What's made you smile today?

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What's made you smile today?

And further to Andy’s comment, if you don’t already do so, put away for a rainy day. Not enough do and that’s become clearly obvious over the past 9 months since the first lockdown.
I do that anyway. I'm very careful with my money, so if something does happen, I'm not immediately in poop creek without a paddle! As harsh as it sounds, I have no sympathy for those whose retarded greed/materialism and financial carelessness has come back to bite them on the backside now.
 
A white Christmas is a North American phenomenon. Our winter peak is more likely late Jan - early Feb.
I heard a statistic a few years ago that said the number of white Christmases we'd had since Victorian times was less than 10.

As a child, we always went to grandparents at Christmas, 35 miles away, with a few hills and flat hilltops quite prone to stopping everything if snow fell. Can't remember the grandparent trip ever being cancelled.

Depends where you are I think, 2010 we literally had snow on the ground from 18th of December to 3 of January.

Does tend to fall closer to Easter than Christmas though think but I've had a about 4 or 5 years in 30 odd where I remember there being either falling snow or it had fallen pre-Christmas and was still on the ground.

Basically we're high enough and Northern enough that if they say "snow on high ground and Scotland" then we'll usually see some. But even dropping down the hill to the next village will see you drop below the snow line most times.
 
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Reminds me of a day just before Chrstmas, must have been 1987 I think.
I was at work, in Oxford, and lived 20 miles away. Around 10am it started snowing, heavily, and within an hour, it had covered the ground well.
Colleagues were panicking, and most were heading home, to avoid getting stuck at work. From the 4th floor, the view to the car park and driveway was hilarious, as several hundrred people all tried to leave, in snow, at the same time. The incompetence was widespread.
Having a Morris Marina automatic at the time, joining the fray was not a desirable option. I figured that this situation would be repeated all across Oxford, and the ring road would be chaos. Gritters/ploughs would be out, but caught in the melee, but there would be a lull later, when most had gone, roads would be clearer, ploughs had done their best, and I'd be able to slip home more easily. My worst fear in snow is other drivers.
My boss was quite concerned, urging me to go. I resisted.
By lunchtime, the office block was almost empty. The canteen was desperate to sell a large amount of prepared food, so a good hot dinner was had. At around the same time, midday, the snow stopped. By 1pm, the sun had appeared. The thaw was quite rapid and noticeable.
I left the office at 5pm, to almost dry roads, hardly a trace of snow anywhere, and the clearest free run home ever.

The Marina auto was actually not too bad in snow. It was replaced in early '88 by a Fiat 131 Mirafiori, 1600ohv auto. Similar size, weight, power, but on 165 tyres instead of the Marina's 155. Snow stopped it, every time. The wider tyres reduced the pressure on the road. At tickover, they'd just turn gently on the snow. A sack of spuds in the boot helped al lot. Never did eat the spuds.
 
Think the smallest tyres I've ever had were 155...did have 135s on my uno they lasted a fortnight.

People behave like utter cretins a lot of the time once snow arrives. Amusing to see...if you're not in the midst of it. Hill outside the house attracts the "it's not the tyres it's skill or 4x4 brigade quite a lot" quite fun watching them come back down backwards having slid their car into a hawthorn hedge and dragged it down the side. With another one to be lined up for their go at the bottom, you've just seen someone get halfway up, spend 10 mins spinning tyres and then give up. Just go the other damn way!

One year I had an absolute mare in the Swift the opposite of wait and it'll get better.

Finished work 8pm picked up the wife (then girlfriend) and we got a call that everything was shut. Fell road had drifts over it, crashes on both the others. So we went to Pizza Hut, came out by this time it had been coming down for 4 hours and if it's bad at the Metrocentre it's arctic at mine.

Thought well it's now or never, got halfway home..picked up some of my wife's friends who were walking because the buses were off. Got as far as bottom of the hill no bother, turned up towards mine (about a 3 mile hill) immediately obviously the gritter had only gone along the main road snow on sheet ice..185 section summer tyres. Aged about 15 years in the next 10 mins, thankfully had it to myself as nothing else was moving but settled on trying to trickle it up in 3rd lightest touch on the throttle sent it towards the kerb following the camber, steering did nothing to counter that at all. But car was heavy with boot full of stuff and 4 passengers so I had to build the momentum to get up the steep bits.

