[Closed] Preparing for winter - what you doin' ?

dying a little (on the inside 🙁 please come back soon big glowing ball of gas in the sky 🙂

nothing needed doing here

Collecting nuts and other foodstuffs before hybernating.

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I was thinking about packing the BBQ and garden furniture away.

New rads fitted to the heating system. Getting a new controller fitted in next week or so.
Gonna sort some more loft insulation out next week.

Toyed with winter tyres, but decided not to bother. Will probably regret it.

Going to have to swap over to winter tyres for the car, am thinking about making some spiked tyres for my bike, feel a garage bodging session coming on before it gets too cold.

Not much needing done here... Stuck proper mudguards on the hardtail though.

OTOH my dad just went out and bought 2 snow shovels- remembering that last year when the big snow arrived, he only had a garden trowel and a postholing shovel. But forgetting that as soon as the snow went away he bought 2 snow shovels.

I have studded tyres to go on the bike if we get frost and snow again

Fitting a low maintenance Alfine hub gear to save mech faff

Winter tyres on all 3 vehicles - 2 cars plus M'home. Snowshovels ready. Pulk for towing the Troutlet XC skiing in design phase. No skipass this winter due to Troutlet's age. Will just buy daytickets as appropriate.

thought about buying a couple of sledges for the kids.

trying to deny that it's on its way if truth be told.

Finishing drying my tears

sat in the garden having a beer in my shorts, quite warm out

Insulating my self via the medium of pies

Living in a constant state of denial.

About to bottle 5 gallons of cider and perry to go with 4 gallons of summer wine. I shall be drinking myself through to the spring equinox.

One car already has winter tyres in the garage, will order them for the other this year. They'll probably go on when the clocks go back.

Otherwise it's just tidying up the garden.

business as usual

Overshoes, bib longs, windproof jacket, training bike, big gloves, and an aim to lose a stone by new year.

Just found out that my next door neighbour has just started his new job and will be responsible for DRIVING THE SNOWPLOUGH!

Hallelujah. Best news I've had for a few hours anyway, but it means, I suspect, a whole lot less snow shovelling outside our houses.

Eh, it's grim oop north.

Drinking coffee in front of a computer instead of insulting under the floor my chair is on. We were out on the MTB tandem in shorts and T-shirts earlier and there's only a dusting of snow above 2300m.

I've given my longjohns their annual wash..

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I honestly cant say snow has ever been a huge problem here on the South Staffs Arctic plaeau. If it gets that bad I'll just stay in / go by bike / walk. I'm certainly not lashing out hundreds on tyres that will clutter up the garage for the rest of the year.
Fair does to all you who live in the sticks though. 🙂

Nothing - just another season innit, a bit colder and wetter

Im growing a beard apart from that not much else

laying down blubber here

Well winter in Manchester is the same as summer, except sometimes the rain is frozen so nothing really.

Just picked up a load of apples from a local farmer.
So this winter I will be mostly pissed on scrumpy 🙂

Still got a stash of unused grit from last year and some snow studs for my shoes (highly effective last year). Bought a new snow shovel today as Asda had some decent looking ones. Purchased some studded tyres for my Cross Check just in case the need arises but I shan't bother getting winter tyres for the car; my employer prefers me to use hire cars for business mileage and if there is ice on the roads I'll happily run the risk of bending somebody elses car out of shape. Mine can stay on the driveway.

Might buy some waterproof socks.

Waxing my XC skis.

need a pond heater so it doesn't freeze over to a depth of 2in & kill the remaining fish.
other than that, I could do with a few days working from home 😉

Mostly i'll be sitting back laughing at people 'preparing' for what will undoubtedly end up being a shit winter (and not shit in the good snowy way)

Making sure I know where the boiler is so I can turn the heating on. Making sure I know where warmer clothes are. Making sure I know where my big coat is. Need to order a new winter car tyre. That's about it. Bring on the snowpocalypse.

Warmies top - check
Special needs socks - check
853 sticker applied - check.

just put a racing ralph on the back, looking forward wall to wall 20 degree sunshine tomorrow.

Probably going to have a good shite.

cannot comprehend why you'd need some sort of itinery to get ready for a British winter.....

Get in a couple of cartons of UHT milk.

Nowt really. Thought about fitting a mudguard on the hack if that counts 😐

scoping fields near to me where i can snowkite.

allow for extra travel costs as their is little chance that i'm going to be riding my bike 15km in the middle of a bavarian winter.... might ust buy car.

buy a new hat.

prep my board and try and find some new lenses for my Smith Warp goggles (anyone?..... the Warp is now a Moto-x goggle and as such no snow specific lenses available) or buying a new set of goggles.

