The "Big" snows have arrived!

Oh no! I hate the snow but your photos are wonderful Gattina.

Your photos look lovely Gattina, it's been quite cold here too the last few days hope we dont get any snow.

I think you will, Popedot, let's hope they aren't too deep and difficult. Thanks, Annella!

More logs on the burner G....Stay warm

Wow those pics look B&W great shots, send it to the east coast if you dont want it Jan love snow.

Oh that looks coooold. Nice to look at if its through a window where your snug infront of the fire but not so much fun without any power eh! x

lovely photos gattina, its a very white world there isnt it.

Hi Gattina, I have bad and good news for you. Bad news is that you have just got the hit from the east, which we got about a week ago. The worst days (frosts, snow) will be Thursday and Friday (in central Europe at least). Good news is, that these cold streams will stop at the beginning of the next week (Paul, are you following ?:)) and in the second half of February it will stay like that. E.g. mild winter. Fortunately, weather forecast altogether with bird behaviour says spring is just about to start. Chin up :)

Keep cosy Gattina! pretty pics but I dont want it! :)

brrr looks pretty though :)))

lovely photo's Gattina but would you mind keeping the snow over there please, we have had more than enough the last two winters,

it was white here this morning yorkshire

what Frost or snow Sticki

admittedly frost but yesterday there were a few flakes of snow as well

Phew, what a relief,

Katarina, I HAVE to keep my chin up, or I'd never see out over the snowdrifts! Pushkin, our big, fat tabby cat just rushed down the garden at top speed, took a jump and completely disappeared! All the cats indoors keep going to the door and peering out, then complaining loudly and coming back in. They try this every twenty minutes or so, and seem bewildered and to blame me that the horrid cold and wet hasn't changed in that time. The snow is now about 50 cms deep, and it's set to keep on snowing for at least the next 24 hours. Still no sign of the snowplough! Luckily, OH has filled the cellar with firewood, so we don't have to venture out, but he has just been up the garden to pick sprouts, which are as hard as porcelain! Hope they thaw a bit before dinner-time! Temperatures set to stay very low (about -8° at the moment)

have you got anything nice to eat and drink in that cellar gattina?

Everything in our cellar is nice, Sticki, the thing is to pace ourselves and not eat/drink it all at once to compensate for being bored.

not very easy in my case.

glad you can get on line at least!!!

Yes, getting the power back has made a world of difference.

Gattina, I wonder, what will happen to the "hermines" in your neighbourhood :) Hope Attila is more brave then Pushkin and will not dissappear under the snow...

I am sure London is on the list of places to hit when it arrives.

I just hope it is not too bad on 20th February onwards as I start training as a Metropolitan Police Communications Officer. I will be answering 999 calls.

I cannot miss the training if transport comes to a standstill or severe delays.

Your photo`s look lovely Gattina, picture postcard scenes, stay warm and cosy and hope it goes away before your fuel and food run out, can`t have OH getting lost in a snowdrift....

I think our snow is on its way Gattina , but hopefully not as bad as what you have! Stay warm.

Just heard your weather forecast Gattina and Katarina's..Awful..Take care both of you.

I would love to be there I LOVE the snow, so pretty, good photography weather , just lovely :)

You are not listening me, Pimpernel :) My forecast was positive.

The BBC one was not positine K :0( Let's hope that you are right :0)

We nearly got pushed off the side of the mountain by a snowplough when we got stuck between Foggia & Roseto. We were completely covered by snow so the plough didnt see us. Any way, long story short, I was with a family with 3 young kids under 6 years one being an 8 month baby. We could'nt open the doors due to the car being completely buried under snow & when the plough dumped snow ontop of us the whole car sank down on its springs with the most awful noise, mamma Patritzia screamed. I had to crawl through the window & they passed the kids out one by one as I popped each one in a different car in the procession who sensibly waited to follow the snow plow. The look on the other car divers faces as I appeared over the top of a ten foot drift in the middle of a desolate mountain pass in the pitch black holding brats was a study to say the least. The next day a load of us all went back to find the car which wasnt easy & dug it out. I was 17 & the mature driver & father of the family of our car thought he could beat the oncoming snow storm against all advice from the folk back in Foggia. He nearly got us all turned into popsickles. However, quite an adventure & I loved the snow that fell in the Puglia mountains. Beautiful photos Gattina.
I'll be thinking of you when we zoom past your way in May ( no snow this time I hope ;-)

And now imagine, you are living in the third century or so so and you accompany Hannibal´s army, which marched with elephants (!) from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.

what a story bampy!! like a film.

