One flake of snow....

[Capt.Hunter]

Maybe someone on the US side of the pond should wake up to the fact that when BRITAIN DOESN'T GET ANY SNOW it means that GLOBAL WARMING IS A GODDAMN REALITY!!!! rather than some cooked up idea by the liberals to stop people driving SUVs.

Aaarrgghhh!! I CAN'T SEE!!!!!!

Sorry, blinding flash of the obvious....

[Liz Not Beth]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[Phantom]

My comment was meant to be taken with a bit of levity. I wasn't being serious...well, not entirely.

[Balok]

Originally posted by Capt.Hunter
when BRITAIN DOESN'T GET ANY SNOW it means that GLOBAL WARMING IS A GODDAMN REALITY!!!! rather than some cooked up idea by the liberals to stop people driving SUVs.

Wouldn't that depend on whether Britain got snow in the past? Isn't the Gulf Stream part of your weather over there? All those London fogs come from somewhere...

IMPORTANT TIPS FOR DEALING WITH THE SNOW:

1. Drive your SUV exactly as you would in clear weather. It's got brakes on all four drive wheels, so that means it can stop anywhere it can go.
2. In the middle of the storm, when road conditions are at their worst is the right time to visit the convenience store for soda or cigarettes. Why should emergency vehicles have the roads to themselves?
3. Too many people clutter landfills and tire dumps with old tires -- don't you be one of them! Besides, those baloney skins will last a while longer. No reason to make sure there are good radials on the car.
4. Shovel like a maniac. See how much wet crap you can get on one shovel at a time! You spend 11 months on the couch; this is your time to exercise! Who cares about a few chest pains?
5. No reason to clear drains. When they're plugged, lakes of ice perfect for skating can form in the street. Your neighbors will appreciate you for providing such a nice recreational opportunity.
6. "Th'engines canna take the strain!" Scotty may have had this problem, but you don't: if you slip, floor the pedal! Sooner or later you'll catch, and off you'll go! What do you mean, burning smell??
7. If you're timid, get out there and drive anyway! Your hesitant, unpredictable moves will help keep other drives alert! And, you'll build important self-confidence!
8. When snow threatens, the government cuts off supplies of milk, bread, and toilet paper to affected areas, so at the first hint of wintery trouble, race to the store for these staples. Don't let anyone stand between you and what your family needs, not even that 90 year old lady who can barely walk!
9. And finally, always remember that if you read it on the Internet, it must be true! So be sure to follow Internet advice about how to get through the winter!

[Capt.Hunter]

"Wouldn't that depend on whether Britain got snow in the past"??!!!

Excuse me, have you ever visited the UK? We get virtually every form of weather known to mankind (mostly centred on Birmingham, but there ya go...).

[KnnOs]

How can you have a classic Dickens Christmas without snow? C'mon, apply some brain power. Unlike me, I don't need to think, brilliance pours forth from my fingers.

[JonA]

Originally posted by Capt.Hunter
"Wouldn't that depend on whether Britain got snow in the past"??!!!

Excuse me, have you ever visited the UK? We get virtually every form of weather known to mankind (mostly centred on Birmingham, but there ya go...).

And that is where I live!

As for the UK getting much snow? No - not really but the Meterological Department reckons that in future years we will.

Up until the mid-eighties Britain would have regular heavy snowfalls in the winter. In fact the last White Christmas I remember where there was actually a covering of snow (about four inches) was in 1982. Since then I have never seen a White Christmas and I have only been unable to make the 25 mile trip to work due to snow once since then (December 27th 2000 when a sudden snow storm hit the country overnight).

But since the mid-eighties we normally get about one (maybe two) a year (more in Scotland though). Which is why this country now goes to pot when it happens.

But since the Gulf Stream is slowly moving south our weather people advise that our winters and summers will become cooler and Europe (particularly the Bay of Biscay) will become warmer.

Oh and Fesarius, the age of London's legendary smogs occured about 100 years ago. We don't get them anymore.

[Tobian]

Despite the fact that if you heard about Britains proletising on about their country you would think we were hard done by. .. But the bottom line is we don't get much of anything over here, we are the very definition of 'temperate' - it doesn't get very cold / hot / windy / snowy / sunny / rainy here and it never really did.

Historically Britain has had horrendous periods of cold, but these are more of a glitch in the system - these days we seem to be struck by more heat and ironically less rain - we are actually likelly facing a drought next year! if you heard the average Englishman you'd swear it was like some sort of monsoon season here all the year, but infact we don't have that much rain - it's just that we do have allot of grey cloudy days (especially where I live!)

However what we do have here in abundance is change - the weather can change dramatically over the course of an hour - it can be sunny, then we get a thunderstorm then it's sunny again - I've even seen days when it's snowing and sunny at the same time

That is set to get worse as global warming heats up, because of course the most obvious and common misconception of global warming is that it will get hotter. In reality more energy is being fed into the system so the weather is simply going on overdrive - and in the case of britain that means for more turbulent weather - and probably a few more tornadoes here a year (yes we get them!)

[ComaBoy]

Originally posted by JonA

Because the British are intrinsically a bunch of stubborn traditionalists when ever we describe some form of measurement in conversation we always default back to Imperial. We're funny like that.

Conversation? I've seen road signs on the M4 in Imperial and adverts for rental properties in both Imperial and metric

To prove how stubborn and traditional we are remember how anti-Euro we are and that we're one of the last countries in Europe to still have it's own form of currency.

For some reason, a world without British Pounds just isn't the same to me. . .

[JonA]

Originally posted by ComaBoy
Conversation? I've seen road signs on the M4 in Imperial and adverts for rental properties in both Imperial and metric

Yup. Our roadsigns are still imperial because our car speedos still measure speed in MPH.

For some reason, a world without British Pounds just isn't the same to me. . .

Our point exactly.

Hence I vote Conservative.

[Balok]

Originally posted by JonA
Our point exactly.

Hence I vote Conservative. [/B]

Help an ignorant American out here: if you vote in the Euro, you have to give up your own currency?

Also, while you're at it, what are 'bob' and 'quid'? It seems like 'bob' might refer to the shilling or the penny (not sure which) and 'quid' might refer to the pound.

Thanks.

[Owen E Oulton]

"Help an ignorant American out here: if you vote in the Euro, you have to give up your own currency?"

Uh, yeah... That's what the vote is for - to replace the Pound with the Euro. What did you think, they'd have two official currencies?

[Balok]

Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
Uh, yeah... That's what the vote is for - to replace the Pound with the Euro. What did you think, they'd have two official currencies? [/B]

Wasn't sure. I knew the *other* Euro subscribers ditched their own currencies, but I heard this was a political powderkeg in Britain. So I was curious whether adopting the Euro *required* this, or whether they could choose to support two currencies.

[Tobian]

Yes it would mean giving up our sovereign currency in favour of the Euro.

A 'bob' is roughly analagous to 5 old pence - Of course that was back from when there were 240 of them in a pound LOL - 'Thirty bob' is certainly an expression my mam still uses - equating to £1.50

Quid is slang for a pound.

[JonA]

Originally posted by Tobian
Yes it would mean giving up our sovereign currency in favour of the Euro.

A 'bob' is roughly analagous to 5 old pence - Of course that was back from when there were 240 of them in a pound LOL - 'Thirty bob' is certainly an expression my mam still uses - equating to £1.50

Quid is slang for a pound.

Not quite.

A bob is a shilling in the same way a quid is a pound.

A shilling - or 12 OLD pence - is worth 5 NEW pence.

A pound was 240 OLD pence/20 shillings - or 100 NEW pence.