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    I knew having a 4x4 would come in handy one day. The route to the cub's school is either a 7 minute walk down an alley, or a 25 minute walk round the outside.
    Unfortunately the alley and the road approaching it are at about a 1 in 3 incline. Guaranteed broken bones when this horrible slush freezes.

    Comment


      Originally posted by antoine polus View Post
      Pizza ovens.
      Can the gas fired ovens get a similar effect yet? I really despise the new middle class fetish of burning fucking wood as being more “natural” than other methods of combustion. Would hate beautiful pizza to give the Ronans and Saidbhs of bloody Dublin 4 a cover for their ridiculous air destroying artisan dreams.

      A guy behind me in work the other day said if he won the lottery he’d devote his new free time to “crafting”. With all these people needing set on fire, I’m going to run out of petrol.

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        My dad has got 24cm snow in his back garden. He's quite proud that my brother only has 23cm snow in his garden.

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          It's -15C this sunny afternoon in Montreal. Here's the forecast for the fortnight:

          Dec 15 - Dec 28 Day [°C] Night [°C] POP Snow Conditions
          Friday, December 15 -12 Feels like -15 -13 20% - ~1 cm Mainly sunny
          Saturday, December 16 -8 Feels like -14 -18 40% - <1 cm A few flurries
          Sunday, December 17 -13 Feels like -13 -13 20% - ~1 cm Mainly sunny
          Monday, December 18 -4 Feels like -7 -8 70% - 5-10 cm Light snow
          Tuesday, December 19 0 Feels like -3 -6 80% - ~5 cm Light snow
          Wednesday, December 20 -5 Feels like -11 -15 40% - <1 cm A few flurries
          Thursday, December 21 -11 Feels like -13 -15 10% - 1-3 cm Mainly sunny
          Friday, December 22 -7 Feels like -15 -13 40% - 5-10 cm Scattered flurries
          Saturday, December 23 -11 Feels like -19 -15 20% - ~5 cm Mainly sunny
          Sunday, December 24 -11 Feels like -17 -13 70% - ~5 cm Light snow
          Monday, December 25 -9 Feels like -13 -14 10% - - Sunny
          Tuesday, December 26 -9 Feels like -10 -14 10% - 2-4 cm Mainly sunny
          Wednesday, December 27 -10 Feels like -16 -13 70% - 5-10 cm Snow
          Thursday, December 28 -9 Feels like -15 -13 40% - <1 cm A few flurries

          Comment


            Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
            Can the gas fired ovens get a similar effect yet? I really despise the new middle class fetish of burning fucking wood as being more “natural” than other methods of combustion. Would hate beautiful pizza to give the Ronans and Saidbhs of bloody Dublin 4 a cover for their ridiculous air destroying artisan dreams.

            A guy behind me in work the other day said if he won the lottery he’d devote his new free time to “crafting”. With all these people needing set on fire, I’m going to run out of petrol.
            Wood is the most sustainable combustible source by a longshot, and the forest cover in Europe has been expanding, it hasn't been this large in over a millennium. In the forest-poor UK, forest cover has gone up from 5% a century ago to 13% today. Finding economic outlets for wood, like biomass combustibles, would actually help forestation. The only problem with using firewood in urban settings is the smoke pollution, which depends on the degree of efficiency of the stove/oven/chimney and the type of firewood used.

            Yes, you can achieve the same outcome with natural gas on a stone/brick pizza oven, but it does take longer to fire it up to 500C with gas, there's also the smoky flavor with wood as a fuel. The place down the street from me takes about 35min to fire up their brick oven with gas.

            This belongs in the maps thread, but I'll put it here, a very extensive interactive global picture on the state of world forests published by the U. of Maryland:

            http://earthenginepartners.appspot.c...ayer0%2C2%2C12
            Last edited by linus; 14-12-2017, 20:21.

            Comment


              It’s a fairly pitiful 11% in Ireland (same as the far denser populated Netherlands). And what tree cover there is often means monoculture squares clear felled every few decades. Scotland looks like getting to 20% cover in the next few decades, while the Forestry Commission has got better, with more mixed tree planting and mixed use leisure activities being encouraged (unlike Coilté semi state and landowners often conspiring to keep the public out of the woods- there will never be a Scottish style right to roam as long as the sanctity of Private Property has two fucking articles in the Irish Constitution). There are also serious attempts to encourage the growth and regeneration of the old Highland Pine forests and “temperate rainforest” mossy oaks on the West Coast. But it’s never going to be Finland. And still so much Scottish Forestry is horrible squares on a hillside.