We're still on 'red alert' here, Gattina! Expecting the stuff any day now - in fact expected to wake up to exact copies of your photos, but it's still holding off! No it's not! I just peered out into the gloom and it's started snowing since I got up an hour ago! Aaaarrrgh! Now I shall have to do all the 'Things To Do When I Can't Get Out' from my list! Cleaning out wardrobes and drawers! Cleaning the Fridge! Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

How beautiful! I don't want it, but it certainly is a sight to behold!

Oh, wow. lovely to look at, but it's not as pretty when you have to live with it. How high up are you, Gattina?

I think it's the time of year when everyone who drives starts to think of "what if" and put some useful stuff in the boot - and checked up on what-to-do and more especially, what-NOT-to do. Of course, "it'll never happen to me" - until it does.

Years ago my friend and I went to Whitby over new Year (I wanted to go for Captain Cook, he wanted to go for Dracula - we fitted both in). We'd be going through the Yorkshire moors, so I insisted on putting a couple of sleeping bags and a shovel in the boot! didn't need either; it was sunshine all the way. But we might have done.

You'll know when London gets more than two snowflakes: the whole transport system will shut down in utter chaos.

We're 500 metres up, but we need to drive up to 750metres a.s.l. before we can get onto the main road out of the village. It's been snowing for 72 hours nonstop, now, and if I took more photos, they'd just show white. Pretty, but a nuisance. You know that if Gianni doesn't come and let his ducks out for two days running, then it's serious. There's no way we could drive at the moment, and the snowplough STILL hasn't made it past the top of our road. CMSue - the novelty wears off after about 48 hours, then it's just a darned nuisance and very cold, too.
Watch out Britain - your turn next!

Tsk....It is due to hit today in some parts 1

That doesn't sound fun, Gattina - you have to get further uphill to go down again?

If it snows in London, then it's blizzarding elsehwere - the air above a city is always a couple of degrees warmer than the air in the country around it. My sis used to live just outide St Albans: they were cut off every year, power out, the works.

I'm glad I have a gas cooker; at least I can have a hot drink and food in a power cut. I had an electric mini-cooker for a few years: we had three power cuts; luckily I found my old camping stove and enough solid fuel tablets to heat up a tin mug of water for a lukewarm cuppa. That's one reason I'd never go all-electric!

We are so relieved that we have the wood-burners. At least we can cook a casserole, boil a kettle, heat a couple of rooms, and since heat rises, the bathroom and bedroom are not totally refrigerated, even in a power cut! OH went out on Tuesday, before the snow started, and stocked up on milk and matches. Strange man!

:) Sounds like all in Britain are preparing for Apocalypse.:)
Kasia, tell something :) We have it here for three weeks, this week in central Slovakia it was minus 28 C and we still live. Fran, two years ago we did not have neither gas nor electricity for three days, thanks to Madam Tymoshenko and Big Brother in Kremlin. And that was awful.

Oh... we are not preparing at all Katarina, we are Chattering and muttering. The British only prepair when it happens.

Hard on the training field, easy on the battlefield. :)

Weather permitting

Lol. It always depends on individual qualities, Pimpernel.

Not even any gas for three days? shee, sounds grim! I used to browse on eBay for property (just wishing) and I saw so many places on offer in eastern Eurpope - can't remember the exact country - , all saying what a marvellous place it was, and I'd think, if it's so marvellous why are so many people trying to sell? No doubt a lot of it IS marvellous, but ... that's a bit far to go for a viewing!

We're never prepared in Britain; or at least the big companies don't ever seem to be. Always seems to take the train companies by surpise that leaves fall on the lines in autumn, and "the wrong kind of snow" falls on them in winter.

And the number of elderly people who die from hypothermia in winter is way out of proportion to the rest of Europe - think that was a BBC report; the number is higher here than anywhere in mainland Europe.

And then you get the twits who decide to stroll around Ben Nevis, or Snowdon, or Dartmoor, waring joggies and a t-shirt, with maybe a light showerproof jacket! - no special clotihng or equipment - or knowledge! - to cope with prolonged cold and exposure. If it weren't for the rescue services, that'd be survival of the fittest in action.

