Stormy Weather

[antongould]

1947 was just before my time but in the Northumberland village I grew up in it was, possibly still is, the stuff of legend. The road to civilisation, as Newcastle was then known, was blocked with snow for about a month off and on. My grandfather used to tell me of going and digging out the snow each day only to return the following morning to find it blocked more deeply than before.
Ever after if something hadn't happen for an long, long time it was referred to as "....since the 47 storm.."

[Anna]

I have a friend in his 70s and he was telling me about 1947 and as you say, to him stuff of legend and in his memory so vivid still. There is, he told me, a famous British Rail film about workers digging a steam train out of it by moonlight. I must have a look to see if I can find it.

[mangerton]

Does anyone remember those years?

1962/63. I was 11, living in Hawick. The town was cut off from time to time, which meant no bread. The railway to Carlisle was blocked for several weeks. Some of my classmates had an extra long trip to school - a daily 90 mile round trip - because of blocked roads. The school though never shut, a change from today's namby pambyism!

The highlight was probably hearing on the radio news one morning that a very ill woman was being taken by helicopter to Hawick Cottage Hosp. I looked out of the window, and there it was. The hospital was near the school, and almost all the pupils were at the playing fields to watch. We were all late for school as a result, but nothing was said, helicopters being something of a rarity in Hawick in those days.

[mangerton]

I have a friend in his 70s and he was telling me about 1947 and as you say, to him stuff of legend and in his memory so vivid still. There is, he told me, a famous British Rail film about workers digging a steam train out of it by moonlight. I must have a look to see if I can find it.

Anna, I think this is what you're looking for.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=/watch?v=ymz6D8eFeUg&v=ymz6D8eFeUg&gl=GB

"Snow 1963" is also worth looking at, I think. There's a link on the page above.

[PatrickOD]

I remember '47. It was great! Well, I was 9 years old! A blizzard started on the Saturday night, so bad that our slide was covered again between getting to the end and running back to the start. Next morning I was on early Mass, and when I opened the front door the snow was over my head! Bliss! Scott-like I made my way to church. Quel aventure! Not surprisingly there was a congregation present, and as I made my entrance behind the priest my feet, still packed with snow as I had not had time to change my shoes, left me, and I crashed to the marble floor. What fun! Wasn't it!

[marthe]

Christmas day in Newport, RI has been a mix of clouds and bright intervals. It was actually below freezing this morning with snow flurries flying around but not settling on the ground. Childhood Christmas's of the 1950s and 1960s seemed colder and snowier to my mind. G. recalls his childhood winters, in the North of England, especially the winters of 1962-1963. He remembers walking everywhere (school, shops, church, scouts) with snow deep enough to come up to the tops of his wellies. I don't remember 1962-1963 being any more severe than usual here in New England. Cold, snow, and ice were par for the course then. I remember reading a short story by Sylvia Plath called "Snow Blitz" in which she describes, with some dark humour, the severity of the 1962, 1963 winter in London

[Serial_Apologist]

Two of the problems I well recall from the 1962/63 winter.

The first was exterior pipes freezing, and water refusing to drain away from baths and sinks. The ballcock on the cold water tank in our attic froze solid one night. We were awaken by loud gurgling noises and went up to investigate. Water was gushing through the overflow and down our glass awning out the back. We made do by pouring boiling water over the frozen arm of the ballcock until it released, then laid hot water bottles across the pivot. Next day a frozen waterfall, literally, swooped down from the overflow, which could only be broken using lump hammers, and an unfortunate pittusporum shrub directly in the path was encased in a beautiful glass sculpture. Needless to say, it didn't survive!

The other problem was that alternating frezing and thawing of the surface of the snow, which was about two feet deep from the New Year's Eve blizzard to the middle of March, had caused a thick crust to form. Mostly this crust was of sufficient strength to be walkable on, but where it wasn't, torn trousers and very nasty scratching to legs resulted from crashing through.

That New Year's Eve was the first time I got drunk, I now remember!

[Anna]

Anna, I think this is what you're looking for.

Erm, sorry mangerton, that link seems to take me to weird stuff? I think he may have got this about Bleath Gill from 1955 confused with 1947. I love old footage like this and that wonderful RP commentary and I also have a secret passion for steam trains. Oops! No longer secret!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymz6D8eFeUg

It was so warm yesterday, 12.5, it's 10.7 at the mo, no complaints as no need to have any heating on. Also, why did I buy quite so many sprouts? Can I make chutney with them?

Edit: This is the 1963 snow link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4pJ...eature=related

[handsomefortune]

mmmmm sprout chutney ........perhaps stick to steam trains i reckon anna - (i love them too btw....though not a train spotter normally speaking. steam seems heroic, and engine rooms in particular are human-like somehow)?

[mangerton]

Erm, sorry mangerton, that link seems to take me to weird stuff?

Yes, it does rather. I've no idea how that happened, sorry. And I always check the links after I post them.

Anyway, yes , the 1955 Bleath Gill film was the one I meant, so I'm glad you found it. I too am a fan of old steam railways, and have had quite a few excellent holidays in different parts of the country pursuing this interest and my interest in cathedrals.

Matching preserved railway timetables and Cathedral Evensong can be tricky!

[Serial_Apologist]

Wonderful railway clips Anna - thank you very much indeed - and lots of other stuff to investigate there too.

[marthe]

Boxing day has been brilliantly clear, sunny, not too cold. At the moment we've got a beautiful afterglow from the sunset with a fingernail moon and Venus showing through the tree tops.

[Mahlerei]

marthe

Holiday greetings from this side of the big puddle; been a very mild Christmas and Boxing Day here in Kent. Can't help wondering when the real winter will strike... Sky had a six-mile run with my son yesterday and a big knuckle bone to gnaw on afterwards. We're taking her here later this week:

http://www.bedgeburypinetum.org.uk/index.php

[marthe]

Mahlerei,

Holiday greetings to you! We're also waiting for the real winter weather to show up. So far, the grass is still green! We've had frost but nothing severe yet. Sounds as if Sky is getting plenty of exercise. I'm sure she'll welcome the cold weather, and a bit of snow! Bedgebury looks to be quite an interesting place. In my home town in Massachusetts, there's a privately owned pinetum that's the oldest one in New England. We used to visit when I was growing up. The Italianate topiary garden on the lakeside is also quite lovely. Here's an article about the Hunnewell Gardens and Pinetum http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.ed...ticles/814.pdf

Best wishes,
marthe

[BBMmk2]

Indeed! May I pass Holiday greeting to you to Marthe!! Rather a mild Christmas, thankfully!!