'll mean heading off around 11pm) Can you suggest cinema and a meal or, a good standby, some board games? Indoctrinate them into the peculiarly English way of spending the Festive Season, namely: Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, Scrabble (that will improve their English no end) and, of course - the one that goes on for hours - Monopoly!! Which combined with a Chinese takeout would be a perfect evening!

[Serial_Apologist]

Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, Scrabble (that will improve their English no end) and, of course - the one that goes on for hours - Monopoly!!

(I am peculiarly un-English in this respect, I guess)

[Nick Armstrong]

Are houseguests your young French contingent? Tricky! Are they suggesting heading Up West and Clubbing (although that'll mean heading off around 11pm) Can you suggest cinema and a meal or, a good standby, some board games? Indoctrinate them into the peculiarly English way of spending the Festive Season, namely: Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, Scrabble (that will improve their English no end) and, of course - the one that goes on for hours - Monopoly!! Which combined with a Chinese takeout would be a perfect evening!

One adult (my age, or almost) and two teenage lads.

We're going to see "Life of Pi" (again, in my case)!! Come rain, blow wind...

[Anna]

One adult (my age, or almost) and two teenage lads.
We're going to see "Life of Pi" (again, in my case)!! Come rain, blow wind...

Oh, that's OK then, as you've seen it you can comfortably settle down and snooze throughout it ... and wake refreshed ... knowing as their favourite Oncle you can shepherd them home away from the dubious delights of Clubland, but what do you do with those teenagers for a week?
Not Harry Potter studios again?

[vinteuil]

Edit: From Dec 22nd onwards, 2 minutes of daylight can be added per day, until 21 June; so today is already longer by 14 minutes!

Serial - from memory, it's not as simple as a straight "two minutes per day" over the next six months. The curve of sunrise / sunset is surely more sinusoidal, so that at this time of year it's pretty flat, we only slowly add to daylight hours; whereas near the equinoxes the curve is much steeper and we gain daylight time much more appreciably...