There seems to be some of the most extreme weather here in Europe, and quite a few people have died so far. Temperatures in Italy (not exactly sure which parts) are at a 50-year low, and are still dropping. Not really a big problem for us yet - we had a good idea it was coming, and so did the local services. Just a darned nuisance.
Apparently we are due a day of sunshine on Monday, so If I can leave the house without sliding down the mountain, I shall attempt to take some pretty photographs for you all.

*s* seen some sledges for sale on eBay!

Just been out to get some milk: there's slush on the road at 1.25 pm so there must have been some snow already. not thought to check the garden till this second...

It's all clear here in Northants at the moment Fran

We have only had a very hard frost.

Yes same here Pimp.

it's a-coming, boys and girls, it's a-coming!

BBC news page:
Many parts of Europe have been considerably worse off, with a big freeze already claiming more than 130 lives.

Heavy snow has left at least 11,000 villagers cut off in remote areas of Serbia, while the Ukraine, where temperatures dropped to -33C (-27F) overnight, has seen the highest number of fatalities. Over a 24-hour period, as many as 20 people died.

In Italy, weather experts said it was the coldest week for 27 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16866903

I don't mind if it waits for me to get home ;O)

lol same here, Annella - it needn't rush on my account.

That Italian 27 years has been extended (I have no idea how truthfully) to about the 50-year mark for record low temperatures according to local friends. Unfortunately, our outdoor thermometer is up in the summerhouse, and if you think I'm digging my way up there to check it, you have another think coming. It is VERY, VERY cold here, however. We are fortunate to have stone walls at least 18" thick, which does help a lot. Once those have been warmed through, they tend to hold pretty much all the heat in. No central heating back in 1856 when this was built.
We have thrown common sense to the wind and allowed in any of the cats who want to come indoors. The place is a bit like a moggy refuge, and not terribly clean any more, but it won't be for very long, and it won't kill us. I'm sure there would be deaths on our consciences if we didn't.

the prob with thick ston walls, Gattina, is the "once" - how much heat do they absorb before they begin to throw any back? good for you re cat refuge: is there an outside shed or something you could open to them without going outside yourself? shelter them but not at cost to yourself.

The main problem people often fail to take into account is wind-chill: in my Scouting days we were told that once the temp goes below zero, every mph of wind equals a further one degree drop in temp, so the temperature on the body could be up to ten or twenty degrees colder than the temperature shown on the thermometer - unless they teake windchill into account.

Yes, Fran, we have what we call the "outside" cellar, with a catflap (broken by an inquisitive dog) and shelves and cardboard boxes so that the cats can come and "roost", it's where we put food and water, and where our hedgehogs hibernate, too, but since the temperatures have fallen so much, and even inside the water bowls have started to freeze over, it's just not enough, and even the chronically shy ones have been found huddling in the snow outside the front door, crying (dreadful emotional blackmail), so what else can we do? They don't stay in during the day, just overnight, clamouring to be let out the moment we put in an appearance in the morning. Daughter thinks we've lost our senses. She's probably right. Don't care.

grins sourly, and why should you? caring for those who can't care for themselves, for whatever reason, is laudable and to be applauded. (stands up and gives yoiu a bow)

Gattina how could you ever turn them away :O)))xx

Ah, well, that's the problem for a pair of English softies - we can't: locals think we're nice, but loopy. Another British couple, who live 40 minutes away, on another mountain top are exactly the same.

Fran, lol :) :)

You are very funny guy :)

Gattina, all your Italian neighbours are cold people :)?

I would like to think of you all warm and safe tonight, cats included Gattina x

Katarina, All our Italian neighbours are VERY cold people tonight - the weather is FREEZING! No, seriously, farming people do tend to be un-emotional and pragmatic where animals are concerned, whatever their nationality, I think. There are a lot of very caring, very kind, very tender-hearted, very responsible people here, too.
Annella, I have just come up to bed, and you would laugh if you could see the sofa downstairs - well, that's the point, - you CAN'T see it because it is covered by an old blanket and a gently snoring pile of fur and paws and whiskers! We have put an old Ikea duvet on the floor in front of the stove, too, and that is occupied by more cats. We are lucky, most of them seem to know automatically what the litter tray is for, and squabbles and power-games are mostly put aside in the name of warmth.

can you sneak a pic sometime when they'renot looking, Gattina???

