I've just seen the weather forecast for the next couple of weeks and it looks like from Monday it's going to be very cold and even some snow :-)

Thanks Charlie Brown.

You've cheered me up no end.

;-)  ;-)  ;-)

> You've cheered me up no end.

Don't mind the cold but the constant wet, shouldn't complain as we're still afloat, but it seems to have been soggy since we had summer in back in March.
I've given up looking ahead, all week dry & sunny has been forecast for tomorrow but I've just looked & it's more s*dding rain.

They have reported that they think it ill be the coldest winter in 100 years with heavy snow late Dec through to January.

Down here in mid Somerset we have already had the worst floods for 40 yrs, and we have now had 3 more days of rain forecast. Outside now, it is persisting it down and has done all day. Can't get dogs out to wee without force never mind encouragement, and get wet myself when doing so!

Walks are out of the question - I took one round the block earlier, even put a raincoat on him, and both of us were saturated to the skin by the end of the road.... I've really never seen him look so miserable out walking before.

A lot of the back roads are impassable and people are being warned not to drive on them, as the roads bordered by rhynes are flooded, and I heard 25 cars in the last few days have been removed by volunteers, as you cannot see what's road and what's rhyne... in fact I saw a pic of the back road from here to Glastonbury tonight and all you can see are the the trees that line it, looking like lollipops... the rest is a giant lake.

The Facebook group UK Storm Chasers is doing a valiant job, posting regular views of the rainfall radar and updating with photos from the affected areas:
http://www.facebook.com/ukstormchasers

I would - personally - prefer snow!

Yay SNOW!!! You know me, love the stuff, well for a few days... Our country is never geared up for it, why can't we get our butts into action like Canada and The Scandanavian countries? Lol gotta laugh

Bring it on ! Shouldn't complain too much about the current dismal weather -at least we have not been flooded but this constant rain is so depressing. Seem to be constantly cleaning away mud bought in by dogs following squelchy, slippery walks in the stuff. My world is brown.

Mudbound in Sussex.

Aargh, no more snow! I used to love it when we lived in London and we had snow in the morning and it was melted by evening. It's a different matter out here in Suffolk when it hangs around for weeks disrupting my attempts to get to dog club and dog shows! Last year it nearly made me have to cancel a rally trial I was organising!

Just heard from a mutual friend that my friend in Somerset/Exmoor was flooded out last night, two feet of water in the house everything ruined |(only replaced the carpet from the spring.

Of course no flood insurance as she is excluded.

It's a cottage 100's of years old and even when sandbagged the water comes through the walls.

For a time the dogs were trapped upstairs.  Had they been in crates downstairs and she asleep they could have drowned!!!!

We feel helpless as of course roads are inaccessible even if we rushed down to try and help what practical help can we be.

Oh Barbara, that's awful.  Makes me feel guilty about moaning about the rain here but then, living in Scotland, we just have different types of rain, i doesn't really go off!!lol  What a pity about insurance.  Last years storms made me look into my policy and be sure I am insured for anything.  I'm lucky enough to live up a hill with no real chance of flooding but I really feel for those I've been watching on the news.  Just as horrific as fire.

I love the snow! Hours and hours of fun for the kids and dogs with no traffic! Brilliant.  And, this is our big girls first proper winter(she was born 1st Jan) so I can't wait to see her do the zoomies in the snow.  I'm more excited about her seeing the snow than the kids(oops) cos she just has a zest for life!lol.  I'm lucky, I work from home and the kids school is about 200yrds away so I can just walk everywhere when the snow comes because I am not confident about driving in it.  Send OH to tesco with a note and I'm happily snuggled up in my little community! :)

> Our country is never geared up for it, why can't we get our butts into action like Canada and The Scandanavian countries?

Trouble is it takes a big investment in equipment, both for councils in terms of snow ploughs, gritters etc, and individuals buying snow tyres, for instance, which cost hundreds of pounds (and then you need to store them!).  If you do invest you are likely to get stuck behind a driver than didn't :)
These countries with much more consistantly severe winters can easily justify it but not sure we can for the durations that we are likely to see even if thinks get rather worse.  We may still see winters where these things are barely used.

