I just about remember 1963 so thought i would jog my memory with this .
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/teens/casestudy_severe_winters.html
Unless it stays like this until March there's no comparison !Yet despite all the modern technology we still can't cope !

Can remember 1981 winter which was 'ard enough. Much bigger icicles than we have now.

et despite all the modern technology we still can't cope !

Despite or because of?

Eg. if there were no websites, no SMS services, no email, how easy would it be for a school to notify its pupils that it had decided to close?

School closures used to be notified via the BBC local radio (and probably still is) – I remember my parents would have it on from early in the morning if there was snow.

how easy would it be for a school to notify its pupils that it had decided to close?

Very easy. I remember once when I was at primary school, the school was closed one day because the central heating had broken down, the headmaster simply stood at the school gate informing parents and pupils as they arrived. Ah yes, the good'ol days and "the power of speech".

Drifts up to 7 metres – crikey!

Ah yes, the good'ol days and "the power of speech"

There was a teacher yesterday from the local comp driving up & down the main road here shouting out of the car window that the school was shut

I just about remember 1963 so thought i would jog my memory with this .

I started junior school in 62 & remember that winter – don't recall any days off school though 🙂

I don't remember '63 (I was only 6) but '81 I remember well and we've got a way to go in this area (Forest of Dean)to beat that one. I also remember a year (but can't remember which!) since '81 when the temeperature in this area didn't rise above freezing for the whole of February.

I don't think it's a case of not being able to cope these days, more a case of expecting too much.

one of my earliest memories was of me Mam pushing me across Rounday Park big lake in 1963 in my pushhchair. My Dad pointed out later that she had 15ft handles on it……….

you don't know you're born!

Been considering that for the last 20 mins. I know it alludes to previous experiences being much harsher / more difficult than the current situation (whatever that may be), but why TF metaphorise via not realising you've been given birth to??

Apologies, pedant mode [OFF]

Im only 33 but I remember as a child having ice on the inside of my bedroom window, we didnt have central heating!

Its alright though, it toughens you up.

Yes I can remember as a child 'Jack Frost' coming to play.

'63 – you're right, I hadn't been born. But friends talk about it in hushed tones. '81 was a good winter – I walked to school in Moon Boots.

It's about time the Moon Boot came back into fashion.

Yes I can remember as a child……..

And I remember as a child, that it was quite common for the fire brigade to be called to deal with dangerous icicles.

As it usually takes several weeks of very cold weather for them to form into impressive life-threatening proportions, I never seem to see them these days.

Unless of course, no one has any leaky gutters anymore.

Unless of course, no one has any leaky gutters anymore.

Bet there'll be a few broken gutters in the weeks to come what with the weight of snow on them at the moment.

Pulls up sandbag…

Aye, and what's happened to white dogshit?

/sandbag

I remember having ice on the inside of my bedroom window almost every winter!
The rest of the house had central heating of course, just that my dad turned it off in my room 'cos "the hot water pipes run under your room son, so you'll be warm enough…" 😯

I was conceived in the winter of '63, parents had to do something to keep warm I s'pose. Anyone else had similar experience?

The oldy neighbours have apparently just been regaling my snowed-in wife with tall tales about 1960-umpteen when the village was cut off for three days due to FOURTEEN foot of snow. 🙄

Just as well the summers were endless back then 😀

Icicles are growing daily at work, pic from the other day

Longest is approx 2 ft now

And you trying telling the younguns that today and they won't believe ya !

Longest is approx 2 ft now

2' ?

I once [can't remember which year] saw some bring down part of a factory roof – they were around 30' in length & about the diameter of a dustbin at the top

Winter of 63, my dad was fixing telephone lines at the top of the telegraph pole with out the aid of a ladder.

I remember the 63 winter. Schools closing? Pah! We played rugby in it at our school. No central heating at home, I had a paraffin stove in my bedroom, and it was turned off when I went to bed. Windows were always frozen up on the inside in the mornings. We were considered quite well off by the standards of the day.

Was it the winter of 83 or 84 that they gave over trying to keep Woodhead and Snake roads open? We did a fell race from near Uppermill, and ran over Woodhead twice above the wall level. Never saw the road.

I was born in west Berlin in 1962 (my dad was in the British army). Dad and mum were on their way home having driven all the way from Berlin in snow and ice. I've seen photos of the family Simca with a foot of snow on the roof, overnight fall, as they stopped by in Warminster to see the other side of the family. Then they drove all the way to Falmouth, Cornwall. Epic journey!