Winter comes to London 24/1/07
posted by Ron Goldstein at 7:05 am
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Previous Posts
- Memorabilia
- Ortona Remembered
- A censored Air Letter from North Africa
- Mistletoe, Holly wreaths and Christmas trees
- The forgotten full-time miners of wartime Britain
- A heartbreaking Story
- Looking at Lew's "Air-Letters to Home"
- WW2 Website
- C&BG Boy's Club ...The Club that produced Heroes
- British Peace Garden at Caen
Contributors
4 Comments:
Ron - you call that - winter - come on that's just a sprinkling of the white stuff...so far - and this has been a bad year for us here at the eastern end of the fertile Fraser Valley - we have had some 17 inches dropped on us.
Happily we don't shovel the stuff away as we leave that to the municipal workers who run around in their little calfdozers to clear the sidewalks then they are followed by the bulldozers and big trucks to clear the roads as to leave us to continue our perambulations through the township.
WE are indeed fortunate as other areas further North have had to put up with 6 feet of the stuff which is good for all as when it all melts in the May/June period - the reservopirs will be full and we can water our lawns day and night if need be - so it's an ill wind !
You seem to have the same problems with idiot drivers as we do over here.
Had a woman the other day with a mobile phone growing out of her ear and yakking her head off - meanwhile the other hand was holding a cup of coffee - she was trying to turn left - and I think she spilled the coffee on her lap as the yakking seemed to increase in volume - didn't stop her though as she wobbled around the bend !
I've come across some letters written by my late father in early 1947. At that time my grandparents' house had no running water or electricity. He mentions walking to work (in a coal mine) and a lot about the work. There were deep snowdrifts and the cold was unbelievable.
Grandmother Ritson kept hens, and luckily they were still laying. My Dad mentions to his brother, wife and baby daughter in South Norwood, London 'Mother' will be posting them some nice fresh eggs. He hoped they would not be delayed with the snow. What are mothers (and grandmothers) like?
They may not have had electricity or running water in deepest West Cumberland but they did have fresh eggs, more than what some could get in London it seems! Nowadays I don't think we can cope with snow and ice at all.
Ten years ago we were snowed in the house for 2 days. The next village to the south of us (St Bees) was blocked off from the rest of the country for most of a week. This was about the 3rd time I remember it happening in 20 years. It certainly didn't happen in 1947. My Dad got to work and he got out to the Pictures and the Opera House despite the snow.
This last time it happened at St Bees 10 years ago the village made the national news because they had to get the Mountain Rescue, Lifeboat Rescue people and the RAF out to deliver milk, bread and eggs. All the children were fast in the school. No electricity or running water but they seemed to manage somehow in 1947 (even if London was short of eggs).
if they could cope in 1947 why can we not do so in 2007?
My Granddad Ritson died later in 1947 and I know the family had basically to do everything: get the coffin inside and out of the house (via the window), Grandmother and 2 neighbours had to wash and lay Granddad out (in his best suit) and my Dad had to sort out the bearers among friends and neighbours. They had to speak to the Anglican Vicar at the local church. It was all done within 2 days bedcause they certainly did not have 'Parlours of Rest' in Cumbria then.
Would most people be able to cope with this nowadays? Possibly, if they had to.... surely?
Am I beginning to sound like a real 'oldie'?
Joseph -
Don't mention the '47 winter to either Frank or I - he had just joined and was introduced to the popular sport of digging trains out from Kirkby Stephen which is near your neck of the woods - I had just arrived from Austria to be demobbed and was lounging in the barracks of Streatlam Camp, Barnard Castle when it was announced that trains were in need of being dug out.
Many awaiting demob went invisible on that announcement and it was left to Frank and his cohorts to see to the smooth running of the trains !
That was an unforgettable winter whereas we had just as cold and deep snow in Austria - but we did ski at every opportunity so we never really got cold !
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