1947

[JBR]

We've just been watching a very interesting documentary on Five Live (though it is not exactly live and can be downloaded at any time).  It documents the winter of 1947, five years before I was born so I can't say that I experienced it personally.  Nevertheless, as a child I did experience some very deep (for me) snow, but what I saw on the documentary was even worse.
People survived, of course, but that was because people in those days (just after the war) were far more strong and determined than many are today.  I am sure that should such a winter happen today, many would die simply because they are so soft and unable to cope in comparison.

Incidentally, I notice that for some reason the spellchecker no longer underlines my (rare!) misspelled word.  I do naturally try to look out for misspellings, but nobody is perfect... not even me!

[Ashy]

Bearing in mind that was about 100 years into the industrial revolution, if burning mineral fuels caused global warming the winters of 1947 and 1963 should have been impossible. It's a fact that men and women of the time knew how to carry on instinctively and that's what they did. Only a few years later the authorities were asking for men with boats to rescue people from the floods. How did we manage without yellow warnings, red warnings and SMS alerts? At that time we got the weather forecast that was already 12 hours old from the newspapers and our own barometers.

[Raven]

Schools seem to close at the first sign of a snowflake these days and parents are hauled out of work to come and collect their kids. 
Our school never closed once that I can remember, and we used to spend break/lunchtimes playing in deep snow or clearing it to make long ice slides. Then the blooming janitor would come along and throw salt on it as soon as we went back to lessons.
Kids today don't have the fun we used to have, but these days I'm scared stiff of falling on ice, after smashing up my leg on it a couple of years back.

[muddy]

I must say we went for a walk yesterday when everything was frozen solid and there were nasty patches of ice .
I suddenly found myself walking like an old lady .
Slowly and with caution .

Next I will have young men trying to help me cross the road .

Can't wait 🙂

[dextrous63]

What do you view as "young"?😬😬

[Michael Rolls]

I was 10 years old. The roads were so bad that the coal merchant stopped delivering - you had to go to the railway station siding to collect it yourself. Sheila was just old enough to no longer need her pram, so mum and I took it to the siding, filled it with coal, and wheeled it back, a distance of about a mile. School didn't close.

[Lion Queen]

It was fun going to school in the snow, having snowball fights and just enjoying fun in the snow with friends.  
Kids today are missing out being molly coddled and wrapped in cotton wool .