Its so cold that...

[tom.harrigan]

It's so cold that - the portaloo I hired is frozen solid!

T

[Andrew Mawson]

That's a bum deal

AWEM

[Bruce]

Tough s*1t?

[mogga]

How cold?

enough to freeze bubbles?

[Rod]

I like that - is it worth playing with washing up liquid? Hmmmm... :-)

[Jules]

I keep meaning to try that, but it's cold enough out that I can never quite motivate myself! :-)

[fred]

In article , mogga

They're beautiful, thanks for sharing.

[tom.harrigan]

I wasn't expecting any sympathy, but I have basically been freezing cold while engaged in renovating my house by myself for the last few weeks. On Friday I get some company when one of my two chimneys gets lined (thermocrete). The following week I get my wood burning Rayburn installed! The bliss of a hot cup of tea awaits.

Seriously though, it's been freakin' cold! Tomorrow I stop using lime and start using cement! I'm also chucking away my wife's packed lunch of lentils and fish, and going for a McDonalds to warm me up! The McDonalds is only 7 miles away!

T

[Dave Liquorice]

If it stays cold tommorow late afternoon I might try it with the kids, they were fascinated by the photos and it has me intrigued as well. It's warmed up a bit this evening only -4.6C now from a min on -5.9C at 1830.

Freezing from top down I suspect is more likely due to the bubble film being thinner there (due to gravity) thus less energy needs to be lost.

[PCPaul]

Put your lips round it and blow.

Oh, sorry - that's car door locks. My mistake ;-)

[Jules]

Ahh... as I mentioned in another post, I'm living in Minnesota these days (I just like asking questions here still as there are so many clueful folk). In Celcius terms, it's a hot day when it gets as high as -10, and it's hit -40 on a few occasions this winter. Going outside just to bugger about with soap bubbles generally isn't a fun thing to do ;-) (summers are warmer than England genrally, but the winters are pretty harsh)

Burning wood for house heat's pretty common around here - and a wood stove kicks out an *insane* amount of heat. I'm not sure I've heard of anyone here combining one with a cooker, though. Have fun :-)

cheers

Jules

[tom.harrigan]

Looks like we are in for a seriously cold night tonight - about the same as a balmy Minnesota day. I reckon I will get about -12C which is by far the coldest temperature I have experienced while living in north Oxfordshire.

My house is about 350years old and I'm doing a rather extensive renovation which is going very slowly at the moment. I'm still doing wet work - lime pointing and rendering and it's seriously chilly!

The wood cooker is pretty unusual here too. I've not met anyone who's got one. Seems like it might be just the thing for a Minnesota winter!

T

[Jules]

Yep. I think around -10C was the coldest I ever remember in the UK - although to be honest I think the temperature difference stops feeling noticeable somewhere around that sort of mark anyway. It's just sodding cold, regardless of the actual numbers...

Nice. Our place is late 1940's, so comparatively new - it's fun to work on timber-framed places though (although gas-fired forced-air heating is the worst thing ever; give me good ol' UK radiators any day)

Heck, didn't even know you could do that kind of thing during winter - the labels on most things seem to indicate that they stop functioning properly below a few degrees C.

I've seen one over here, but it was probabaly a good 100 years old (and just a cooker, not something that also provided house heat). So does it take an age to stoke up (so not good for 'quick' things), or are you supposed to just throw a log or two on each day and just leave it permanently running?

cheers

Jules

[Stuart Noble]

To get a sense of perspective, The Met Office Oxford weather station data goes back to 1853, when winters were cold. 1963 wasn't much fun either

[tom.harrigan]

I know it's cold, but I hadn't realised you had to go back that far to find a comparable cold snap!

I live in a spot which has it's own extra-cold microclimate. When I go down the hill into Warwickshire, it's noticeably warmer! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Anything is better than the rains we had the last two summers!

T

[The Medway Handyman]

Indeed, in 1893/94 the Thames froze!

change?

[tom.harrigan]

I think it'll take more than a log or two to keep my new Rayburn 300W going all day. I hope that a low fire can be kept in all the time(I plan to cheat a bit by using coal if necessary), and that for cooking it can be brought up to temperature reasonably quickly.

When it arrives though, it will be burning at full pelt until the ice on the inside of my windows melts!

T

[Rod]

Winter 1962-3 was etched on my (then young) mind. Christmas in Sunderland - dirty snow piled up on all the streets. Bedroom was an unheated 'granny flat' kitchen. It was cold.

Later, back in Ayr, stories of the sea freezing. Of 13 foot snow drifts.

The previous winters I could remember were in Berlin (which can be very bitter), so I thought winters were always like that. None since has really matched up!

[tom.harrigan]

I've just measured -5.5 degrees C outside, and -3 in the room I'm typing this!

T

[Stuart Noble]

Although 63 was the coldest winter in the last 80 years, I think it was also the sunniest. Was that a bit early for mini skirts?