The Great British Weather Debate

[Hugo]

Around about  8.50 last night the boiler started up again and after a short while the house got warm again and was so warm that I could take off my gillet!       
The boiler is a Baxi Bahama Combi 100 which is nearly ten years old and I would have expected it to last a lot longer, Our previous boiler was about 30 years old when we replaced it with the Baxi but when I looked at the reviews of the Baxi  on the internet recently that model of boiler seems  to be plagued with problems.
I've read good reports on the Worcester Greenstar boilers and am tempted to go for one of those. Funnily enough we switched the boiler on today and it came on first time so fingers crossed for it to continue. 

[DaveR]

One of the best reasons for having a new boiler fitted is that the latest ones are very energy efficient and will save a fortune in gas costs over their lifetime. Vaillant boilers are very good.

[Hugo]

Most of the new boilers are category A and are 90% efficient whereas my present Baxi is a category D and is about 79% efficient. I've heard good reports about the Vaillant boilers too and someone told me that if they ever need repairing then they are easier to access than the Worcester not that it makes any difference to me because I wouldn't be doing the repairs.
Our boiler started first time today but then went off on its own accord for a couple of hours but I've just heard it firing up again so fingers crossed.
A plumber phoned me up a short while ago and he is inundated with call outs but is going to phone me tomorrow and will call then if the boiler is still not working properly

[Yorkie]

I had a Vaillant installed a few years ago when I put in my loft conversion and it has not been any trouble and works great.

Mark Forrest did the installation and his men were clean, tidy and efficient.  

[Hugo]

I drove my car for the first time in four days and went along Rhos Promenade to Llandudno and after dropping my wife off at M and S  I then went to Builder Street to drop my car off.  I knew the area had been badly hit but didn't realise just how bad it was. I haven't seen anything like it since the Winter of 1962/63, all the side roads are treacherous and you have to walk with care.   I was returning back to the Garage in Builder Street and turned left in Vaughan Street into Oxford Road when I noticed a man walking in the same direction munching a tasty looking bap.  The next minute he slipped on his back and the partly eaten bap went up in the air and all over the place.
Pity about the bap but thank goodness he was ok.
My thoughts are with the businesses like the Fat Cat and others that are losing money at this normally busy time of the year and for those like Paddy that have to work and drive in these conditions.  Hope that everyone will be safe and ok in this extreme weather.

[Nemesis]

We're safe and well, but have resheduled Christmas until Jan 28th so hopefully our guests can travel safely and at least go out when they get here.

[Hugo]

Glad to hear that you are safe and sound Nemesis, you just can't be too careful in this weather.  I was speaking to an elderly gent who lives nearby and he is due to see his daughter in the Midlands but doesn't want to go because of the weather but doesn't want to offend his daughter either.
I told him that he should speak to her and she'll understand how he feels and then he can go there when the weather improves and celebrate Christmas late.
We were due to go on a coach holiday on the 23rd but decided not to go and Marco was going into kennels in Eglwysbach which would be inaccessible now. I'm glad that we decided not to go now,

[Hugo]

I remember playing football against Maesgeirchen in Bangor years ago.  It was so cold that a river by the pitch had flooded and the whole pitch was like an ice rink!
We eventually played it instead on the Quay in Bangor and I remember playing with four wooly jumpers underneath my football strip and I was still cold.  The centre forward who I was marking was cold too and played the whole game in his donkey jacket, crazy or what!

[Hugo]

I don't want to seem like the prophet of doom but this year there has been an exceptional amount of snowfall in the country and mid Wales has had more than it's fair share.  The river Severn rises there and if there is a very quick thaw then there may be floods lower down as experienced in Tewkesbury a few years ago.
I remember travelling by train to Cardiff many years ago and was amazed by the flood water on the way down there.

[DaveR]

My thoughts are with the businesses like the Fat Cat and others that are losing money at this normally busy time of the year

Mr & Mrs Fester, together with myself, helped the Fat Cat out at lunchtime by stuffing our faces there. They were averagely busy, so are coping, I hope.

I noticed quite a thaw starting in town for a few hours in the early afternoon, lots of the side roads are a lot clearer.

[DaveR]

I noticed this comment on the Druid's blog, which I thought was interesting:

"A lot of the trouble is the UK do not know how to handle the weather. In Germany it is your legal duty to clear your path and driveway and to clear the pavement outside your home/business to midway to the next one. If someone slips and injures themselves on your bit of pathway you are legally responsible not only for the injury bt also the medical costs of treating them (hence why Germans have personal liability insurance). Again people in North Germany have two sets of tyres - summer and winter. Winter tyres are softer, wider and with a wider grip. They also carry snowchains in their vehicles from October to March by law (along with 5 litres of fuel, a first aid kit, a bardic lamp and a breakdown triangle) and a minimum amopunt of cash €30 I think - incidentally, random car checks by the Polizei are very common in Germany and you don't get a fixed penalty for not having the kit - you get seized and your car towed away and it costs a fortune to get it back.

They also use a system known as 'Nachbarschaft'(watching neighbours) where school children between the ages of 12 & 16 are 'allocated' old people and people, sick people and living alone and they have to check on them, help them with their paths and run errands for them.

In France on the motorways they hold all vehicles at service stations and form convoys - one lorry, next one car alternately and escort them to the next service station etc."

[MrFalafel]

An elderly lady was interviewed on the radio about how people coped with snowy weather in Britain years ago and she said that the men on each street would shovel the snow from their street (and pavements!) and everyone would generally look after everyone. The government would look after the motorways and main roads but everyone else sorted out ther own streets.

From the above descrption of Germany it appears they still do what Britain has stopped doing. I wonder why we don't do this anymore?

[Quiggs]

When it was slippery, we used to put an old pair of socks over our shoes to provide a grip on the ice. Didn't do the socks much good though. 

[TheMedz]

and then it snowed again! Just about managed to get "the sledge" up the Orme but any more and it will be impassable again up and down despite the road having been manually gritted this morning. The good news is today is the shortest day and we should now slowly but surely start to get the daylight back.

[Fester]

An elderly lady was interviewed on the radio about how people coped with snowy weather in Britain years ago and she said that the men on each street would shovel the snow from their street (and pavements!) and everyone would generally look after everyone. The government would look after the motorways and main roads but everyone else sorted out ther own streets.

From the above descrption of Germany it appears they still do what Britain has stopped doing. I wonder why we don't do this anymore?

Up where I live we hardly get the chance.... because one sprightly old chap (well ino his 70's) clears the paths for everyone else!
He is a fabulous bloke, and very fit...as is his wife.
Last Friday, like me, they had to abandon theit car at Upper Mostyn St and walk up the Orme.
Unlike me, they carried loads of bags of shopping...and wouldn't hear of me helping them!
They breed 'em tough in these parts.