SHORT TROUSERS AND GYMSLIPS IN THE SNOW

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SHORT TROUSERS AND GYMSLIPS IN THE SNOW

by menhir @ 05 Feb. 2009 – 20:11:37

I really cannot fathom this out. Why is snow so different now to what it used to be in London and elsewhere? Why the total disruption everywhere? why the major news item for 36 hours and still trickling on? "There is snow...look".

It used to snow every winter, yes it really did snow. Gloves hat, coat, scarves suitable footwear and knee high socks, for outer wear, and warm layers under the coats. Boys wore short trousers and girls wore skirts or gymslips. We took our toboggan to the local park and whizzed down the 'nursery slopes', then a multiplicity of times, drag the sledge up the slope to repeat the exercise.

We played snowballs before and after school. The various snowmen we constructed were smashing. There weren't too many carrots but there were smidgins of coal for eyes, also the loan of a scarf or hat till the owner went indoors. We'd rush out the next morning to see if our snowman was still there, or needed a bit of a re-structuring. We took a delight in adding to it, making the snowman rounder and fatter.

Schools didn't close. We attended, so did staff. Public transport ran. Personal transport was not so much in abundance, though it did exist. (We had to cross roads carefully). I can remember ice lying on some London roads and not melting till late April or early May.

There were no gritters, salt sprayers or snow ploughs in London then, yet neither did London and its transport come to a halt. The severe winter of 1962/63 did not create the kerfuffle there has been this week. We functioned.

Scotland, takes measures to keep working though it is not always possible to keep every little village and hamlet clear. Main roads are not blocked for long if they do get affected by major snowfalls. Efforts are made to keep lifeline transport flowing at some level. There have been severe blockages from time to time on far north roads, which by the panic levels of news we hear and see, would totally freeze up the functioning of our neighbours for a long time. Not here, hardship because of weather, is kept to a minimum, and life goes on.
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6 Comments to SHORT TROUSERS AND GYMSLIPS IN THE SNOW

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- Munzly
- http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
- 06 Feb. 2009 @ 06:48:00
Good points. In Norwich the unemployed were set to work chipping the ice off the pavements, so the City was rapidly cleared of hazards.
- - menhir
  - http://www.myword.blog.co.uk
  - 06 Feb. 2009 @ 10:50:07
  My goodness, that's a thought isn't it! A different keep fit routine in the fresh air.
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- loiswakeman
- http://lois.co.uk
- 06 Feb. 2009 @ 09:44:52
Yes - I was thinking much the same. In 62-63, I only had one day off school because my Dad went out and it was so cold that he got ice inside his nose and said we didn't have to walk to school. I think we just went out into the cul-de-sac opposite and made snowmen and chucked snowballs at our friends instead!

That was the year my Pa also took us across the frozen Thames at Windsor. Exciting times for a ten-year old.
- - menhir
  - http://www.myword.blog.co.uk
  - 06 Feb. 2009 @ 10:54:49
  Now I know how old you are!
  
  The Winter of 62/63 was perishing cold. I was given a long gaberdine storm coat with a quilted lining under which I wore a short quilted dressing gown. Apart from hands getting a bit cold, bodily, I was warm. On an underground train (yes the transport was functioning) the lower end of my coat fell open exposing my dressing gown. People smiled at me. I wonder if they decided to use the same trick for warmth, thereafter...
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- chrisistoofat
- 06 Feb. 2009 @ 18:13:52
Yes, the media has definitely gone on about the weather a lot but it is perhaps inevitable with multiple redundant 24 hr channels to be filled somehow, anyhow, with inane repetitive chatter.

But, indeed, why close the schools ? I thought education, education, education was the key to 'success' ? I cannot remember any day off for school closure when I was a nipper, including 62/63 - and I was brung up proper in t' Pennines ! Health and Safety again, with overtones of litigation. Pathetic. Let them experience the slipperiness of pavements walking to school for once. Teach them to be careful. They stay indoors far too much daily as it is.

I was straight out into the snow last Monday morning (and Tuesday) with the sledge up the nearest long hill ! Nearly had the slope to myself, despite school closures. Brilliant it was. 250 metres or so of headlong terror ! Only came home when exhausted and hungry, just like when I was 8 years old. Knackered my knee again, of course.

They say it has been the heaviest snow for 18 years. Dunno about that, but if I have to wait another 18 years for snow like it I will be into my 80s, so thought I had better make the most of it. Doctor is hopeful I might grow up one day.

CITF
- - menhir
  - http://www.myword.blog.co.uk
  - 06 Feb. 2009 @ 19:52:06
  Why can't the doctor allow you your extended childhood, at least you'll be one patient he won't have to do memory tests for in eighteen years time; he'll know exactly what your ability levels should be.
  
  It wasn't so many winters ago that we were taking our youngster with plastic aberration moulding, called a sled, to little slopes very close to home, out of school hours and at weekends. The snow wasn't necessarily amazingly deep, but there was enough for the purpose.
  
  I was warned against going twenty miles East today, the roads, I was told, were quite 'slippy'. Here, there was no sign of it. The weather forecast tonight suggests there may be additions to the slippiness out East.
  
  Our schools have continued as usual as we haven't had much snow to talk of. There was a sugar dusting of snow for all of ten minutes one evening, then it rained. Then yesterday morning, blades of green grass, poked up through white. It stayed for a few more hours. It's cold though.
  
  There could be problems for staff getting into schools and businesses if they live in country areas affected by bad or dangerous conditions, you have to allow for that. School buses cannot take unnecessary risks either. The winds here have blown over double deckers in the past. Most buses now are single deck.
  
  When it comes to walking reasonable distances, yes, absolutely.
  
  Our child slipped on ice in the primary school playground once. My complaint was not that the kids were allowed out, but the child was not checked by qualified medical staff at the local hospital or medical centre, when, there was an obvious problem that resulted; also, that a parent was not called. There was a greenstick fracture which did not get assessed until I came on the scene after school was over and saw the physical distress and strange positioning of the arm.
  
  Unfortunately, the school incident has left sprog with a certain level of nervousness about moving around in some icy conditions. An attempt at learning to ski later on, didn't reverse the upset, unfortunately. The Cairngorms is not the creme de la creme of kiddie ski resorts.
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