Aren't we 'softies' about animals! There are feral cats here, but they have old hay in barns to snuggle into and we don't see much of them - they seem to do a 'residential tour' of villages and 'disappear' for a year or two - then suddenly - they're back!
Our neighbours - like all villagers in this region - have a couple of dogs who are NEVER allowed inside. They are working dogs - mainly 'alarms' - and live on the porch. The only concession made for them in cold weather is a piece of old thin carpet to lay on. I used to worry about them when we first moved here, but they've survived everything I've seen and are no worse off for it - so I don't concern myself any more.
Sad about the fatalities across Europe. We were amazed at the general preparation we saw when driving to my daughter in the south-west one January when, on nearing Madrid, we saw ten snow ploughs parked up near roads. TEN! Not a flake of snow had fallen but - unlike unprepared Britain - it's Winter and it snows in Winter so let's be ready for it when it does! Even our little town down the road has two snow ploughs at the ready - one each side of the town.
Right! I've got chilly fingers down here in the study, so I'm going back upstairs with a cuppa and a snuggle by the resurrected wood fire! Mmmmm!

Hi Nariz, the same I have in my room. Thanks God for wood and good old fireplace.

just checked the BBC news website. They have a series of pics showing snow in UK and another series of Europe. shee, glad I'm here!

We did some unforgiveable sniggering this morning, watching the BBC weather forecast for the UK. 4-10cms snow? Minus 4°c? Panic stations! Wusses!

grinzzz - we're a bunch of wimps (do wimps come in bunches, or in shoals?) give it half an inch of snow in London, where we're extra wimpish, and it'll be traffic chaos all over

I think we melt the snow before it lands, with all the hot air we spout about the weather.

Could you waft a little of that warm air in our direction, please, Pim?
It's quite strange - it's snowing as hard as ever, but the sky seems to be lightening, almost as if somewhere behind this lot there's some sunshine desperate to break through. Last night, with it still snowing, we could actually see the moon, albeit mistily and faintly. The good news is that gradually, starting on Tuesday, the temperatures are set to start rising, so that a week on from that we should be basking in a tropical -2° to -9°c. Hooray! Let's hope the cat food and pasta sauce supplies stretch that far.

lol Pim, and the hot air from Westminster!

If you can see the moon, surely it'll get colder, Gattina? I thought hat clouds reflect heat back down, so it's colder when there's a clear sky (very vague memories of a school science lesson) - dunno about snowclouds, though.

has there been a prevailing wind direction? *s* just wondering who's in line for it next!

Oh yes, Fran, if we are unfortunate enough to get clear skies (Monday, apparently) then the temperatures will fall markedly. They are bad enough where they are right now. There has a been a breeze today, but not daft enough to put my head outside the door to see which direction it's blowing in. I'm off down to my nice warm stove now - fingers going numb and typing suffering. Tea-time, I think.

Partner's been looking at the weather reports on'tinternet and reports that we are in for several days of heavy rain! Mud! Just what the new lambs need! NOT! I think I'd rather have snow - at least it sits nicely on top of the ground and melts slowly so it has a chance to be absorbed. Gushing rain will swell the many rivers along with snow-melt and cause havoc in the valleys! Think I'll just stay in by the fire. Glad we went shopping on Thursday - we needn't take a single step outside for at least two weeks!

If you know which way is north, Gattina, can you look out of the window and see how the snow is piled up? which would indicate wind direction, at least at that time!

As you say, Nariz: rain or snow, eventually it gets to the rivers and they rise - and rise. At least snow takes a bit longer to get there, unless there's a sudden thaw, and then I think it's worse - rainwater don't stack up feet deep and then let go all at once!

I taped an old episode of the BBC series "999" dealing with the Easter Floods, can't rememebr the year; what water can do once it's out of human control is awesome.

Since it's been snowing non-stop for 5 days now, Fran, it's piled up everywhere! A metre deep in some parts, and a minimum of 50-60cms elsewhere. There have been flurries of wind, but mostly just steady, unremitting snow. Our neighbours' barn roof collapsed under the weight of it some time today - didn't see it go. Luckily, no animals underneath, just hay.
When we moved here six years ago, and had a whole lot of work done to the house, including putting a new roof on, the "architect"/works manager asked us if we would like them to install "snow bars" while they were at it, so, all innocent and gullible, we said "Yes." The locals have all made fun of us and our snow bars ever since, saying we're below the mountain snow line, and that we were conned, but who's laughing now?

awk, Gattina! I suppose this proves the truth of the old saying: one's ability to cope with a problem increases with one's distance from it.

snow bars? I presume reinforcing to take the added weight of snow on the roof? if so, then good for you.