> I'm lucky enough to live up a hill with no real chance of flooding

Insurance companies are not always convinced of that unfortunately they will often work with just a blanket distance from the nearest area of flooding.
My cottage in Cumbria escaped flooding, as it has done since 1856, even during the very severe flooding a couple of years ago and if you came to look at the lay of the land around us you could see that it would take a biblical flood to reach us but, of course insurance companies don't come to look, they just work of a few criteria and because there is a lower bit within a few hundred yards that did flood insurance has become extremely difficult to even find.  Eventually we found some with a £20000 flood excess, which does not trouble me in itself but neighbours who have sold since then have found themselves in a market for cash buyers only because morgage companies baulk at a property with insurance difficulties.  Going to be even more difficult next year when the wishy, washy agreement with the Government to provide cover in these areas expires.
Whilst this in no way compares to the horrors of having dirty water stream through your home the consequences of flooding will touch many more people that just these unfortunate people.

Hopefully the council will be better prepared this time, I think it's Glasgow council who have invested in one of those snow ploughs that break up hard packed ice,after the M8 grinding to a halt year before last, due to ice that they couldn't shift.
we hardly had any snow last winter, but the the one before was a doozy, I was stuck in the house for 2 weeks, the roads were just to treacherous to risk driving. Most of the people in our row of houses had to clear the pavement of 2 feet of snow, we're such a tiny village that we're always last to see any council workers clearing and gritting the pavements.

> For a time the dogs were trapped upstairs. Had they been in crates downstairs and she asleep they could have drowned!!!

We live in a flood risk area, in Somerset, and I have to say I've been really mindful of this scenario.  It doesn't bear thinking about

I hope your friend is ok and isn't due for another flood tonight as so many are

We've just had an email come round at work with the latest flood news.  Not sure how I'm going to get home, as the main road to my place is under floodwater.  :-(

Oh no !..hope you got home ok Jean x

I have my fingers crossed for a safe journey for you JeanSW - let us know when you get in xx

Take care Jean, hope you get home OK.

Firstly Jean i hope you get home saftely,secondly i was just aboutto start a topic on the weather!!

Its driving me insane.ive five dogs and just popping out for a quick wee is a nightmare.iv got two rotts who need drying at the back door as all my dogs live inside the house,no where for them to just go and dry off....two toy poodles and a standard poodle puppy who apparently loves to run around in circles in the garden in the rain trying to catch it..so shes a total nightmare every single time she goes out. love her to bits but this rain keeps on im clipping her out competely....and so far we have a lovely puppy lion going on....

i just wanted a rant i spose,so to hear that snow is on the way is kinda nice,yes after a few hours it'll be soggy but i can get some lovely pictures and to be fair i LOVES the dogs out in the snow

What do you all do to keep dogs dry in the garden?if one goes out they ALL gotta go out (rolleyes),and i dont want to disbelive them you know....

i bathed all my lot friday,it seriously needed doing!! but now they all look like i havent bothered...me poodles look like theyre wearing birds nests on their heads lol...
i cant go over the parks its 4 inches under water!

Mine are wash and wear, but I have had to put big rubber backed mats all over the kitchen and they still slide them when coming in at speed, the mats take up the wet and stop the slipping and all the muddy paw prints on the tiles, but soon smell swampy and need washing, grr.

Luckily city clickers that we are we can generally manage mud free lead walking, and a quick rub down takes care of splashes.

MY OH loves it on Exmoor where the caravan is, but all the enjoyment is removed for me with having to deal with wet muddy dogs (so I can't even have them loose in the van, as with six sets of feet it would be trashed) and worse still wet muddy dogs wet bedding that needs frequent changing and no where to wash and dry it!!!

That is when I am thankful I live in town.

Only just logged in to see everyone's good wishes.  Thank you. 

I took a long detour but it was worth it, and the rain here now is pretty light.  I think the water had nowhere to go when it came down off the hills, and tides make it surge.  Last floods I had a 200ft boating lake out the back, and I sort of panicked when the email came round, but it is fine, even though the garden can't take any more!  Well I say garden.  Think more like motorbike dirt track! 