              But surely urban wood burning for heat or artisan home cooking fads is seriously stupid and polluting, however efficient? There’s a reason for Clean Air Acts.
              Last edited by Lang Spoon; 14-12-2017, 21:31.

              Comment


                There seems to be a trend towards colder weather in the Christmas period, after a mild interlude starting on sunday...

                Comment


                  Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                  It’s a fairly pitiful 11% in Ireland (same as the far denser populated Netherlands). And what tree cover there is often means monoculture squares clear felled every few decades. Scotland looks like getting to 20% cover in the next few decades, while the Forestry Commission has got better, with more mixed tree planting and mixed use leisure activities being encouraged (unlike Coilté semi state and landowners often conspiring to keep the public out of the woods- there will never be a Scottish style right to roam as long as the sanctity of Private Property has two fucking articles in the Irish Constitution). There are also serious attempts to encourage the growth and regeneration of the old Highland Pine forests and “temperate rainforest” mossy oaks on the West Coast. But it’s never going to be Finland. And still so much Scottish Forestry is horrible squares on a hillside.
                  I'll tell you what we need and what the Forestry Commission should do: we need another Great Depression to get all those lefty snowflakes, those workshy unpatriotic millennials, those benefit scrounging immigrunts and all them welfare spongers (that Raab, Rees-Mogg & co love to rant about) to actually do something for the country, like in the good old days when Britain was Great.

                  Kielder Forest in Northumberland, England's largest artificially planted forest (650 sq kilometres, with the largest man-made reservoir in Europe) was created during the 1930s depression by 1,000s of unemployed men who were sent up there, in a big "labour colony" comprising several labour camps, and made to work unpaid of course (they were "forced into attending these camps under the threat of losing unemployment benefit", see text below, taken from here).

                  During the dark times of the Depression in Britain, the Government decided to build work camps for the unemployed. This one, "Lewie Camp", was such, constructed in the midst of Kielder forest close to the banks of the North Tyne river.

                  Constructed in the 1930s on Forestry Commission land, this grim establishment complete with perimeter fence, housed unemployed North East men (directed there by the Ministry of Labour) from ailing industries such as shipbuilding and mining. Skills such as land drainage and road-building were taught there.

                  By 1938 the Ministry had 38 such "instructional" centres across Britain. Here at Kielder, several purpose-built communities were also constructed for workers' families, for example Stonehaugh.

                  The camp, known as "Lewie Camp" or Lewiefield (and later simply as Kielder), was served by the purpose-built Lewiefield Halt railway station, on the Borders Counties Railway -- a service folowing the Hexham - Reedsmouth - Riccarton Junction line. The Lewiefield Halt station eventually closed in 1955.

                  The concept of "labour colonies" was not a new one -- both the Salvation Army and The Christian Union had made decent attempts, before the Ministry of Labour's "Instructional Centres" aimed to physically 'recondition' men who had apparently become 'soft' through a period of unemployment. Such men were forced into attending these camps under the threat of losing unemployment benefit.
                  These Centres ceased in 1939 when those unemployed men were suddenly deemed able (not "soft") enough to go to war for their country.

                  The regime at the camp, run by ex-service personnel, was often draconian to say the least -- many of the 150-200 men could not last the course (12 weeks, where they worked 12 hour shifts, usually for six days a week). Sleeping in Nissen huts, they received part of their unemployment benefit as pay with the rest, about nine old shillings, being sent to their families back home.

                  Housing rents were ridiculously high in those days, and I have to wonder if nine shillings was enough to pay a typical house rent for their family.

                  Fewer than 10% of the men here would find work at the end of this spell.

                  When the Second World War started, this camp (no longer needed now for the unemployed who had been directed to a new purpose...) was used for housing conscientious objectors who were given work in forestry; later in the war refugees from Europe were placed there.