Then had to stop to let passengers out...devils own job getting going again so bad it took me 3 attempts to hit the drive. Oddly that was the year I first bought tyre socks.

Do often think if I had a similar situation in a turbo car it would be near impossible, peak torque on the c3 is 1500rpm so even driving gently you are still put quite a bit of force into the tyres.
 
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The BBC re.ran a 1963 documentary a couple of weeks ago.. snow everywhere

S.W England had it bad

i player should list it :)
My mum still talks about the winter of 63

I managed to watch quite a bit of the BBC documentary very interesting.
 
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Reminds me of a day just before Chrstmas, must have been 1987 I think.
I was at work, in Oxford, and lived 20 miles away. Around 10am it started snowing, heavily, and within an hour, it had covered the ground well.
Colleagues were panicking, and most were heading home, to avoid getting stuck at work. From the 4th floor, the view to the car park and driveway was hilarious, as several hundrred people all tried to leave, in snow, at the same time. The incompetence was widespread.
Having a Morris Marina automatic at the time, joining the fray was not a desirable option. I figured that this situation would be repeated all across Oxford, and the ring road would be chaos. Gritters/ploughs would be out, but caught in the melee, but there would be a lull later, when most had gone, roads would be clearer, ploughs had done their best, and I'd be able to slip home more easily. My worst fear in snow is other drivers.
My boss was quite concerned, urging me to go. I resisted.
By lunchtime, the office block was almost empty. The canteen was desperate to sell a large amount of prepared food, so a good hot dinner was had. At around the same time, midday, the snow stopped. By 1pm, the sun had appeared. The thaw was quite rapid and noticeable.
I left the office at 5pm, to almost dry roads, hardly a trace of snow anywhere, and the clearest free run home ever.

The Marina auto was actually not too bad in snow. It was replaced in early '88 by a Fiat 131 Mirafiori, 1600ohv auto. Similar size, weight, power, but on 165 tyres instead of the Marina's 155. Snow stopped it, every time. The wider tyres reduced the pressure on the road. At tickover, they'd just turn gently on the snow. A sack of spuds in the boot helped al lot. Never did eat the spuds.

I had similar in the winter of 2013 I believe it was.

I was on a late shift 12-2000. Got in, about 2pm the snow started. Norwich ground to a halt within about 90min. Completely unexpected. Work started sending people home so they didn’t get stuck, starting with those with the longest drive. Mine as 25 miles.

I asked if I’d have it make the time up. They said yes, so said sod it I’ll stay. The roads outside were gridlock.

Fellow team members who lived within a few miles left. At 3pm. Didn’t get home until 7-8pm. By the time I left at 8pm the roads had been cleared and the main routes I used no bother and got back at my usual time anyway :p
 
Think the smallest tyres I've ever had were 155...did have 135s on my uno they lasted a fortnight.

I remember when 155s were the norm for medium sized cars, with 165 being almost exotic, 175 being special, and 185s were for high perormance cars. Now the 155s on the Panda are considered small, yet are the same as were on the Marina, quite a bigger car, although probably about the same weight.

My first car, a DAF44 had, I think, 135x14. The more powerful DAF66 had 155 section, I think still on 14s.
When I learnt to drive, Mum had a Mk2 Cortina 1600 on 165 radials. My girlfriend's mum had a Mk2 Cortina, but a 1300, still on crossplies, so a little narrower. Crossplies were always better on snow than radials, although less good everywhere else. One evening, at a party about a mile from home, it snowed a lot. The Cortina on crossplies drove well. The one on radials didn't gat home, being abandoned at girlfriends house. Had to walk the remaining quarter mile. Returned the next morning to find I'd parked just where the wind swirled, and the car was hidden under a snowdrift. Took a bit of digging.
 
I remember when 155s were the norm for medium sized cars, with 165 being almost exotic, 175 being special, and 185s were for high perormance cars. Now the 155s on the Panda are considered small, yet are the same as were on the Marina, quite a bigger car, although probably about the same weight.

I kinda miss the smaller tyres, you could play with them at speeds where if it came unstuck you had a reasonable chance of gathering it back up. Even switching from 155 section on the 55s to 165 on the 85 elx made a difference in where the limit sat. By the time I got to a set of 185s on the Swift I did find the limit..but it was not comfortable on the public road. Never really bothered finding out the outer edges of what 205s will do, you can unstick them by driving like tool.