No, it's a row of bars about a metre from the edge of the roof that hold the snow in place while it's melting, so you don't get a potentially lethal avalanche as someone is standing below. A whole roof full of snow, especially to the depth we have it at the moment, can weigh tons. Imagine that falling three or four floors onto your head. You see them a lot in Alpine areas.

ooh, 'eck! People think snow is light and fluffy, but not in those quantities!

tried Googling "snow bars": I got (in descending order):
snow chains and roof bars for cars;
Jon Snow pubs and bars;
snow leopard;
recipe for lemon snow bars

even "snow bars for houses" didn't help - gotta be some on there somewhere!

I was fascinated by the architecture of houses in Canada near The Rockies - the roofs are VERY steeply pitched so that snow slides off. Clever!

Hi Nariz, if you ever travel to mountain areas of Poland or Slovakia (The High Tatra Mountains, which are on the borders) and you will pass villages, you will see, that all roofs are like peaks-very high and very steep. That´s common reason.

I'm not sure there's a proper translation, Fran. The Italian word is "fermaneve" which literally means "stop snow", and the google translation is given as "Snow barrier" which suggests it should be somewhere on a road.
We are feeling distinctly down this morning. Spent yesterday trying to warm up whole house, but even with both stoves going full blast, I was sitting on the sofa, wrapped in a duvet, and I could see my breath. I would reckon the temperature inside is not much above freezing, and we both have headaches and sore throats and red noses. If we don't have to, we aren't so much as opening the front door, much less going anywhere, and the possibility of digging ourselves out doesn't exist. I have just been trying to cheer myself up by trawling through pictures of fields full of poppies, and rose bushes, and the house covered in wisteria, but it just makes me want to cry.
It will pass.

Ah! NOW Google has some results! sort of like baffles on the roof; sort of like anti-slosh pltes in a large tank, brak up the movement of water so it do'nt build up to anything large and dangerous.

Hell, Gattina, that's not on! you deserve more comfort than that - or even some comfort!

ps, no sign of the snowplough yet, I suppose??

Yes, we discovered the snowplough HAS been along the the road, Fran, but he's pushed all the snow in a great ridge across the entrance to our drive, so we couldn't get out if we wanted to! The biggest problem, once we do manage to get out of the driveway is that the temperatures are so low, that it is like driving/walking on sheet ice. I'll stay home for a few more days, I think.
How did we get to large tanks and anti-slosh plates and large and dangerous movements of water? Sounds highly dangerous! I'll see if I can find a photo of the roof with the fermanevi showing.

oh, terrific! don't they know where people live, and, more importantly, where their property accesses the road?

well, as I understand it, tankers and such have anti-slosh plates to stop the cargo sloshing about and bulding up such momentum as to endanger the ship. sort og like snow baffles - stops buildup of movement that could come down in a solid lump - well, sort of if your mind is as weird as mine!

I copied the Italian word you gave and pasted that into Google, got some relevant results at last. Don't they have something sort of like this in the Swiss Alps, to hold back snow to prevent avalanches?

Yup! You got there!

durr, I may be slow, but eventually the train creaks into the station *s* if there's no snow on the rails!

Well , the snow DID strike the UK just as we were in-flight from Fuerteventura , (travelling up the Bay of Biscay , Nariz ) the pilot , a jolly soul , said that rapidly , one by one the southern airports in England were closing , oh joy ! He diverted to Paris ; we landed at midnight in -10c , were eventually accommodated by 2.30 am and picked up at 7.30 am for a 10am flight to Stanstead . OH says he sure knows how to treat a girl , taking me on an impromtu visit to Paris like that !
Sorry to hear that you are snowbound , Gattina , think of it like this .... it can only get better .

Rule No 1: Avoid the Bay of Biscay at all costs!!! Unless, of course, you get the chance to enjoy Paris. ;o)

especially at no extra cost! at least, I should flippin' well hope so, as it wasn't by choice

Coincidences have always some purpose :). Every thing what happens, has its reason (that is not Bible :)). Once I missed a plane when changing national flights in the US and had to stay one night at the airport hotel. My neighbour was a seventy year old lady, who got asthma attack in the night. What a wonderful coincidence, as I was respiratory physician and my favourite disease was severe asthma :) :)
In Sicily a lonely man on a beach disinformed me that the sea is suitable for swimming. I jumped in but after ten metres got strange burning all over the body, after which I realised he sent me to the school of medusa. he was laughing so much when he saw me crawling fastly to the beach. The other day he was rescued when drowning and because nobody did not know how to reanimate, I reanimated him.

but what a sense of humour tha man has! surprised he's lived so long. I hope he learned a lesson, though probably not - that kind needs a brick over the head to get a hint home.

smiles, look up "synchronicity" ... amazing how often it happens

It was just the logistics of accommodating 200 plus people at short notice that was the bind . They did well under the circumstances ; and we managed about 3hrs sleep . We think that had we got back home the chaos that was the road system would have been the last straw . Didn't see Paris though , Fran .
Katrina , the Lord moves .... etc.
How is Gattina today ? Thinking of you , cabin fever must be setting in !

aw, well, at least you got closer than I've ever been!

