What if we get it like 1963?

[ks789]

I know its very unlikely nowdays, but just supposing we did get another winter like 1963. Months of snow and ice, right into march. I guess van mount ro/di systems could be dismantled a bit and brought indoors? Im not sure how a lot of them are crafted and how easy this would be. Certainly would be a heck of a backlog of work in the spring.

 

[Part Timer]

I know its very unlikely nowdays, but just supposing we did get another winter like 1963. Months of snow and ice, right into march. I guess van mount ro/di systems could be dismantled a bit and brought indoors? Im not sure how a lot of them are crafted and how easy this would be. Certainly would be a heck of a backlog of work in the spring.

The 2010 / 2011 winter was really bad as well

 

[dazmond]

The nearest we got to a terrible winter in recent decades was the winter of 2010-2011...

I'd just gone WFP with 10 barrels frozen solid in the back of my van when the temperature dropped to -15 overnight during xmas.

I think I had around 5 weeks off due to heavy snow and ice but I was OK because I had a fairly substantial emergency fund so didn't have any money troubles

Some window cleaners were panicking after 2 weeks off and we all found out some guys that were not doing that well financially as we thought and mentally it was hard for them too...

I said it then and I'll say it again BUILD UP AN EMERGENCY FUND! Even if it takes you 5 years to build up you ll be thankful when an emergency comes along(they always do!). Whether it's illness,injury or extreme weather...

IMO a minimum of £10k is a reasonable emergency fund tucked away in an instant access ISA ready to spring into action if the need arises. I have mine in a Zopa account and the interest is very good(tax free of course too)

 

[ks789]

Yeh I was at a factory at the time, (2010/11, not 1963) a few of us made it in and barely got home. Many couldnt get off their drives or had to leave vehicles abandoned. Luckily then the xmas break came at the right time if I recall. Yeh ive got an isa, anything to keep that govts thieving hands off.

 

[steve garwood]

I have an easy remedy for snow and ice.
I lock my van and fly out to the Canary Islands.
No point stressing, can’t change the weather

 

[spruce]

I have an easy remedy for snow and ice.
I lock my van and fly out to the Canary Islands.
No point stressing, can’t change the weather

You are right. As frustrating as it was, we just had to put up with the weather as there was nothing we could do to change it.

The east coast was the hardest hit in 2010/11. We didn't work for nearly 6 weeks. I took the van out once to clean a shop front and got the van stuck in the snow.

We winterized my son's van by emptying all the water we could out of the tank. We unscrewed the filter bowl and emptied it, then ran the pump to get most of the water out of it and the pipe to the port at the back. We brought his hose reel inside, much to the wife's annoyance.

The remaining water in the tank froze solid as I didn't put any heating on in his van.
I keep an electric heater on in my van, controlled by a froststat controller.

The only activity I did was to clear the back garden of snow for the dog and help a neighbour clear snow from the road in our cul-de-sac. We were the only 'young' ones capable of doing it. We piled snow onto the pavements which ended up like it does in Canada every year.

 

[Iron Giant]

I know its very unlikely nowdays, but just supposing we did get another winter like 1963. Months of snow and ice, right into march. I guess van mount ro/di systems could be dismantled a bit and brought indoors? Im not sure how a lot of them are crafted and how easy this would be. Certainly would be a heck of a backlog of work in the spring.

Have you been reading the Daily Mail

 

[THL4KEL]

Been pretty warm up to now. If It was to happen I'd just get snow chains on tyres and turn on my immersion heater everyday everyday and keep my van diesel heater on throughout the night.