I can handle the freeze they have forecast to start soon.  I actually find it so easy to poop scoop the back garden.  How sad am I liking frozen dog turds!

>I can handle the freeze they have forecast to start soon.  I actually find it so easy to poop scoop the back garden.  How sad am I liking frozen dog turds!

No No no no no!!!! i was thinking the same but ur just braver than i lol...u said it lol

"if one goes out they ALL gotta go out"

I wish I usher my lot out, the springer will go if I stand outside with her as long as she does not get too excited on the way and pee before the the door (usually all over my feet)

The other two look at me and quietly eye up a corner of the back room as a wee spot for when I blink!

LOL made me giggle lol

Wasn't last Winter supposed to be very cold with umpteen feet of snow too?      Like all these wonderful summers we were supposed to be getting.  They can't get a forecast correct on a day to day basis.

I have been watching the water table rise in my garden with mounting trepidation but today it has receeded thankfully. I do really feel for those whose homes are ruined. Watching the news is frightful. One of the best things I have ever done was do away with the grass (ie. mud) in the garden and turned it over to gravel with a bigish artificial grass area for the dogs. Wonderful stuff.  Shame the youngest still has to walk through (or dig up) the border so not 100% without mud in the house on the carpet but almost. Roll on the frozen ground and snow.

It's -5 here at the moment.

Ooh that's getting cold Kay... Any snow your way yet?

>Watching the news is frightful

It surely is.  That poor old lady who died in her house in North Wales.  It must have been awful for the ones who had to bring her out.

Not yet sue, still too cold. Wasn,t too bad last winter but year before we sat at -20.

On the news tonight, the village of Muchelney on the Somerset Levels, which has been completely cut off by floods for a week.

Now getting some much needed contact from the outside world via rescue boats today, which have had to come in from over a mile away, across floods. Apparently there were boat relays all day ferrying villagers to doctors and dentists, and bringing in needed medication and food supplies.

Does make me wonder why they waited so long though!!
I used to go to school with children who lived there and their parents and grandparents could remember floods like this and worse (local history project in English class). In fact the affix "-ney" in any place name means an Island, in places that are liable to flood. A century ago the floods were so regular that many people living on the Levels had a boat just in case... which they also used for getting from A-B along the rivers and rhynes in the days before motor vehicles.

I can remember reading, in the dim and distant past, that Somerset was called that because in ancient times it was underwater except in summer - I've always wondered if there was any truth in it.

Watching people's homes being flooded out on the TV is horrific.   I do wonder how much of it is due to the Rivers not being dredged regularly and the drainage systems not being cleaned out?   I recall as a child in the 60s, watching the drainage teams coming around the streets to clear the drains of debris etc and wash them down.   Haven't seen that for years!

We do moan here about the amount of rain we get and how often - even when the rest of the country is basking in seemingly endless sunshine but we do seem to miss the extremes of rain, so shouldn't complain really

It is forecast to go down to -5 here tonight.

I am sitting here sobbing as our boiler started to play up at the weekend and funnily we had an engineer coming out to do the service on Monday. I rang up (AA 24 hour emergency home cover so keep and eye on the 24 hour emergency bit) and explained we were getting an error message and random hot water and was told don't worry they can fix it whilst they do the service. Waited in all day no show. So rang and they apologised and they didn't know yet when they could do the service and would call back. I said well it isn't a service now as there was water dripping from the boiler so they said they would get somebody out that day. They said who ever said that the service people would have dealt with the fault was wrong as well and it should have been an emergency call out. So waited patiently ( also getting colder by the hour ) for them to turn up , did they no.

So rang to ask them what on earth was going on and said that for some reason we hasn't been allocated a call but would send and out of hours call as I mentioned the water seem to be dripping a bit faster. I said fine but how long they said within the next two hours ( that was at 4pm) , 8pm still no show. So I rang and they said the latest they could come out was midnight so I said you have got to be joking as we both had to be up at 4 am as we had very early start and had to go to clients for all day meetings. So I said that we couldn't get out of that ( it is our business and it was critical we bedded to be there ) and as I had waited two days for the other two no shows that I wanted a engineer to come out first appointment today

(Sorry this is turning into a long rant but need to off load as so angry about things :-( )

So I had to cancel going to a meeting and waited patiently and no show again.

