Snow!
Snow was forecast for our area last night with it causing disruption to traffic and transport in general.
In the end it snowed briefly in Hythe for a few hours and by about 2am it was raining and continued right up to my leaving for work at 7.30am. Even heavy as I drove to the station. There was a little at the station but as Hythe is a few feet above sea level there is an altitude difference.
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| Folkestone West Station parking |
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| Folkestone West Station |
On the way in on the higher ground on the downs there was more but not really enough for the train companies to plan and run reduced services to and from London.
Of course everyone of a certain age harks back to the winters we used to have in the 1950's and 1960's. (See pix below). In UK winters have become milder and we do have snow, but not on the same scale.
Those harking back (to the good old days?) talk of walking waist deep to school and to work. Here in the south of England things were never as bad.
Until November 1965 I lived in Chadderton near Oldham in Lancashire. A small town of dark satanic mills and modern council estates on the edge of the Pennines. it snowed. Kids loved it.
In the infamous winter of 1962/63 I attended St Matthews school. It was a bus ride away. And here is my tale.
The No6 bus was our usual mode of transport. The bus conductor was a black guy called Charlie. In those days there were very few black people in the area. Charlie was great with kids. Taking them onboard and making sure they got off at the right place for school and on the way home. The snow was deep but the buses still ran mostly to time.
The school was full of wet gear and wellies but we had dry shoes to change into. I was 7 years old.
At morning break we were supposed to stay in school as the playground was about four feet deep in snow. As it was sunken about ten feet below ground level at the front bordering the road, there was a concrete slope from about five feet off the ground (five feet remember that) to just above ground level and then an iron railing fence.... Kids used to climb up and then use the railings as a climbing frame.
In winter it was slippery. One kid decided to do it anyway. I forget his name now, About halfway along. Some five or six yards from the entry gate and steps down, he slipped and slid down the slope into the deep snow. How we laughed and cheered. From the small area of cleared playground we couldn't see where he had gone. When he didn't appear after about ten minutes someone went to get a teacher.
We all still thought it was great fun as the caretaker appeared and began to dig through the deep snow; about ten yards of the waist deep partly frozen white stuff. We stopped laughing as he carried the unconscious and very blue looking kid out of the snow. An ambulance arrived and took him away.
It turned out that as he fell he banged his head on the concrete and was unconscious. If he had been there much longer he may have died.
Since then I have had a very great respect for ice and snow and what it can do.
Some links to 1962/63
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