Booking Snowboard holidays.

Going to Corfu for a vit D top up, and to learn to kite.

Scoping out cheap snowear at TK Maxx

Buy a new pc to play newfangled flashy games (as well as doing work)

Mud tyres, mud guards and lights on the hardtail

Curse the idiots who put the clocks back.

Renew gym membership.

Try and find a hot new girlfriend for the dark nights ahead.

i bought some tomato soup.
haven't ever thought about preparing for winter before!

HT is singlespeeded with mudguards and 'fork boots'

i might consider putting my shorts at the bottom of the wardrobe and my jeans up at eye level, i could even start wearing long socks instead of trainer socks if i was feeling extra prepared

Already got massive chunky tyres on the Land Rover, will be swapping the slicks for muds on the hardtail, will wax and edge the snowboard in the next couple of weeks, and will be moving the firewood from the dry store to the front porch.
Winter here can be savage.... love it!!

Work as a landscape gardener so this time of year brings out a whole new wardrobe of wooly clothes, actually managed to wear my own bodyweight in clothes last winter

Got plenty of work in the winter? I was hoping we could get someone to do our patio cheaply at this time of year 🙂

their is little chance that i'm going to be riding my bike 15km in the middle of a bavarian winter

Pansy. Not that cold!

Fully booked until end of Jan, plenty of tree work, hard landscaping, dividing plants, etc, def not as much fun this time of year though 🙁 whereabouts are you?

Might have to put a jumper on soon....

But as for people 'preparing' for winter in the UK; pfft. Unless you live in a remote part of the Highlands or something, it ain't ever gonna get so cold you need to take 'special' measures ffs. Go to somewhere like Norway, spend some time there in winter, then you'll understand what [i]real[/i] cold is all about....

Just having the finishing touches put on the house. New roof with 160mm insulation as well as the outerwalls are now covered in 140mm of polystyrene insulation and just the final layer of plaster to go on. Bring winter on! 😈

On the bike front the carbon road bike and ti MTB will be wrapped up in cotton wool this week and the SS and the cross bike will be the main source of fun until the snow disappears in 2012.

Try working outside all day everyday when its -5, you'll question your sanity, ponder hibernating, and put on as many clothes as you can!

gone to the hills - you would think that, but I'm in the same boat - neighbour is a snowplough driver and he isn't allowed to clear our street - he is only insured to clear the roads on his allocated route!

unbelievable, but true.

Try working outside all day everyday when its -5

-5 is so not cold 🙂 I love it.

-5? Positivley balmy.

I've bin out in -30. Now [i]that[/i] is cold.

Mud tyres never came off the SS

Winter tyres going on the car next week. And we do get snowed in down here in Sussex.

Central Heating on yesterday, but off again today.

3 1/2 weeks skiing booked.

I love Winter

Winter tyres going on the car next week. And we do get snowed in down here in Sussex.

😆

What, for a day or something??

FFS....

Central Heating on yesterday

Lord Above. How on Earth are you going to cope when it actually does get slightly chilly? 😆

Elf, winter tyres have loads of benefits below 10 degrees C, not just snow capability. They last much longer than summers for a start, so it's actually significantly cheaper.

bit worried about the central heating, it's not been on since march...

Winter tyres for the bike? Winter tyres for the car?

I am in [i]far[/i] to low a class to take part in this forum...

Elf, winter tyres have loads of benefits below 10 degrees C, not just snow capability

I weren't on about that, it was the 'getting snowed in in Sussex' bit made me laugh.

I mean, come on; [i]Sussex[/i]? Sweet Baby Jesus and all the little orphans... 😆

I am in far to low a class to take part in this forum

Nah don't worry mate; I'm on here and I'm [i]proper[/i] scum. 😀

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Swept the chimney of the woodstove, all laid out and ready to light.

Probably disconnect the battery from the bike in a week or two (getting expensive replacing them!), since it only takes 10 minutes to put it back in I can still use the bike when the weather is good!

Thinking of putting some winter tyres on the car too shortly. The summer treads are looking a bit thin now anyway so I am just about due a set!

And I will get a couple of loads of logs delivered sometime soon too.

Think that will do me!

If you relied on a car Elf, you'd realise how little it takes to stop you getting out of your house when there's even a small amount of snow.