You can imagine by now my patience had totally broken we had water pouring out the boiler couldn't turn the stop cock off because the tap is jammed so just let rip. I apologised and said I was sorry but I was so upset by the whole saga and that was why I was angry.

So they apologised again and said that they had now diverted an engineer and he wasn't too far away.so two hours later he turned up saw the water every where took one look at the boiler and said sorry that is not repairable I am going to have to condemn it.

I told him what had happened and he said if they had come out they could have isolated the boiler got a part and the boiler would have been ok. I just burst out crying poor bloke must have thought oh god a crying woman lol !

Anyway gathered myself and made him a cup of tea and he said I am not surprised you are angry as he said it was totally unacceptable for the way it had been handled.

So he has gone off to see if he can get hold of some temp heating as he hasn't got anything on his van as had given them all out. That was two hours ago and he said he would be an hour......

So ringing the AA' s CEO's office seems to have kicked them up the backside as have just had a phonecall from a senior manager I have relayed the story again ( in her words there are so many tel calls logged on this I can't really make out what has gone on)

So she has acknowledge that serious errors have been made and the priority is now to get us heating and hot water and they will look at how they are going to compensate us considering I said that if they had turned up none of this would have
So sitting here trying to work chuffing freezing my wotsits off so even more so unhappy about the cold weather !

Aw Lucy, I am so sorry.  I hope that it will be sorted ASAP for you.

Thanks G. Update another chap came out ( a proper AA gas engineer this time) and has said the chap was talking out his bottom and it was repairable but needed quite a few parts but he was confident that it was repairable.

He said also the safety checks and disablement of the boiler was done incorrectly and he had left us with the possibility of a gas leak and also major flooding :-0

Anyway still cold bit we have two small convector heaters no hot water or proper heating but hey ho life could be worse !

Well I have been really naffed off all summer with having to wipe pups paws after every garden trip so I am really enjoying this cold but dry weather.
Pup ran around the garden like a mad dog this morning enjoying the frosty grass, and I stood looking out the kitchen window enjoying her fun !

Yes we had lots of zoomies today around the house going down the drive then into the lawns and down the side of the house.

All dry paws until they came back in as it was so wet inside lol !

It looks like the next few weeks are going to be cold with plenty of snow.....

Maybe even snow days off work...whoopie!

> Maybe even snow days off work...whoopie!

Not so good for us self employed people. If I don't get to work I don't get paid :(

Not so good for oldies and many others either, but sometimes you just have to think of yourself! :-)

>Maybe even snow days off work...whoopie!

That doesn't happen. Even if the vet can't get in I have to hold the fort.

I'm moving house on the 17th December, and although I'm usually the first person to want snow (I just love it :) ), I definitely don't want it at the moment. I can't imagine how awful it will be getting from Hertfordshire to Norfolk in a blizzard! And my poor friend, who's helping me with transporting the dogs, is coming from Derbyshire......

We have had enough of travel disruption over the last few years so this year we decided that we would get something that would means we can get anywhere so yesterday picked up our new L200 mitzubishi twin cab.

I was given instructions for the different 4 wheel drive settings and was quite happy about the one you can use that would get s through snow drifts so we will be able to get around without any problems now !

I'll call on you when I get stuck if that's OK! :)

Yes that is fine !

Pedlee welcome to chilly Norfolk, I hope it goes well for you.  Friends moved here recently from Essex and they cannot believe the drop in temperature.

Well they've said next week will be the coldest for 70 years but no snow in the north west, time will tell!

> Pedlee welcome to chilly Norfolk, I hope it goes well for you.  Friends moved here recently from Essex and they cannot believe the drop in temperature.

I like cold weather, so hopefully I'll be OK! :) Nothing nicer than cuddling up to the dogs with a roaring fire going. I just want the snow to hold off until I'm safely there! Where abouts are you Sillysue?

I've just moved and am now within 5 mins walk to work, so snow won't be a good excuse. Be good not to be isolated for days on end though with shelves in the local shop empty

Just outside Wymondham