Jump to content

Whats it like where you are


Stuart0742

Recommended Posts

I'm afraid it's an optical illusion, the houses behind us are quite a bit lower. Our upstairs windows look over their roofs toward Kirk Edge & High Bradfield. There are houses in the neighbourhood that are a bit higher on the old hospital site but only by a few feet. As I mentioned before our last home at Hallam Head was about 75 feet higher although nearer the city.

I'm afraid my marching days are well and truly over :o

HD

I thought that hilldweller towers would look more like this in order to gain the required altitude, -

This picture (a photoshop illusion) provided courtesy of SteveHB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The poor birds food tables are covered and as soon as you put food out

for them it gets covered again within minutes.

More about the birds in the garden in the current weather conditions can be found in todays posts in the "Sheffield Flora and Fauna" topic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They keep saying it's the worst snow fall for one hundred years but I was always

told it was in 1947 and it lasted for 3 months . They couldn't stock up their freezers

then nor did they have the thermol clothing we have today.

Then there is the "16 year rule" that predicts a bad winter every, errr, well, ahm, 16 years.

1931, 1947, 1963, 1979 are all well known severe winters still within living memory.

1995 wasn't that bad and seemed to break the pattern.

However, if the pattern continues as indicated the next one is 2011.

Winters straddle 2 years, the 1963 one was 62 into 63 and the 1979 one was 78 into 79

So the next one will be 2010 into 2011 which is NOW.

Makes you wonder what the next 4 months weather are going to be like. :unsure: <_<

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a similar problem with the dog.

The snow comes up beyond the top of her legs so that her chest and stomach drag through the snow, - now that must be cold! :o

It also makes doing what dogs do rather difficult. :rolleyes:

..and as Stuart knows, our dog, a cross German Shepherd / Border Collie isn't the smallest of dogs.

Went for a walk down to Totley this morning, when we got back it became obvious the cat did not do anything whilst outside, it did however use a large pot plant, in its defence

Yes tonight is off I'm afraid

Devonshire road

Abbeydale Pake Rise

Dore Road

Abbeydale road South

Abbeydale Road South

Dore Station

Baslow Rd Totley

Baslow Road Totley

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They couldn't stock up their freezers

Did they have freezers in 1947?

Do you actually need a freezer when the temperature outside is colder than the temperature in the freezer?

-You could do what vox did and just "bury the frozen stuff in the snow"

Do freezers actually work if the outside temperature is lower than the temperature in the freezer compartment?

-Ours in the unheated garage doesn't, but we never lose any food because of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought that hilldweller towers would look more like this in order to gain the required altitude, -

This picture (a photoshop illusion) provided courtesy of SteveHB

I wouldn't like to have to pay for a stairlift for that spot. No sorry it's a normal, two stories, totalling about 30 feet in total. It's the bottom of the house that's at the mentioned altitude, well a bit above really because the contour line on the old map runs across the bottom of the garden.

I'm not much for heights, although I have walked along the No. 2 Melting Shop crane tracks (about 80 feet up, no handrails) a few times. I generally like to keep my feet near to terra firma.

HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same on the side roads here.

The "Escort Snow Plough" copes very well though. Front wheel drive, heavy engine, narrow wheels and high profile tyres - can't go wrong.

Luckily the deep snow was soft enough to be ploughed out of the way.

Wide, low profiles look nice and sporty but they're useless in this weather.

I recently traded my 10 year old Corsa in for a new one on the Vauxhall Swappage Scheme, -saved me a fortune and i got a brilliant deal.

However in the current weather I have my reservations.

A )

New car has bigger, wider wheels

- See vox's point in quoted post.

B )

New car has PAS (power assisted steering)

- With old car the steering went light when the front wheels lost traction so you could "feel" the cars response as you drove

-but now the steering is light all the time so it's like driving on ice even on good roads in the summer

Why do you need PAS on a small, light car? The steering is not that heavy even without it.

- Is it "a womans car" designed to be driven by weaklings?

C )

New car has ABS braking (Antilock Braking System)

- With old car, carefull breaking meant you could "feel" the cars response and brake acordingly

-but now ABS won't let the wheels lock, which is great on good roads

-but to prevent wheel lock on ice it often means that the braking distances are massively long, longer than with ordinary brakes.

However, being an eco car, new car tries to get you into higher gears at lower speeds which seems to help with traction on snow especially when setting off. I did that in the old car anyway.

And if the worst comes to the worst, the new car has airbags and a range of safety features beyond those in the old one, which only had seat belts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Went for a walk down to Totley this morning, when we got back it became obvious the cat did not do anything whilst outside, it did however use a large pot plant, in its defence

Yes tonight is off I'm afraid

No, dog managed outside as normal, very well house trained, asks to go out when she needs to.

Tonight cancelled.

Looks like your trip to Lincoln Christmas Market will be as well as it has just been cancelled for the first time in 28 years.

