Not nuts...

[CT-5012]

Against all advice we set off on Friday for a weekend away so have just returned and read all your posts regarding weather etc. No we are not nuts, crazy or anything like that, we are ALTERNATIVELY SANE.🤪

[SnazzyD]

The main thing is, did you get there and have a good time!

[CT-5012]

Oh yes, four minutes late! 😁

[PMRpro Ambassador]

But WHERE?

[CT-5012 in reply to PMRpro]

York to Oxford with a change at Birmingham New Street, previous trains had all been cancelled! ☃️ 🚂 Trans Siberia had to stop running over last weekend......all their trains fell off the tracks laughing at the British trains. 😂

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to CT-5012]

Yeah - strangely ours didn't stop at -19C last week. Occasionally they disappear because of a half metre of snow until the line has been cleared. Takes a lot to stop our bases though - they have ENORMOUS chains...

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to PMRpro]

Mrs Smug2 ?😏

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to DorsetLady]

Maybe. Maybe not...

They do go on strike every so often - but by law have to provide a minimum service for people to get to work and home!

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to PMRpro]

❄️❤️

[SheffieldJane]

Glad it worked out for you. I’ll own up to being differently deranged.

[Estellemac]

I drove across the M62 against Parkers sage advice to have my haircut for me holiday on Wednesday. My sister lives in Stockport and her Granddaughter does our hair. I made it back alive I am pleased to say. Though visibility dropped to 20yards at one point. I had to de ice the window wipers three times between Shaw and Leeds then the washers froze over. Needless to say I haven't been out since. I am proud to be a high functioning differently abled person when it comes to challenging situations. I don't look like a bag lady now so Parker is happy too.

[Hidden in reply to Estellemac]

I bet your neck and shoulders felt it!!

[Estellemac in reply to Hidden]

Yes but I had to hide that from Parker so he didn’t go ner ner ner ner ne ner ner.

[Hidden in reply to Estellemac]

😂😂😂

[Hollyseden in reply to Hidden]

Funny you should mention neck and shoulders. In common with lots of people here probably, my neck and especially my shoulders have been giving me jip lately. I'm quite happy to blame the freezing weather and will not consider a flare. That would make me throw my dummy out of the cot! Loving my scarves just now.

[Hidden in reply to Hollyseden]

Just being cold scrunches my shoulders right into my neck....i end up like a tortoise. Especially when dry mouth starts too and I tackle lettuce. 🐢

[Sandy1947 in reply to Hidden]

I understand your tortoise pain related to the cold. I felt great in Dallas 70 degrees, not so great in NJ cold and windy. Connection between pain and cold is amazing. Since PMR, I layer pajamas!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hollyseden]

My shoulder and neck problems stem from myofascial pain syndrome. Here I get physio appts for massage to mobilise the spasmed muscles. After our recent cold snap (-19C overnight) and the flu it has taken a turn for the worse and yesterday the physio found muscles I'd forgotten I had in shoulders and upper back!

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

Not jealous of the pain but jealous of the massage/ manipulation.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

To make you even more envious: it is free! Have to wait for the referral as it isn't an emergency but covered by the healthcare system here - so was cheap before my 65th birthday andfree now.

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

😠 even more jealous I am

[HeronNS in reply to Estellemac]

Maybe you Brits need to take a leaf out of the North American weather songbook and start using special windshield washer in the winter which doesn't freeze! 🤣😎🚗❄☃

[Hidden in reply to HeronNS]

I thought the ready mix screen wash I bought was too blue but it seems to be good in the cold. So good and blue that I need to dig the container out of the recycling and double check. Might not be any paint left if it isn't premixed. Oh well ...new car arrived in next couple of weeks.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

I keep thinking that! Our day-to-day stuff goes down to -22C used neat... The super-diesel on sale in Austria goes down to -40C this year - I assume they reacted to the risk of the beast from the east, it is usually a mere -30C-proof.

[Hidden in reply to HeronNS]

I saw on a car programme once that there is an expensive fluid you can put in radiators that goes down to minus 40 and up to 50c. Apparently you never have to change it fill it. Does that come cheaper in colder climes?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

My radiator is sealed - filled at birth and you never touch it. all left to the garage to deal with. I never look at the cost - the car gets serviced every 2 years and it isn't cheap but looked at as all maintenance over 2 years with original VW parts it is pretty good value for money. I think we are still on the original exhaust after 10 years and its second battery and it just sailed through our equivalent of the MOT. Nothing to worry about there for another 2 years.

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

I must confess that I have had motability cars for the last few years and even though I could do with the cash to have better lufestyle I like the fact that everything is covered. I think I have about 90£ excess on insurance claims but all servicing, tyres etc are included. I would be absolutely stuck without a car. I never had a car that didn't have an mot until my mobility got so bad I could claim. It's strange having a new car every three years...that's based on next claim going ok. Got to say the car never truly feels like mine though. Original exhaust after 10yrs is pretty good- don't they salt the roads? Or is everyone sensible and used winter tyres/chains. UK will never be a good snow country and sheffield, with all the hills is a nightmare in snow.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

Salt is used on the main roads but otherwise you learn to drive on the cleared and gritted roads and winter tyres are compulsory from mid-November (1st Nov in Austria) until mid-April at least. Or you carry chains. And it is a diesel - engine and exhausts do last a very long time. We use it a lot less now - just for trips to the UK and a couple of times a week for shopping. Daily shopping in the village is done on foot. I'm told that when it is predominantly ling journeys that you do and exhaust warms up they last much much longer.

[HeronNS in reply to Hidden]

Antifreeze? We couldn't drive here, for several months of the year, without it. As I, by choice, have nothing to do with car maintenance I've no idea about price, or whether it needs changing, or topping up, from time to time, like oil....

[Hidden in reply to HeronNS]

Apart from screen wash I have no more interest in car maintenance either. As long as it goes it's fine by me! Dirty hands and a painful back not my fave anymore!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

Has always been my job to make sure it was done - but I took it to a garage and told them what needed to be done!