Snow

[fra828]

Was very cold this morning (-3 according to the car, which I know is warm compared to other parts of the country ) - have spotted a few bits of snow up on the hills but apart from that nothing! The kids are not happy - more snow forecast for the weekend so will wait & see!

Hope you are OK JR [/quote]

Are you far from Bournemouth/Poole area, Vonny? Hope your bruising's better today, JR.

[Fjgrogan]

..... and you lot think you have problems?! Maria has just left here by taxi for Gatwick with her husband and two small children. They are booked on an Easyjet flight due to depart for Helsinki at 1515. the only way to contact Easyjet is apparently online and their flight is not listed among the cancellations, but shown as 'scheduled' - as are a number of flights left over from yesterday and still not admitting to being 'cancelled' or 'delayed'! they left it as late as they could and have had to pay extra for the taxi because although it is not a legal requirement they are insisting on fitting the borrowed child seats which they have used whilst here, so the seats need to be returned or stored in the taxi office for us to collect. Check-in is between 1215 and 1415. I strongly suspect that they will be delivered to the airport, the taxi will depart with the car seats and then their flight will be cancelled and they will either have to camp at the airport or return here at even greater expense. Given that Maria injured her arm falling on an icy pavement on the day she arrived here, and is supposed to have it in a sling, I don't think that airport camping is feasible. None of us will ever consider flying again with Easyjet - it is impossible to get information. Yesterday's flights both to and from Helsinki were cancelled; apparently conditions in Finland are so bad that even they are having trouble coping! Normally they would take all this in their stride, with winter tyres and roads gritted by law - with grit, not sand; the grit is then hoovered up after the thaw, cleaned and recycled next winter - it sounds so simple! So I shall run around with the Hoover while i can actually get at the floors uncluttered by luggage, but I shall not start stripping beds, because I suspect they may all reappear later in the day with two miserable children!

[anniexf]

Frances, in spite of all today's worries, did you have a good Christmas, New Year and Christening? It must have been lovely to have your daughters and grandchildren gathered together. Mind you in my experience it's nearly as lovely when they've gone - such peace, such quiet!! Anyway, I do hope Easyjet doesn't let them down.

[Vonny]

Are you far from Bournemouth/Poole area, Vonny? Hope your bruising's better today, JR.

I'm in Weymouth

Hope Maria & her family make it safely back home today Frances.

[Fjgrogan]

The last I heard they were just going through the boarding gate at about the right time so, assuming that they are not still sitting on the tarmac, they should by now be well on their way, so i can start stripping beds after all! Unfortunately the person who was supposed to be collecting them and driving them from Helsinki to Turku can no longer do so, so they will have to catch the train - about two hours, I think. So it will have been a very long day particularly for the children - and for Grandma who had to leap up in the middle of the night when Hanna fell out of bed without apparently waking up!! I have just informed my husband that they are getting the train and he said 'If the Station's open!' I had forgotten that there was an incident earlier in the week when a train's brakes failed at Helsinki station and it crashed into a hotel - surely that will all have been cleared and sorted by now?

[gma]

.... about as likely as getting sh1t from a rocking-horse !

and to cap it all, I went over on black-ice yesterday evening and am now totally housebound nursing a badly bruised, swollen and locked left knee.

Incidently, a friend of ours is the the Holbury/Abinger Common postman and they haven't had a delivery/collection since this second snow-fall.

Thankyou JR Much appreciated and have negotiated much nicer day out tomorrow instead with HWMBI!

Sorry about your knee tho', are you still tucked up sate ad warm indoors?

Snow's coming back here on Sunday and I went to work today for the first time since late last year ( )and the sappers have sent so much time clearing the roads for the council and running around hospitals and old peoples homes etc that they haven't cleared the base so we had to close the offices again this morning and went home!

[Hannoir]

we had a fair bit in brum earlier in the week but now it is literally all ice. my 10 min walk to work in the city centre is like an ice skating challenge, its ridic that there is not grit on the pavements. oh well.
going south tomorrow for various reasons, meant to be back on sunday night but i hear it could be bad...hmm.

[midget]

We tried to go out this morning after the sun had a go at the icy pavement, but after a few slithery steps I was too frightened to further, so no shopping done, again.

[fra828]

Are you far from Bournemouth/Poole area, Vonny? Hope your bruising's better today, JR.

I'm in Weymouth

Hope Maria & her family make it safely back home today Frances.

Yes hope they don't have too much of a nightmare trip back to Finland. I grew up in Dorchester, very fond memories of Weymouth and still visit from time to time.

[englishangel]

Pictures of my back garden.

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

I was VERY impressed with the sight, this Morning, of our Postman, on Bicycle and Foot, delivering as usual, but about 20mins late--- with his long grey hair and stooped posture, negotiating icy pavements and roads, with a light covering of last night's snpw. !!

Some people just don't KNOW when to be a "Jobsworth" !!!

[Fjgrogan]

Perhaps I should take back my comments about Easyjet. Plane appears to have taken off on time, landed only 5 minutes behind schedule. Train to Turku was due to arrive at 1am (their time) and there was a message on my answerphone this morning that they had arrived home; unfortunately it cut off before giving the time and my date/time thingy is not properly set - yet another mechanical/electronic gadget in this house that needs sorting out! Anyway they are safe home and I have finally stripped the beds!! Now we can get on with dealing with the problem of my father's car, which Maria and Jarmo borrowed while they were here but it would not start when they needed to return it - poor thing is used to being stored in the garage, not on the street! My Dad (aged 85 and with Alzheimer's) is on the phone several times a day wanting to know when he can have it back as he needs to catch up on his shopping! Anyway we have managed to get someone to take him shopping this afternoon, but the car is going nowhere until the engine thaws out, and preferably not then because the tyres need changing. I like to think by hanging on to it (though not deliberately) we may be saving his life! I don't think he believes me!

[jhopgood]

Just got back from shopping and whilst waiting in line at some traffic lights, saw an elderly lady fall over by the front car. The driver got out and helped her up, despite the impatient b*****r 2 cars behind me leaning on his horn.
No sooner than I got to the head of the queue and two arm-in-arm ladies fell over at exactly the same spot, one knocking the back of her head. Out I got accompanied by music from Mr Impatient. I had visions of him swerving out to overtake, going through the red lights and sliding into oncoming traffic, but it wasn't to be. Some people just cause accidents and get away with it.
All 3 ladies appeared fine and continued gingerly on their way.
Curious how people seem to prefer to walk closer to the road than the wall, and yet closer to the wall is frequently safer.

[mvgrogan]

WE ARE HOME!

No delays with flights, no problems with trains, even managed to phone a cab to meet us at the station and he drove up onto the platform to load up!!! Good job, too as we had SO MUCH luggage (more than when I moved over I think ) Got home at 0140 Finnish time - which translates to 12 hours of travelling. The kids coped remarkably well and we all slept like logs ... now pottering, unpacking, doing laundry and cleaning the fridge (pong!) while Jarmo digs out the car so he can go shopping and fill it up!

Minus 19 at Helsinki airport and it looked like less snow than Gatwick. Bit more snow at home (Turku), currently minus 8, but it was minus 14 when we got up about 11 ish.

Only real difference between Finnish & British is that this snow is much drier than yours... Oh, and ALL the roads are cleared & gritted therefore accessible & usable!!

[anniexf]

Delighted for you all, Maria, especially after reading your Mum's anxious post yesterday. Easyjet's off the hook, then?!