:(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then there is the "16 year rule" that predicts a bad winter every, errr, well, ahm, 16 years.

1931, 1947, 1963, 1979 are all well known severe winters still within living memory.

1995 wasn't that bad and seemed to break the pattern.

However, if the pattern continues as indicated the next one is 2011.

Winters straddle 2 years, the 1963 one was 62 into 63 and the 1979 one was 78 into 79

So the next one will be 2010 into 2011 which is NOW.

Makes you wonder what the next 4 months weather are going to be like. :unsure:<_<

Was 1972 a bad year, the bloke across the road from me says, today is not as bad as 1972

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could not take any Photos earlier flat battery on camera, after taking these its started snowing again so what will tonight bring.

These are the front after i had cleared the drive and the car in an attempt to get to work.

Was it a successful or an abortive attempt at getting to work?

If it was successful and it was snowing again what are your chances of getting back home safely after work?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, dog managed outside as normal, very well house trained, asks to go out when she needs to.

Tonight cancelled.

Looks like your trip to Lincoln Christmas Market will be as well as it has just been cancelled for the first time in 28 years.

:(

That disappointing there were 2 steam specials running to Lincoln on Friday, for the market

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did they have freezers in 1947?

That's my point Dave , they didn't have freezers they just lived day to day going to the cornershop.

but if the goods couldn't get through. . .

We're alright our freezers stocked up but. . . . the wines running a bit low. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't like to have to pay for a stairlift for that spot.

HD

My mum has just had a stairlift fitted in her house now she is finding it difficult to get about and to get upstairs in her own house.

After first use it broke down with her in it so she had to get out and walk the rest of the way anyway.

A securing pin had come lose and the stairlift stopped for safety. However, it set off a bleeping alarm which my mum couldn't switch off and it bleeped away all night and half way through the next day until mum could phone the installers and an engineer could come and fix it.

The repair took him less than 5 minutes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was 1972 a bad year, the bloke across the road from me says, today is not as bad as 1972

We had some snow but it wasn't that bad.

We only had snow at January end of 1972 (71 into 72) and only heavy for a few days.

There was no snow at the December end (72 into 73) as the snow that year, again nothing out of the ordinary in quantity of snow or temperature, came early in 1973.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was 1972 a bad year, the bloke across the road from me says, today is not as bad as 1972

I can't recall the winter being bad in 1972, he's not thinking 1979 is he?

I remember February 1979 , I was getting married.

I was here in Sheffield and the groom was stuck in Manchester but managed to get home

in time for the wedding.

There were no buses, trains, or taxis running, you couldn't get through to anyone on

the phone because it had brought a lot of the phone cables down and to top it all the gritters

were on strike. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're alright our freezers stocked up but. . . . the wines running a bit low. ;-)

Brilliant idea ukelele lady, you could well have saved our lives if we get snowed in.

Earlier today my wife was unable to get any milk and we are almost out of it, I was a bit worried about getting hot drinks, tea and coffee if this situation continues.

But you have just reminded me we are well stocked up on bottles of wine, - arond 30 to 40 bottles of the stuff.

Who needs Pinta semi skimmed when you can have Pinnot Griggio? lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That disappointing there were 2 steam specials running to Lincoln on Friday, for the market

I bet you were only going for the 2 steam specials. ;-)

When we went we spent ages on the German wine stalls (brought over specially from Germany) buying samplers and drinking them as we wandered around the market.

We drunk quite a few but fortunately we had gone to Lincoln on a Sheffield Steam Society organised coach trip so neither of us had to drive home to Sheffield.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't recall the winter being bad in 1972, he's not thinking 1979 is he?

I remember February 1979 , I was getting married.

I was here in Sheffield and the groom was stuck in Manchester but managed to get home

in time for the wedding.

There were no buses, trains, or taxis running, you couldn't get through to anyone on

the phone because it had brought a lot of the phone cables down and to top it all the gritters

were on strike. :(

The winter of 1978 into 1979 was a particularly long and cold one with several periods of heavy snow.

The writer Raymond Briggs has stated that it was this winter which gave him the inspiration for "The Snowman" and he appears as himself at the beginning of the film walking through a winter scene saying this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently traded my 10 year old Corsa in for a new one on the Vauxhall Swappage Scheme, -saved me a fortune and i got a brilliant deal.

However in the current weather I have my reservations.

C )

New car has ABS braking (Antilock Braking System)

- With old car, carefull breaking meant you could "feel" the cars response and brake acordingly

-but now ABS won't let the wheels lock, which is great on good roads

-but to prevent wheel lock on ice it often means that the braking distances are massively long, longer than with ordinary brakes.

However, being an eco car, new car tries to get you into higher gears at lower speeds which seems to help with traction on snow especially when setting off. I did that in the old car anyway.

And if the worst comes to the worst, the new car has airbags and a range of safety features beyond those in the old one, which only had seat belts.