                  In 1941/42, part of the camp (now "Kielder Camp") was named as "HMS Standard" and utilised as a Royal Navy shore establishment for the assessment and treatment of naval personel with personality disorders. This Navy camp was also known as "Lewisburn".
                  I am unsure, but could this be the furthest Royal Navy shore base (or in the Navy vernacular, "stone frigate") ever to be sited away from the sea ?!

                  It was decommissioned as such at the end of the war and used as a Forestry Commission labour camp for Polish refugees.
                  British men still used the camp after the war, either by choice or by coercion from the Ministry of Labour. The mixture of East Europeans and Geordies could be explosive at times !
                  The food at the camp became distinctly "continental" in flavour, so the visiting mobile shop was a welcome feature for many men there. A mobile cinema also arrived once a week.

                  The camp eventually closed about 1955, after the usual rounds of budget cuts, with many of the refugees staying on to live in the area.

                  Comment


                    What made Britain Great. Coerced Labour. Britannia unchained, let the lion roar again!

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                      Forecast for Montreal for the week:
                      Dec 27 - Jan Day [°C] Night [°C]
                      Wednesday, December 27 -20 Feels like -31 -25
                      Thursday, December 28 -20 Feels like -30 -25
                      Friday, December 29 -21 Feels like -30 -25
                      Saturday, December 30 -19 Feels like -29 -22
                      Sunday, December 31 -20 Feels like -32 -25
                      Monday, January 1 -21 Feels like -33 -27
                      Tuesday, January 2 -22 Feels like -31 -25
                      Last edited by linus; 26-12-2017, 17:27.

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by linus View Post
                        Forecast for Montreal for the week:
                        Dec 27 - Jan Day [°C] Night [°C]
                        Wednesday, December 27 -20 Feels like -31 -25
                        Thursday, December 28 -20 Feels like -30 -25
                        Friday, December 29 -21 Feels like -30 -25
                        Saturday, December 30 -19 Feels like -29 -22
                        Sunday, December 31 -20 Feels like -32 -25
                        Monday, January 1 -21 Feels like -33 -27
                        Tuesday, January 2 -22 Feels like -31 -25
                        Nice to see you posting Linus, are these normal for this time of year? Keep warm.

                        Comment


                          Is California still on fire?

                          Comment


                            Cheers Antepli! Are you back in the UK now, or still in Turkey?

                            Those temps are on the very low end of the scale for south-eastern Canada, but not quite outside of it, no daily minima records were broken (at least not in Canada, might be different in the US). Cold snaps are a regular feature in nearly every winter, but this one came a bit early and lasted longer than the usual arctic front, and as a monthly average, this will have been the coldest December in decades. As a trend over the past 5-10 years, it seems that winters have gotten a bit colder over here, and summers milder.

                            California fires have been contained:

                            http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents
                            Last edited by linus; 31-12-2017, 20:48.

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                              Very cold, but sunny, so not so bad. I vastly prefer this to 40f and raining.

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                                Storm Eleanor is tearing in, with reports from Ireland of winds in excess of 100+. Lots of trees down already in Ireland with the worst still to come.

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                                  I drove past a metal road sign flapping around like it was a piece of paper this evening. Not something I've seen before. You can take that as meaning it's already a bit blowy Cambridge-way.

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                                    The gusts over Dublin about half seven were pretty full on. Now it’s the old eerily calm mode.


                                    And as I type that another gust.

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                                      Making MR James short story adaptation on Radio 4 type wind noises out there.
                                      Last edited by Lang Spoon; 02-01-2018, 22:56.

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                                        Flooding in Galway sounds severe by the sounds of it.

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                                          Then god speed Berba. Steadfast against vengeful Posiden.
                                          Last edited by Lang Spoon; 02-01-2018, 23:40.

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                                            I’m taking Spanish visitors cycling to Whitburn tomorrow. ..do hope the storm is, as predicted, all blown through by breakfast

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                                              And I'm all right, Lady Eleanor.

                                              Passed us by without any severe noticeable effects.

                                              Trust everyone else is OK?

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                                                Snow in Tallahassee, first since the 80s:

                                                https://www.freep.com/story/news/201...18/1000152001/

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                                                  Blaine Stewart predicts a torrid seasonal hammering.

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                                                    With an unbearable heatwave in Australia, the horrendous winter freeze, supermoons and king tides, it must be nearly time for the aliens to arrive and Morgan Freeman to be President.

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