Daddy’s British Winter

These are parts of emails my Dad sent me recently, about winter in England this year. I thought you’d see the funny side of it.  My Dad’s office is a little room attached to the end of a ’barn’ on their property in the heart of Suffolk, England.  To get to it he has to walk down their drive way to the other side of the property which is about 150 feet from the house.  It has no heating, no insulation, or good lighting!  My parents are both in their 70′s and to see the funny side of these stories you need to understand a little about them. Dad is a tall man from a long line of the Stewart clan in Scotland.  He looks a lot like Father Christmas with a round tummy, a white beard, white hair and sparkly blue eyes that twinkle all of the time. He’s always giggling. Yet, he is also a tough man. An ex marine, ex police officer and nothing seems to get him down. Mummy is Welsh,  short (as most Welsh people are…) almost reaching 5 foot 2 inches,  and petite. She can barely see over the dash-board of a car when driving. She is a retired physical therapist and university lecturer. They are used to the harsh winters in England, but as they have grown older, it isn’t as easy as when they were younger, to keep warm and to get out and about as these excerpts will demonstrate!

My computer was giving trouble so I called David in to sort out the problem. He said that he thought that the computer was too cold. I asked him how cold did the computer have to be to stop working?  He replied below 0 degrees C. He then looked at the thermometer in the office and said that it was  -3 degrees  C. So I have had to put in a heater and shut the door.  By keeping the door open it let in a lot of light, so I did not have to switch on the light.  The telephone has a notice on the screen which said  ”Phone too cold…. bring up to room temperature.” As it already was at room temperature I took no notice of it, but could not understand why it was not working properly!   

Now it is very hot  9% C, and everything is working. But my toes are now cold.  They were O.K. when I had no heating. And now I have to put on the light to see what I am doing.  I am losing all round!!  Carbon foot print using electricity on heating, and light and I have cold toes.  

There is 5 inches of snow outside and it has just started to snow again. So I may well have to go home and see if Mummy is O.K.

 I have just received and E/mail from the Church warden to say that the services on Sunday have been cancelled because of the weather.  Snow and ice in the car park.  In a way I am pleased because the church is VERY COLD even for me.  It is often warmer outside than in the Church.

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The snow is now the best part of 6 to 7 inches deep.  Not a lot one might say, but Mummy decided that she would like to go to shopping.    Not a problem you might say.  However I could not  get the car out of the drive as it kept slip sliding all over the place.  I asked Mummy if she would drive and I would push. 

Yes you have got it.  All went well when suddenly the tires griped, the car went to-wards the gate and I fell flat on my face and landed face down in the snow.  I lifted my head up and  I watched the car head for the road.   That is only seen in comics. Not in real life.  

But she did stop and I was able to get in and we off we went. 

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Another 2 inches of snow fell last night.   You wait until you are 70 + and see how you enjoy the snow driving! I do not mind it but Mummy does not enjoy it, she holds onto the door handle with both hands, saying “Alan slow down.”  I reply “but I am only doing 5 miles an hour, I can`t go any slower or  we will stop!”

The forecast of the next two days is for more snow and there has been NO gritting on our roads  as the roads are too small.  If we get much more snow, we will be stuck, and then we will be a statistic. On the local news you will hear… 

Old folk in Wenhaston were helped by “Help The Aged” as they were unable to get out.  They were found wrapped in blankets in front of a small gas heater to try to keep warm.  It was unsure how long they had been like that but from the man`s beard it would seem that they had been stuck for about 2 weeks.  Probably  since Christmas.  They had not been using the hot water to wash as it was too expensive to heat the water.  They shared a candle to help keep their hands warm. Their gloves all had holes in so were of little use. And they had scarf’s  wrapped round their heads. The lady of the house was sitting in a rocking chair which looked as if it came out of the Ark. (may be it belonged to her Grandmother) The food in the store cupboard was down to one small crust of bread which had been half eaten by a mouse. The fridge was empty. The milk was sour. And had a scum on the top.  The spokesman for “Help the Aged” said  “We got there just in time”.   We are looking for their children but it is not known where they are. They may well be overseas.

The old folk said that they would be all right and thanked us for our help.  They must have been born before the war  because they are tough.   There was a cat curled up on the Old Ladies lap, but it was not known if  it was there to  help keep the Old Lady warm or if the cat had crawled onto her lap to keep its self warm.  

Life goes on.We will survive, well may be.!!!!