If your wheels lock on ice you dont't stop, ABS should help you either stop or manoeuvre to safety, alright power steering may be lighter than manual steering, however you still notice the difference on ice as before.

The problem I have in snow, with my Laguna is Traction Control, when you start to loose traction the Traction Control messes about with the traction and impedes your normal driving. I (like a lot of people in Sheffield) live at the bottom of a hill, to get up said hill in snow you need to keep moving, to do that I have to switch off Traction Control.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your wheels lock on ice you dont't stop, ABS should help you either stop or manoeuvre to safety, alright power steering may be lighter than manual steering, however you still notice the difference on ice as before.

It seems to be well documented that a car with ABS will pull you up quicker than a car without ABS on good road surfaces BUT on slippery roads it will take appreciably longer than brakes without ABS.

This assumes of course that the car without ABS is driven by a driver who doesn't lock the wheels, just as ABS will not allow this to happen.

I don't just drive a car using my sense of sight, I can hear and feel what the car is doing as well and can then respond appropriately. Motorcyclists are good at driving by "feel" as a bike is more of an extension of their body (being steered in part by body movement and leaning into corners) than a car and as I came to cars via that route I still like the "feel".

Both PAS and ABS seem to remove that. They are trying to take some of the driving skill from the driver and automate it to make the car "idiot proof", or as the manufacturers would like me to say, "safer"

Yes, PAS and ABS are both good safety features and they work well. But to me they are taking some of the required skill away from the driver.

They could be encouraging drivers to be less careful (because PAS / ABS will automatically correct their mistakes to an extent) and possibly more reckless in their driving (because some drivers will take risks and try to get away with as much as they can)

So lets not forget that ANY motor vehicle is only as safe as the person driving.

You cannot make a car "idiot proof" (my words from above) if the person driving it is an idiot.

Therefore no amount of "safety features" (PAS and ABS included) will make a car "safe" if the person driving it is not a safe driver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently traded my 10 year old Corsa in for a new one on the Vauxhall Swappage Scheme, -saved me a fortune and i got a brilliant deal.

However in the current weather I have my reservations.

A )

New car has bigger, wider wheels

- See vox's point in quoted post.

B )

New car has PAS (power assisted steering)

- With old car the steering went light when the front wheels lost traction so you could "feel" the cars response as you drove

-but now the steering is light all the time so it's like driving on ice even on good roads in the summer

Why do you need PAS on a small, light car? The steering is not that heavy even without it.

- Is it "a womans car" designed to be driven by weaklings?

C )

New car has ABS braking (Antilock Braking System)

- With old car, carefull breaking meant you could "feel" the cars response and brake acordingly

-but now ABS won't let the wheels lock, which is great on good roads

-but to prevent wheel lock on ice it often means that the braking distances are massively long, longer than with ordinary brakes.

However, being an eco car, new car tries to get you into higher gears at lower speeds which seems to help with traction on snow especially when setting off. I did that in the old car anyway.

And if the worst comes to the worst, the new car has airbags and a range of safety features beyond those in the old one, which only had seat belts.

My new car has about 4 varieties of traction control, the salesman pointed out a pushbutton to disable the system. He told me to switch it off when driving on snow, the handbook confirms this. What is the use of traction control if you can't use it on ice & snow ?

On Monday I tried it out on the snow with traction control enabled, result, teeth jarring jolts and crashes from the flailing front end. traction control disabled, result, smooth sure footed steering with no skidding at all.

Wonderful thing this technology.

HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My new car has about 4 varieties of traction control, the salesman pointed out a pushbutton to disable the system. He told me to switch it off when driving on snow, the handbook confirms this. What is the use of traction control if you can't use it on ice & snow ?

On Monday I tried it out on the snow with traction control enabled, result, teeth jarring jolts and crashes from the flailing front end. traction control disabled, result, smooth sure footed steering with no skidding at all.

Wonderful thing this technology.

HD

Now if I could switch PAS and ABS on and off like traction control I would probably feel a lot happier about it.

It's like with cameras, fully automatic exposure control is fantastic but I like to be able to switch it off and use the camera manually just for the extra artistic versatility that this can give.

And of course you can over ride the automatic systems at times when they are easily fooled into getting it wrong (eg, backlit shots)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems to be well documented that a car with ABS will pull you up quicker than a car without ABS on good road surfaces BUT on slippery roads it will take appreciably longer than brakes without ABS.

This assumes of course that the car without ABS is driven by a driver who doesn't lock the wheels, just as ABS will not allow this to happen.

I don't just drive a car using my sense of sight, I can hear and feel what the car is doing as well and can then respond appropriately. Motorcyclists are good at driving by "feel" as a bike is more of an extension of their body (being steered in part by body movement and leaning into corners) than a car and as I came to cars via that route I still like the "feel".

In a nutshell

"don't lock your wheels"

like PAS, ABS is there to aid you and make your driving experience more enjoyable and safer.

So if you are a safe driver with ABS, you should have no problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...