The roads all round by us were cleared and gritted when we had snow last year, but the 100 yards or so of our road which is a reasonably steep ish hill were just not passable. Until I shovelled it. Sometimes people just have 20 yards of steep drive.

For the record, winter tyres:

a) grip better below 10C
b) wear less below 10C - summer tyres wear much more then because the rubber gets brittle
c) are much better in mud and rain too, which you will agree we get plenty of.

Prompted by this post, I have just been down the garden to check on my igloo built of snow as last winters refuge........... and it's been nicked ! 😯

Got some exposed pipework in the garage that froze last year. Will need to lag that.

Make sure I've got plenty charcoal in cause if we get the decent snow again, then the chiminea is being stoked and the BBQ fired up. If we are all outside playing in the snow then we might as well be warm.

It's Sussex, Mol, not Siberia! 😆

It's practically urban.

Nothing. Looking forward to it this year.

For the previous five years we lived at the end of half a mile of bumpy old track in the middle of the Pennines, in a cold, damp, rotting heap of Victorian stone. We might not be in Scandinavia but if your home isn't up to it the recent winters were not fun. This year we're about ten yards from a bus route, fifty yards from the station, two minutes from the shops, and in a house that has insulation and proper heating and a DPC and all sorts. It's going to be glorious. 🙂

Elfin. I have lived in Canada and spent three weeks once at -30 max... I've driven 10000km on ice and gravel roads. I live in a 500 year old house made of tiles, woodworm and ox-dung. We will be cold this winter but that's fine.

As people have pointed out to you winter tyres work better below about 7 degrees. Twice in the last 2 years everything has ground to a complete halt for over a week around here and yet the ill people I look after expect to be seen.

I admire your style usually but your smug metropolitan condescension is out of place here.

Boom!

panic buying bread abd milk

bought a shed - insulating it this week, for spinning bike and bike stuff
built a new log store

got about 15 m3 of logs
had chimney swept

building a fat bike (907)
got 2 4x4's

Nearly biught winter tyres as its 8C in the morning in the midlands but 18C in the day. Winter tyres won't last long and only benefit <7C.

Winter prep? Getting my bikes ready with fenders and cycle to work.

Swampthings bought. New hardtail frame and extra stripey socks on order. F/S frame on the 'bay. Bring it on! 😈

I live in east lancs! Winter is like summer, just a bit whiter! Bought some merino, put new bearings and pivots on the full susser. Normally I'll ride a hardtail through the winter, but **** that this year! I'm too old for that shit! I'll take the hit on the bearings and have more fun!

Anyone want to buy a pace RC305 frame?

I admire your style usually but your smug metropolitan condescension is out of place here.

You are of course wrong. I think it is absolutely spot-on here! 😀

So you've lived in Canada, and know about proper cold, Yet you go on about getting 'snowed in' in Sussex???

😆

Again, if you bothered reading; no issue with the winter tyres.

But getting 'snowed in'? Yeah, cos that's a constant worry in Sussex! 😆

Ha ha!

Get some tins in* ffs if you're that worried....

(* Elfin's Top Winter Survival Tip for Sussex residents)

Snowed In in Sussex. Could be as gripping as [url= http://mytornadohell.livejournal.com/ ]Tornado in Kensal Green[/url]....

(Makes note to stay well clear of Sussex this winter. Makes plans to stay in Vladivostok instead...)

First ruler of scouts isn't it? Be prepared... alas I didn't do the whole scouts thing so will probably be scratching round for a snow shovel in a few weeks. Having said that the last 2 winters were just a bog standard winter like when we were kids, nothing that disastrous!

Elf, have you been drinking?

If he can't get out of his drive or street in Sussex, then he's snowed in. It happens.

Elfin old chap. Once you escape from the bits of Sussex you feel comfortable with... We have hills and narrow roads and few snowploughs and not enough whingy metrosexuals to get our roads clean. Year before last I couldn't get my car more than 100m from the house for nearly 2 weeks. Last year (4x4 time) it was only a day, but the sprogs had 8 days off school, my colleagues couldn't get to the surgery for a few days leaving just me etc etc. And those inconsiderate elderly people dying of cancer wanted to be visited. What softies...

One day you people in London will learn there is more to Sussex than Brighton...

I'm not saying life is hard. I like the seasons, but only an idiot isn't ready for them.

If he can't get out of his drive or street in Sussex, then he's snowed in. It happens

Not very often! For the first time ever I'm with elfin here, everyone seems a tad overdramatic about the approaching winter, you'd think it was the day after tomorrow! 😀