Lol , Fran !

Gattina's just about ok, Driad.
Since poor OH spent nearly the whole of yesterday digging us out and clearing the drive, it has been snowing overnight and all of today and we're back to square one. Couldn't get the car started anyway, 'cos the diesel's frozen. The forecast indicates that this is going to continue for at least the next fortnight, even heavier snowstorms are on the way for the 4 days over this coming weekend and the shop shelves are already bare, I'm told. Not looking particularly hopeful. At the moment we do have television reception, though, so that's all right, then.

Stay warm ! Thank goodness for't Tele . That was something we never had in "tin bath " days , eh ?

thinking ahead, when all this lot thaws, are you going be safe from flood risk??

Fran, he was "capo di tutti capi" from North, I think. I later learned, he owns chain of restaurants in Rimini. Anyway, that day I had all drinks and foods in the hotel for free :)

lol and richly deserved!

In a certain way, yes. People, whom I never met before, were coming to have a chat with me. And as I was alone, it was fine :)

smiles, but it's a bit sad when it takes something like this for people to be soicable

It is sad, but human characteristic. Worse is, if somebody is sociable just to spy on you. That is disgusting.

nods, and too much too soon can be a bit off-putting. I mean, if I gve out an inch I expect an inch back: if someone comes back with a foot, or even a yard, I tend to back off a bit sharpish! - "what's s/he after?"

hey, Gattina! just noticed you've topped the ton for comments, well done!

Mostly thanks to you, Fran!

lol, meaing I talk too much? :-p

how's the snow doing lately?

Snow 6, Gattina, 0. No respite in sight, although for a brief hour or so tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to reach the dizzying heights of -2°c before it plunges again.

Quick! Find that bikini! ;o)

OMG, Nariz, you obviously don't know what shape I'm in. It could cause avalanches!

just a thought, Gattina - when all this snow finally thaws, will it be a fairly gradual process? or will it all go in a torrent?? what's the risks to you?

Good news! OH (Bless his big woollie socks) has managed to get the snow chains on the car and drive 2 kilometres up the hill to our nearest 1-shop village and collect really urgent supplies of cat food and vegetables, meat and loo paper before the weather starts deteriorating again on Friday morning. I am being tractored down the mountain tomorrow morning round about dawn by lovely neighbour to collect other, not-quite-so-urgent supplies in the nearest medium-sized-supermarketed town, so emergency averted for the time being. It'll be good to get out of the house for a change. The cats are stir-crazy, and we threw them out into the cold this morning to get rid of their surplus energy, which they are doing as I write, by racing madly up and down the "lawn", and leaping into snow-drifts. Maybe they won't be quite as quarrelsome and destructive once exhausted.
Hooray! Pork chops tonight, followed by rice pudding, and tomorrow I shall make that lemon drizzle cake!

Just got back to work after days of being snowed up in the hills - I can guarantee that we've had "fun and games" in Rome too - talk about organisation - Gattina can verify what I mean ....I'm getting fed up of it all now and honestly don't want to believe the threats that we're going to have some more of the stuff on Friday and Saturday ... grrrr

Oh, tell me about it, Terry! It is VERY tiresome, and the novelty wore off quite a few days ago now, but in the grand scheme of things, although not quite what we expected when we moved here, it is just another facet of living here, and come the decent, sunny, warm, drinking-wine-in-the-garden weather, we shall think back on this and it won't have been so bad. We'll make even more stringent preparations next winter!