 

[ks789]

Have you been reading the Daily Mail

only for the sports section, honest : )

 

[ks789]

I have an easy remedy for snow and ice.
I lock my van and fly out to the Canary Islands.
No point stressing, can’t change the weather

yeh I could handle that. one of my sisters been living in gibralter for many years now, says she'd never move back to walthamstowe, cant say I blame her

 

[Iron Giant]

only for the sports section, honest : )

Is that any better

 

[Yogi1872]

I thought it was quite good tbh, all the customers knew you couldn't work so there wasn't any worry with it being behind. I don't have a family to feed etc apart from the pets. Maybe if I had a couple of kids to feed etc I wouldn't have thought it was that good. My imediate family, ie 2 siblings and my parents are are really close so I was never worried about being short for anything as it would have got taken care off.
.
The vast majority of people don't have savings though and it must be tough for people who don't have that family network around them either to turn to if they need help at some point.

 

[steve garwood]

yeh I could handle that. one of my sisters been living in gibralter for many years now, says she'd never move back to walthamstowe, cant say I blame her

I could never live abroad. I love my life here. However, to get a bit of sun, I do have lots of holidays. Just back from Marmaris in Turkey. My sixth holiday this year! Only on planet earth for a visit. One innings, make the most of it

 

[Dave B]

I have a friend with a groundwork company and if it gets like 2011 I will jump in one of his grit Lorrie’s and grit Royal Mail and Sainsburys car parks all over london at night
Actually earns more than windows with the amount per car park I get

 

[ks789]

I have a friend with a groundwork company and if it gets like 2011 I will jump in one of his grit Lorrie’s and grit Royal Mail and Sainsburys car parks all over london at night
Actually earns more than windows with the amount per car park I get

Thats a handy sideline

 

[steve garwood]

I have a friend with a groundwork company and if it gets like 2011 I will jump in one of his grit Lorrie’s and grit Royal Mail and Sainsburys car parks all over london at night
Actually earns more than windows with the amount per car park I get

Reminds me of my dad. He drove a dust lorry around Brixton all of his working life. He used to love it when it snowed as he would get paid double bubble to drive a gritter lorry.

 

[spruce]

We have a customer who is a gritter driver. That's his job in the winter. He has a patch of motorway that is his responsibility to grit if the weather forecast is for low temperatures.
He has very odd working hours in a cold snap as he may need to grit a number of times during the day and through the night.

The winter before last he hardly did any gritting. He spent most of the winter on standby.

He has to be ready at a moments notice, so his lorry is always full of grit waiting to go.

 

[dazmond]

I thought it was quite good tbh, all the customers knew you couldn't work so there wasn't any worry with it being behind. I don't have a family to feed etc apart from the pets. Maybe if I had a couple of kids to feed etc I wouldn't have thought it was that good. My imediate family, ie 2 siblings and my parents are are really close so I was never worried about being short for anything as it would have got taken care off.
.
The vast majority of people don't have savings though and it must be tough for people who don't have that family network around them either to turn to if they need help at some point.

Even more reason to start building an emergency fund when self employed once you've got a fairly decent round up and running

 

[Yogi1872]

Even more reason to start building an emergency fund when self employed once you've got a fairly decent round up and running

Should be, not everyone's sensible with money though. A few guys at my last job, around 12 years ago were skint living month to month on a 120k a year salary. At the other end of the scale I know a guy who makes min wage, manages a few weekends away abroad a year and has savings built up behind him. Takes his own lunch to work etc, no takeaways etc, doesn't waste money on things that aren't needed. Fair play to him, it shows it can be done even on a small income.

 

[Iron Giant]

Should be, not everyone's sensible with money though. A few guys at my last job, around 12 years ago were skint living month to month on a 120k a year salary. At the other end of the scale I know a guy who makes min wage, manages a few weekends away abroad a year and has savings built up behind him. Takes his own lunch to work etc, no takeaways etc, doesn't waste money on things that aren't needed. Fair play to him, it shows it can be done even on a small income.

Easy enough to do as a single person, not so easy if you are in a relationship and have a house to maintain and update then some throw kids into the mix and life gets quite expensive, then maybe with the odd repair on an old car and people are struggling what savings they might have built up could quickly disappear.

 

[dazmond]

Snow forecast here for next week in the north west.....winters here early lads!

Buy your ice melt grit now while its cheap as I guarantee the supermarkets will raise the price if we get a cold snap!