The Uno & mk1 puntos were fine in snow on 155s and 165s. Swift was diabolical on 185s, but that was because I had Continentals I think they seemed to be very summer specific. Was a bit better on Goodyear still not good.

Seem to remember reading that crossply gave a different profile to radial so 135 Crossply had a more balloon profile and was effectively thinner than a radial of the same width. Would probably help in snow, I know my allseasons have less flat profile than a summer for similar reasons.

Unrelated to the above..what has made me smile today? Well I've spent my day playing with a duplo trainset and watching Films. Really cannot complain at all..also I have a Lego defender to build, has a transfer case with low range, 4x4 with 3 diffs and a 4 speed sequential gearbox apparently so may be an interesting thing to assemble.

Oh and snow stuck as well...ish.
 
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My mum still talks about the winter of 63

I managed to watch quite a bit of the BBC documentary very interesting.
It was. I went out with my Dad in our Austin A35 and we had a shovel and hessian sacks along with a couple of paving slabs for ballast, all stowed in the boot. Biggest snowdrifts I have ever seen. Couldn't get to Grans until the snowplough had cleared the lane !
 
Sat here in the Welsh valleys..

Got a message : advert ping on my phone

'This area is now in a Covid tier 4 Area'

Err.. it has been since mid.December


Idea: maybe it thinks I am still near Oxford ( English lockdown)

Open the link : 'Central Bedfordshire'

I suspect my last visit there was when flying back from work.. in 2008
 
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Started on my Land Rover feel like this is more complex than the real thing. Double wishbone with a 6 link set up stopping rotation fore and aft??

20201227_224120.jpg

Seems a bit overkill for a Defender!
 
Quite a bit of snow through the night, woke up to a white world this morning. It was actually the bin collecting noise that woke me and it was interesting to see them emptying the wheelie bins without brushing the inch or so of snow from the lids. This meant the snow was going into the back of the lorry along with the bin's contents. Then it occurred to me, hang on, this weeks collection is for the recyclables. So that means cardboard and paper as well as the tins etc. But I'm sure I saw one of their leaflets telling us not to get the cardboard and/or paper wet. Wet cardboard/paper will be rejected as the machines can't cope with it wet so it goes to landfill. Don't suppose it occurred to them that the snow would melt?
 
Quite a bit of snow through the night, woke up to a white world this morning. It was actually the bin collecting noise that woke me and it was interesting to see them emptying the wheelie bins without brushing the inch or so of snow from the lids. This meant the snow was going into the back of the lorry along with the bin's contents. Then it occurred to me, hang on, this weeks collection is for the recyclables. So that means cardboard and paper as well as the tins etc. But I'm sure I saw one of their leaflets telling us not to get the cardboard and/or paper wet. Wet cardboard/paper will be rejected as the machines can't cope with it wet so it goes to landfill. Don't suppose it occurred to them that the snow would melt?

It may not occur to them, but if it did, they wouldn't care.
Some time ago, I saw a binman smoking behind the truck, then when the fag was finished, instead of stubbing it out, it was flicked into the truck, still smouldering. No headlines about bin truck fires, so I think he got away with it. It'll happen sometime.

It started snowing here about 9am, stopped around 10, to be replaced by a bit of rain, all traces gone by midday. We're nearer the equator down here.
 
Just a drop of snow...

I have a weather station. Lives outside on a pole at the rear of my garage.

I looked the other day and the base station said outside temperature -28C! I have ordered a new transmitter, it includes the external instruments so I hope normal service will be restored whenever it finally arrived from deepest China. In the mean time I don't entirely trust it. Tonight it said -4,4C and I didn't believe it, but on checking with an alternative thermometer it was in fact correct although its been up to zero and now sits at -0.5C

We need snow so Noop can earn his living. About 12"would be nice for a week or so. Woud also make the lockdown seem less restrictive I think.
 
Very glad I got the heater fixed start of the month..would be very knackered now if it had packed in entirely. Defrosting at -3 with a barely functional fan would have been fun.

That and found a nice flat bit to try the all seasons on, slippy underfoot with a bit of ice and snow but you can stop the car sharply without getting into the ABS on it so seems happy.
 
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