Russian Woman Journal

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Point of view

Monday 19 January  2009

DOUG R. (England)

British Winters

 

British Winters, they don’t last long.

What are your thoughts while waiting for your British bus or train?
Are they polite ones, wondering why it has not arrived? Or something much ruder?

Your car journey is blocked by traffic ahead waiting for the road to be cleared.

Maybe you cannot walk because the pavements are blocked by uncleared snow?
What are your printable thoughts on our British reaction to snow?
Something the rest of the world ignores seems to stop Britain working.

It’s not just us. Madrid was thrown into chaos due to the recent snow. At 700m metres altitude it is the highest capital city in Europe and a long way from the sea.

Very encouraging for snow, but this city was not prepared.

It isn’t only the snow in Britain. You don’t have to go outside your house to find your electricity or gas supply fail. Combined with the inadequate insulation, soon you will shiver. Your thoughts may include rage or simple disbelief that basic precautions were not taken.

Why are we so apparently unprepared? Why are British roads blocked by trivial amounts of snow? Why don’t we insulate our houses?

Did you forget we are known for our pragmatism?

Because we know the snow will not last. Even this recent cold spell cleared after 5 days. Parts of Scotland were warmer than south east England.

Depends where you live

Although dominated by the Gulf Stream effect, see below, we seem to have four distinct weather regions.
Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Lake District and western Scottish isles share temperate mild winters of wet and windy winters and cool summers.

East Scotland, North East England, enjoy cold winters and cool summers.

Ireland, Wales and South West England have mild and wet winters, warm summers.

The rest of England has cold winters with warm summers.

Rainfall varies from South East England with an average of 50 mm or 20 inches in a year, to central Scotland’s 250 mm or 100 inches.


Gulf Stream Effect

Britain is on the same approximate latitude as Newfoundland, a province of East Canada. Their average winter temperatures are around 10 degrees colder than Britain’s.

We live on an island surrounded by the Gulf Stream.
Our temperate climate is helped by this warm seawater streaming up from the Caribbean. Very few places in England are far from the sea and its warming influence.
Our prevailing wind is from the south west, again from the Caribbean flowing over this warming sea. The wind is warm and wet, bringing rain not snow, most of the time.

So why should we worry about a few days of East winds from Russia? We know they will not blow for long. We only need to endure a few days, and then we can return to normal.

This attitude is behind many planning decisions.

What will it cost?
The southern rail network covers most of South and South East England.
This includes substantial daily London commuter traffic.
Important to the City of London, it brings workers to work. It has to be reliable.

The rail company decided to upgrade steam power to electrification in the early 1900’s.
Planners investigated two ways of supplying electric current to the trains.

Popular in Europe was the overhead wire system. The supporting poles and overhead delivery were very expensive in parts and labour. Viable only because of their long and severe cold weather conditions.

An alternative was to supply electric current via a third rail laid on the ground.
Since this would cost one third of the overhead system, it was chosen. Occasional failures due to ice and snow would be acceptable.

Ice not Snow.

Frozen points caused more important delays than snow. Heating 24,000 points for maybe two or three months use seems excessive, even allowing for the complex rail layout.
But just one important failed set of points in the wrong place can be serious.

They had bought an expensive snow blower in preparation for emergencies.
This was parked unused in sidings for 10 years and was eventually sold.

It’s the wrong sort of snow
Around 1991 new rolling stock was introduced, bringing a new problem.
Sophisticated equipment could not cope with the fine powdered snow usual in the region.
This famous phrase has been absorbed into our culture and it used denigrate many other ridiculous public apologies,

What the spokesman said was true. Being extremely fine the snow penetrated electrical motors and door operations. Doors jammed. Fuses overloaded and blew.
But the ‘wrong sort of snow’ explanation gave us something to laugh about at the time, reminding us all how stupid bureaucrats can be.

Technology advances

The science of meteorology has made much progress.
Higher standard of weather forecasts and warnings are made to rail operators.
Helicopters equipped with thermal imaging detect local ‘cold spots’ likely to cause trouble.

Insulation or Coal?

Why are our older houses so badly insulated? The great surge of building in the early 1900s was a time of cheap labour.
Cheap coal was distributed by the newly expanded railways.

Chimneys were built outside the exterior walls, which was cheaper than the earlier Tudor houses with their central chimney pieces.
Some exterior walls were only one brick deep without a cavity to provide insulation.
The heat loss was no problem while cheap coal was easily available. Home coal deliveries were well organised. The domestic bath was often used for coal storage.

The recent cold weather was the coldest for 30 years. Our coldest ever recorded was minus 27 degrees at Braemar, Scotland.

It has been colder. From 1683 to 1715 the river Thames was frozen strongly enough for horses and carts to cross it. In London, fairs and other jolly events took place, such as barbecues and markets. Elephants were said to have crossed the river.

Even the birds are staying

What about global warming? ‘Winters have been getting warmer’ they say.
‘The last six years have been the warmest since records began’ a quote from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Apparently even goldfinches now stay here instead of their usual winter moves to Spain Italy or France.


North Atlantic Oscillation

There is a new kid on the block. The NAO has turned negative.
It is given by experts as a reason for expecting immediate temperatures to drop to those experienced in the 1940’s.

Low pressure over Iceland plus high pressure over the Azores sometimes reverses in a predictable cycle.
This gives Britain and Europe an icy blast from the past.

Many of the coldest spells in Europe were caused by this.
It upset Napoleon’s progress attacking and retreating from Moscow.
It certainly helped Russia when Germany invaded in 1940.
Maybe the Germans would have put anti freeze in the tanks and vehicles if they had known?

Another cycle arrived in the 60’s. Ice floes drifting off Dover were a major shipping hazard in the worst winter for 200 years.

We should expect another one this winter.

It won’t last, so why bother?
Severe European weather lasts long enough to make special arrangements worth while.
These are not viable for Britain. The various expensive machinery and staff needed to keep our roads clear for so short a time cannot be justified.
So we spread a salt mix on the roads, using ordinary trucks with men and shovels.
This is adequate most of the time.

We live on an island surrounded by the Gulf Stream. Remember?

But the 4 x 4 brigade, driving their ridiculous ‘Chelsea Tractors’, had something to laugh about. Not for them problems of taking children to school on ungritted roads.

They discovered new problems.
Such as, how do you put the thing into all wheel drive?
And why does it slide off the icy road?

At least global warming seems no longer a problem.
Everything is clear, simple and practical.

Enter the Lawyers

You may be so public minded as to clear the snow from the pavement outside your house.
Someone might slip and fall while walking on that cleared patch.
If they suffer damage or injury, British law says you are open to legal action.
If you had left the snow alone, that person might not have fallen, thus causing their injury, for which you are partly to blame.

In this case it looks as if common sense flew out of the window when lawyers walked through the door.

Fuel reserves

The British Meteorological Office has issued an alert. They expect a severe winter this year 2008/09.
Apparently Britain holds 11 days of reserve gas stocks. Most Europeans hold 55 days.

If the NAO warnings are correct who will you sue?

 

 

DOUG R. (England)

 

Recent articles of Doug R.:

• ~Your Free NHS

• ~Why Look East?

• ~Why we are like this?

• ~Cross Border Families

• ~Does Private Education Pay?

• ~Still Skint?

 

 

Published in Woman's Magazine Russian Woman Journal  www.russianwomanjournal.com - 19 January 2009

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