Deja vu, 1962

[Mortblanc]

Is anyone here old enough to remember your 1962 winter?

Strangely, there is return to the same cycle/pattern that dumped your 1962 storm and a big "nor'easter" here in the states at the same time back then.

Also unusual, our storm is covering almost the same area as GB and affecting about the same number of people.

The main difference is that the northeastern U.S. has more severe weather annually and therefore more equipment to handle the situation.

However, the people are just as thick headed and ill prepared. All of us had forecasts for a week and most did not lay in supplies until the day before when things were scarce.

Ever notice how people that do not even consume milk eggs and bread will buy the shelf bare the day before a storm?

You guys hang in there!

[Pete Grey]

All very true MB, panic shopping for food before a storm is like people buying a fortnights food they don’t normally eat for one day over Christmas, the result is most of it is thrown away.

We have about 9 inches of snow here, main roads are ok, side roads like ours are bad, we have no need to shop.

We are warm and well stocked, we could get out if we wanted but have no need.

We hope you and everyone on the forum are too. :-)

[MaryN]

Very cold here today. Side roads difficult and very slippery. Stayed in and had a pleasant day playing with the neighbours' kids. We have 3 freezers and a large pantry - panic shopping is never on the agenda.

[Straight Shooter]

Yes i remember it well MB, i also remember our pantry full of food and preserves, sacks of potatoes , huge jars of flour, my grandmothers pantry was the same except more hams and bacon hanging from hooks fixed to the ceiling , and the salting stone built into the wall with a grove cut in ,to channel the access water to a bucket placed underneath.
My main chore then was to ensure two buckets of coal were always on hand by the back door along with chopped stick to start the fires....failure would result in my backside being warmed up very quickly.

I remember walking on top of hedgerows , drifts twelve feet high to deliver bread to Mrs Jenkins who lived on the mountain opposite, my reward was a cup of hot tea and a rock cake....always rock cake ?

Bitter cold my brothers and me wore balaclavas ....to bed....those box sash windows let in air the single sheet glass would have 5 mm of frost inside from us breathing , sheets of newspaper in between the sheets and coats slung over to top kept us warm , on one occasion i remember scarring the shit out of my younger brother....the landing light and my fingers making snarling monsters ...instant terror cast on our bedroom wall with the door opened halfway.....daaaaaaaad he's doing it again !.....i hear the middle room door open....in a flash i am in bed with my hand on my brothers face....shhhhsh .....by now my fathers on his way up the stairs and closing in ....his knees made a clicking noise......its all quite ...well it would be we are all sleeping.......alright whats going on !.....silence .....he face comes within a inch of mine ...you been making monsters again ?......silence .....if i hear another peep out of you there WILL be trouble do you understand ! ...............all three of us answered yes dad !

[Pete Grey]

What with the mass not keeping a decent food supply, often shopping daily and most supermarkets operating a just-in-time supply chain, what a fragile situation exists. Shops only keep one days goods in stock.

Bad weather and panic buying together with road conditions preventing supply trucks restocking the shops and your half way to disaster, this was the situation this week.

But what if the electricity supply fails or the internet goes down, shops order through the internet, stock control is computerised. This could be to mechanical breakdowns, malicious action (cyber attack) or solar flair (carrington event), the result would be total chaos.

This spell of bad weather has only been a minor problem for most of us, but it keeps us on our toes, we can not be complacent in our preps, things happen, we must try to keep in front.

[Straight Shooter]

Well said Pete, it is very different in today's world .....more people ...but back in 1962/63 there were not many super markets , but there were many family run shops ( there was one Co'op in the next village down from us ) many people then relied on (tic) you could pay up.... on pay day...most people relied on that CREDIT in our mining village,you could even get a lot of produce from local farmers (long gone now ) its all sheep and solar panels now ..no one grows anything these days.....back then potatoes,cabbage,kale,swedes, were in bountiful supply used for animal feed and doubled up for good eating for locals.....not forgetting that most people then tended their allotments and grew a fair bit of their food, meat was always available if you knew which farm to go to .

Back in 1962/63 most crops were ruined in the field, many livestock perished , the best memory i have is COLD it was very very cold .....and soup .....gallons of piping hot soup and chunks of hot crispy home made bread ....and not one computor in sight Pete ......but here i am .

[Pete Grey]

Thinking back about the big freeze of 1962/63, I was a 19 year old apprentice at a steel works.

I spent most of the january helping to keep the heavy fuel oil the open hearth furnaces used from turning to jelly.

Alongside each oil pipeline was a steam pipe to keep the oil above 100C and where the pipes ran outdoors we had to blast extra steam on them from hoses, as we dare not let the temperature drop.

It was the most unpleasant time of my work life, especially when on night shift, when i got home i needed a hot bath to warm up otherwise i could never get to sleep.