I must tell you, that even Slovakian national radio started - with a bit of viciousness - talk about incompetence of Roman town hall regarding snow. That is a big boost for self-confidence of Slovaks as we had the very same situation, but we are silently resisting :) :)

We saw pictures of Rome under snow last week, Katarina - entirely trafficless, and it looked wonderful, but as Terry60 will tell you, the incompetence of the authorities was awful - nearly as bad as the UK under saltless snow last winter! Rome doesn't often get snow, so it's understandable, I suppose, but here, where we expect and get snow every winter almost without fail, the road-clearing crews are pretty good. It's just that they are unable to clear all the steep, narrow back mountain roads, or prevent ice forming when the temperatures are so, so low - salt and grit are just not sufficient. Most of the locals (not the mad English, of course) have 4 by 4s, and studded snow tyres (a step up from plain winter tyres) and tractors for the very worst conditions, so they survive very well, and I'm certain the Slovaks are equally well-prepared.

You mean with tractors? Lol.

With anything!

So wonderful nation we aren´t. We are never enough prepared for miracles. And for Russians at the Wall Street and Oxford street, lol.

the weather does seem to be getting more severe - heavier and longer snows, more extensive flooding in thaws ... maybe we need to step up a notch (or three)

At what level do you live, Fran?

umm, not quite sure; slightly above Thames level, but how much I dunno: I looked at the borough's Flood Alert Zones map and I'm on the "green" side - but that sort of depends how big the next one will be.

*s* I had three criteria for my new home: ground floor, garden, outside any local flood risk area. This is the first one I looked at that met all three, *and* had enough room to swing a very small kitten!

I'm just old enough to remember the '53 flood: my earliest memory is of dad giving me a piggy-badk down the street beacuse it ws full of water at least ankle-deeo. when I mentioned this years later, they said it must have been the '53 flood, and I'd have been about a year old at the time. I've since read up on it, and the casualty figures were pretty horrendous all along the East Coast and the Thames.

there's a book "London's Drowning" by Anthony Milne, gives the story of Thames Valley flood events thorugh history and prehistory - scared the pants off me when I got it from the library about twenty years ago, still found it disturbing when I finally managed to track down a copy about five years ago.

And they're stil lbuilding new houses on known flood-plains ...

That philosophy of your own sounds logic. But majority of people must buy houses which they have money for. I think, Venetians were tricky, don´t you think so?

tricky? in what way? You seem to be linking them to banks who lend money to people who can't repay the loans!

there's another book "lost rivers of london" - appreantly London has more rivers than Venice, till we covered them and turned them into storm drains and sewers; we could do with more "flood overflows" now (unless they brought excess water down from their feeds). or maybe we should all live on huge houseboats, street-long, and we'd go up and down with the tide!

That´s exactly what I thought about Venetians :)

Well, that is pity, if it is true. I did not know that London had more rivers then one. In fact, the Danube caused a lot of damaging floods in the past. Especially in May, when its waters are the biggest, thankd to meltng snow in Alpes. But there were done some extra "branches" around Danube, canals, which are filled when there is a lot of water. No floods since that time, more fish and electricity. Unfortunately, the owners of electric stations are Italians, who are selling electricity to us :)

Amazon search has about 90 versions, hard- and paperback.

the second one down is the one I have.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=lost+rivers+of+london&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=10784734453&ref=pd_sl_3nnhw3nvh4_b

couple this with "London under London"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Under-Subterranean-Guide/dp/0719552885/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328822967&sr=1-1

and you'll have a wealth of "secret history" to bury yourself in!

The Danube is a massive river - apparently, when Britain was still physically attached to Europe (pre-Channel, I mean), the Thames was just a small tributary of the Danube!

correction: it was a tributary of the Rhine, just tried checking

map of london rivers: http://londonbygaslight.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/london_rivers_lrg.jpg
and

http://www.therrc.co.uk/casemaps/images/gla/GLA_Base_1.jpg

thames-to-rhine:
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/Graphics-Geol/GEOMORPH/NorthSea2.gif

Lol :)

lol most UK power comapnies seem to be owned by the French, or at least the ones that get into the news ...

Most US (and Australian) cities with rivers through them have storm channels to divert flash floods from swamping the city; was watching an old documentary week or so ago about two such channels, in US and Aus, kids in the channels, caught by the water, rescued by police. It was a bit scary: in the US one, a fully-loaded cement lorry is being pushed along - sideways! - by the force of the water; shows how strong water can be in quantity ad in force.

