Warm enough?

The temperature peeked at 33 deg C in my neck of the woods today. My thermometer is still indicating 30 deg C now.

Of course it won’t stay like that will it?

My model says so.

Spring

Holes

Since the summer (Don’t laugh), the roads in Kent have deteriorated to almost third world status. Everywhere you go there are whole (snigger) sections of road that have been shorn of the top surface. But that’s not the worst of it.

Potholes are becoming a dangerous menace. I think they’re actually breeding. Some are several centimetres deep. I certainly wouldn’t like to be a cyclist. The council say they are working on the problem but obviously not in my area.

Now that we have had a flurry of global warming, ie snow, the roads are even worse to drive on. The problem is that  snow filled potholes are like traversing a minefield without a mine detector.

I wonder how much Kent has spent of it’s road budget? I must ask.

It's snow joke.

Sorry about the title.

It looks like I'll have to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to dig the car out of the snow. After all Mrs FE must go to work to earn money to keep me in the style I'm accustomed to. As that nice Mr Cameron keeps saying. "It's the right thing to do". (Mrs FE going to work that is).

It’s going to be cold again

From the Metro

Snow on its way to Britain again as temperatures set to plunge to -5C

Forecasters have predicted a ten-day cold snap will grip Britain from Sunday with temperatures dropping to -5C and the chance of more snow.

The Weather Channel said a ‘giant temperature swing’ would arrive at the weekend, bringing snow in the Pennines and blizzards in Scotland.

Monday could see snow in Yorkshire and Lancashire and there would be a risk of widespread snow across eastern England from Tuesday.

Of course I couldn’t help  commenting.

• ThefilthyEngineer

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  Who's going to be the first to post here that it's all due to climate change?

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Snow and motoring

When are we going to teach people to drive in snow? I’ve just spent 3 hours on the slowly orbiting car park around London.(M25). Some of the driving defies belief. Being overtaken by idiots driving in blizzard conditions at a rate that is dangerous at the best of times is stupid. At the other end of the spectrum is the idiot who drives so slow compared with the average, that lorries appear to overtake nearing light speed.

One piece of interest was some sort of incident on the opposite carriage way. I’d love to know why there was a need for eight fire engines?

Snow safety video. Public service message.

Expecting snow? Here is a public service broadcast on how to fit snow chains to your vehicle. Keep your eyes on the tyres, you at the back!

You weren't concentrating? Well don’t blame me when you end up in the ditch.

Google Earth

Every year just before Christmas, Google Earth allows you to watch Santa’s progress across the Globe courtesy of NORAD.

Just for a change could NORAD track the Kentish grit lorry that has yet to spread any grit on my road?

Missing in Action.

Make this Global Warming stop.

I’ve dug out the path to the garage four times, to enable passage to the freezer.

I’ve de-snowed (Is this a new word?) the car twice.

I’ve cleared the drive twice. (Using the slave labour of Mrs FE).

Run out of milk.

Run out of bread ( I could have killed the couple who came out  of the local shop with eight loaves this morning. I hope they are all stale by tomorrow morning).

My gas and electricity dials are turning faster than a whirling dervish on heat.

The only consolation is that I’ve enough booze and fags to last me through the night. (The booze and fag police won’t be able to get through the snow).

Ho Hum, could be worse I suppose.

In the spring I intend to experiment in adapting the lawnmower into a snow blower.

Colder

An interesting website showing the underlying cooling that has been going on over the last decade. Lots of interesting links to a plethora of articles.

The article is here. Nicely set out and simple to read.

H/T to EU Referendum

Thrice Stricken

It snowed last night.

Dug the car out and cleared the drive.

It snowed again.

Cleared the drive.

Aaaaagh. It's snowing again.

One redeeming fact. Not a Toyota Prious in sight. Plenty of 4 x 4's though.

Public safety message.

Instead of all those fatuous Television broadcasts exhorting us to drive less and save the planet. Why can't they produce one telling people how to actually drive in snow? Not just tell people what to wear, and to keep a shovel in the car.

If people were actually shown how to drive in snow, they wouldn't need all that gear.

Yes, that means you, the silly cow who nearly T boned me this morning.

Snowed under?

Can the Railways get anything right?

Commuters desperate to avoid spending the night in a railway station or being eaten by their snow-bound fellow commuters were left none the wiser if they went to the National Rail website this afternoon.

The site, operated by the Association of Train Operating Companies, is a clearing house for train service information in the UK.

This afternoon, nervous commuters were greeted with a reassuring 503 error message as they wondered when to make a bolt from work, before a southwards moving band of snow hits the South East and completes the smothering of the entire UK under an icy blanket.

"The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later," the site cheerily told travellers facing the UK's worst Siberian onslaught since the Big Freeze of 2009.

The whole story is over at the Register.

I apologise for this

Tonight I listened to the BBC.

Apart from the usual drivel about the worst snow fall for 19 years, Woopee f*ck. I've seen far worse in the past. They had a story about three younsters who unfortunately had decided to descend a slope on the upended roof of a derelict range rover. the sad ending was that they ended up sliding into a barbed wire fence, and one of them, being badly injured.

I must admit that it saddens me when these events happen, and that one was badly injured.

On the other hand, I am so glad that the devil may care attitude is still alive and well in the UK, and not even the ridiculous H & S brigade have managed, not wihout spending millions of our money, to stamp out the devil-may-care attitude to risk which made us such a great nation.

Without risk, would we have achieved anything at all in this country?

I wish a speedy recovery to those in hospital. Please take care, but live your lives to the full.