Cold. Or is it?

[d000hg]

But the point about Britain is I suppose that lots of snow in winter used to be the norm, now it isn't. That may well be an illusion, but I do remember everbody having a sledge. Is it worth it now?

I don't think it's an illusion. I live north of Yorkshire and snow is still a rarity, and normally doesn't stick. I'm sure the north used to get proper snow on a regular basis, both from my parents' stories and from reading books set in Yorkshire (like the James Herriot books).

[Sysman]

Crikey, by Eck, when I were a lad, etc etc.

You should try a Moscow winter. Last year was a warm one - it didn't get properly cold until February - then it was regularly -20C and snowing every night.

Very pretty but a right bastard on your boots with all the chemicals they put down to keep the roads clear.

There was an article I read a few years ago about a Canadian lass who retreated underground for the winter months. I started the article thinking she was a softy, but by the end of it thought she wasn't entirely daft.

[TykeMerc]

As a child in the '70's I remember building snow walls and having pitched snowball fights with my friends, we used to take sledges to a local hill every year for at least a week or two every year. Being a rural area the schools shut at least a couple of times a year as lots of the kids came from remote villages. The summers were a lot drier too.

In the last 20 or so years in Yorkshire there's been very little snow despite the fact that I live in the Pennines.

I put it down to normal fluctuations in the climate.

[TimberWolf]

As a child in the '70's I remember building snow walls and having pitched snowball fights with my friends, we used to take sledges to a local hill every year for at least a week or two every year. Being a rural area the schools shut at least a couple of times a year as lots of the kids came from remote villages. The summers were a lot drier too.

In the last 20 or so years in Yorkshire there's been very little snow despite the fact that I live in the Pennines.

I put it down to normal fluctuations in the climate.

Or you might have lived on a hill or at a higher elevation as a child?

[TykeMerc]

Or you might have lived on a hill or at a higher elevation as a child?

While the part of rural Shrophire that I spent my childhood in was fairly hilly, it was nothing compared to where I live in West Yorkshire. Here my cellar has a front door due to the steep hill, think of Last of the Summer Wine, it was filmed about 10 miles from here.

My home town as a child has had very little snow in the last two decades, I still have friends living there so it's not just geography.

[TimberWolf]

My home town as a child has had very little snow in the last two decades, I still have friends living there so it's not just geography.

According to the 10 day forecast on the web for my area it's about 1 degree colder than historically for the time of year, but they don't say how far back that average relates to. I used to have statistics for average temperatures for the UK in an old atlas, but can't find it or data off the web. Obviously we will remember colder winters better than average ones, and you might have been a child during a colder spell, etc.