In Italy, we are in the daft situation of not having any natural reserves of fossil fuels, of not having the sort of water power that supplies a country like Switzerland, piously rejecting nuclear power, and so has to buy, at a vastly inflated price, virtually all our power from France. And how does France produce all this energy? Nuclear power plants. Duh!

slight case of NIMBY? couldn't something be done in the Italian Alps to use hydro-electic power? of course it woldn't supply the whole country, probably not even half of it, but it might help a bit

Oh it does exist, Fran, just not enough of it. There's a pretty house we went to look at when we were first house-hunting here, and the estate agent said proudly that just up the valley there was Lake Brasimone which had it's own little hydroelectric plant that provided power to the immediate area, and that in the event of a national powercut, we would be not be affected. He of course failed to mention that in the event of even a minor earthquake, and remember, the whole of Italy is an earthquake zone, the dam could crack and several million tons of water would sweep down the valley and wipe the house out. We decided against buying it.

Be happy Gattina. Italy food products have the lowest radioactive contamination compared to other European countries. Even Sweden has higher contamination of food chain, thanks to fish industry and fish, as we all know, are more global, then sheep or wheat.
I think countries like Britain or Italy can use sea-power much more then they do now. In the Britain there were beautiful environmental projects, how to make pure energy just using power of tides. Problem is - there are always money interests behind all expensive solutions. Thank you for your attention. Yours Greenpeace.

hell's bells, Gatting, don't blame you! that'd put a damper on anyone. wonder who decded to build there in the first place, and why they didn't check locally? maybe it was their minder's day off!

agreed, Katarina. I don't understand why they're puhing so much money at wind power, which fails to deliver so often, when the tides are there all the time, river currents are there all the time. (of course, that might be due to the water-power people not offering big enough backhanders!)

No tides in the Mediterranean, guys!
That house was a no-hoper, Fran. It had obviously been tarted up for sale. The owner almost admitted outright that his wife hated it and she was forcing him to sell it. The garden looked bleak, plantless and muddy, and there were stone caissons between the garden and the river (coming down from the dammed valley above) which ran down one side of it, so I asked both the estate agent and the owner if the river ever flooded. "NO, No, Signora, never in living memory!" We noticed that the water supply came in via a pipe high up under a nearby bridge, so that it would have frozen solid in winter. The third bedroom was up in the attic space, which was barely high enough for OH to stand upright, and I asked if it was legal "But of COURSE, Signora" . As we were leaving, OH turned round and saw a big notice with, in three languages - "Attention - river liable to flood. " Then, back at the estate agents' office, I asked for a copy of the planning permission and plans of the house itself, and right across the top floor were written the words "Non Agibile." (Not habitable) Honestly, we may be foreigners, but it doesn't make us cretins, and I told him so. We never heard from him again. We have several similar stories to tell, but I would hate to bore you.

that's criminal! trying to sell a place that's clearly marked as uninhabitable - and dangerously so! and lying so transparently about it. Whose living memory were they talking about, fieldmice? What they tried to do to you, and may well have succeeded in doing to someone else, is surely illegal, and they should be held accountable for anything that happened to anyone who was suckered into buying the place.

lol Gattina, you'd have to go a loooooong way to be boring! tell away!

We came across several real shysters among estate agents, but the one who sold us this place was pure gold - a giant among men and a truly lovely bloke all round. He and his wife became our life-long friends. Sadly he died last year, very suddenly and unexpectedly. I'll write the book one day, Fran.

Oh, sorry to hear that - not about the projected book! people like that are pure gold, and all the more valued for being found in a field of dross. How's his lady coping?

gattina, how there are no tides in the mediterranean? Halo, this is e.a.r.t.h.

She coped dreadfully at first, shutting herself away, and not letting anyone come to the funeral, but she is back with us again and coping - she has to, as she says, "for his sake" keep the business they built together going.

No, Katerina, the Mediterranean does have tides, but they are almost unnoticeable, they are so small - maybe a few centimetres, so to all intents and purposes, it is generally recognised that they don't happen. Look it up.

I phrased it badly, Gattina, no one would "cope" well with the death of a partner, especially if it was unforseeen, as in an accident, and they'd been together a long time, and the suriviving partner was elderly.

I really meant, how is she - "getting on with life" isn't really tactful, either - maybe just "how is she?" and leave it at that. Glad she's found the strength not to stay locked up.

Dad died in 2001 (on my birthday! which is why I now share his birthday; keeps that date alive) and Mum said once that "they lied, time doesn't make it easier" but I suppose one adjusts, eventually,because one has to.

I should have remembered that much about hte Med; I did know it, but forgot.

The tides in the Med are so slight, Katrina, that they don't count; the tide can only feed through the Straits of Gibraltare, which is a hell of a bottleneck too feed a sea thorugh twice a day! our four times, if yoiu count in-out, in-out.