I was working in London in A+E on nights. Couldn't dig the car out, unsafe to drive as lived halfway up steep hill. So had uniform on, then jumper and midi woollen skirt then coat. Had to walk 1/2 mile to N Circular to catch bus and then another !/2mile to the hospital. Snow thick and couldn't see where curbs were, so fell down at least twice. Glad of thick skirt to take the impact and cold off. Tiring night and then repeat for 3 more nights.
I remember being cut off twice in 6 years when we lived in that Norfolk village. Once by snow (probably in 1981) and once by fallen trees in 1987. I used to do a run round the local villages with a coach taking students to Kings Lynn College. The coach yard was next door and I was usually the first one to go down there to get a coach out. I seem to remember getting a call from the boss who lived further down the road and being told not to bother as the college was closed. We couldn't get out of the village for 3 days anyway.
In 1987 we had the big storm in the night, which I'd slept through. I got the coach out and set off only to find a tree across the road. I managed to turn round and tried two different routes to get to my first pick-up but both were blocked, so I phoned the boss and told her I couldn't get out of the village and that's when I found out about the storm. I hadn't heard a thing! Once again the village was completely cut off for 3 days.
The 1987 storm was a day after my 40th birthday. Went to the station, no trains. Walked back with our neighbour who had been there for an hour. A row of trees broke off and fell, luckily away from us.
Was any one else affected by the winter of 1947. It snowed every day from Jan 22 to March 1. I could not get to school because the snow was deeper than my wellingtons, just on the pavements. Also there was coal rationing which meant many people had no heating so "borrowed" neighbours' fences or raided their coal bunkers.
No double glazing, no central heating and extremely cold.
It is obvious this is the reason that I am now such a warm, cuddly and modest person
I got a feeling I went back to Hong Kong for Christmas that year and missed the snow!
DK
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I was conceived in February 1947. My parents' first home, a flat in Penarth near Cardiff. They had flowers in a vase, they told me that the water froze solid. So I was made in Wales but born in England.
There was more snow in 1947 and bad floods when it melted. 1963 was colder but no floods as the sun shone and gradually melted it. I remember huge snowdrifts in 63 so 47 must have been really exceptional.
Earlier this week my mum and dad showed me a photo from 1981, my sister and her friend stood by piles of snow which had been moved by JCB to open up the road out of the village, it must have been 10 ft high. I remember me and my mates climbing on top of the snow piles and jumping jnto the snow in the fields!
Its not actually that long ago we had snow at Christmas, 2010. We spent it in Dorset and I remember we only just made it to the cottage due to snow and ice, it was -10 degrees one morning. We 'escaped' by going to Guernsey on a day trip on 27 or 28th December as it was much warmer!
When the ridiculously low temperatures were recorded, in the -20s, we had a friend who was a sheep farmer in Lanarkshire. The farmer down the road ran a bigger outfit and had a dedicated tractor shed. His diesel froze. My friend, who couldn't afford such things, had some of his sheep sheltering in with his tractor and they kept it warm! (well, warm enough to start...) I lived there for a while and can remember going out to feed the sheep in -15. The hairs in your nose freeze up, so when you wrinkle your nose it's all crunchy. I'd not experienced that before - a very strange sensation!
------------- Always edited for sloppy typing - when I spot it!
1981 I walked 4 miles to work, snow above my knees at times. When I got there colleagues who lived less than a mile away hadn’t turned in because “the weather was just too bad”. Walking to work in all the snow was hard but also very peaceful and beautiful 😊
Quote: Originally posted by sidecarbob on 27/12/2023
1981 I walked 4 miles to work, snow above my knees at times. When I got there colleagues who lived less than a mile away hadn’t turned in because “the weather was just too bad”. Walking to work in all the snow was hard but also very peaceful and beautiful 😊
I didn't have far to walk to work as I lived next door to the coach yard, but there was little point in getting a coach out as all roads out of the village were blocked. The college 10 miles away was closed anyway, and taking the students in would have been my first job. It was 3 days before I went anywhere. I didn't get paid either as it was only a casual job.