ARCTIC CONDITIONS

[hakunamatata]

Is there anyone there or are you all stuck in this horrendous snow drift! We havent seen snow like this for years, even when we lived in the UK. Just when we thought Spring was on the doorstep.

[NickP]

[quote user="hakunamatata"]Is there anyone there or are you all stuck in this horrendous snow drift! We havent seen snow like this for years, even when we lived in the UK. Just when we thought Spring was on the doorstep.[/quote]

No snow here in Loir et Cher(41), beautiful sunshine; daffodils are nearly open crocuses are showing, but bitterly cold wind

[pachapapa]

Planted 100 crocuses around the plum tree; to date FOUR have cautiously advised their presence.[:D]

There is a 50 kph wind from the east with sunshine but it is cold cold cold!

Piers says March will be nasty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSD5bMqCoE

[Chrissie]

Down on the plain in Mazamet (Tarn) we have about 20cm.....As long as the elec stays on, it's like a holiday!

Chrissie (81)

[Swissie]

Friends left us this morning to return to Gignac- let's hope they get back safely.

PS - just phoned to say they got home OK> Pheeeeeeew

[NormanH]

About an inch on the car roofs  this morning, but all melted by midday.

[Quillan]

Well Carcassonne, Perpignan airports are closed as is Girona in Spain. The D117 between Carcassonne and Perpignan can only be accessed by cars with chains or so says the Gendarmes. That's the bit from Quillan through the Gorge then up and over although the Gorge is actually clear but they are worried about avalanche, not for the damage but it can scare people and cause accidents.

The snow in my garden is up to my knees and I am not vertically challenged by the way (5'11"). All I can see of Max (my dog) is his head as he ploughs his way round the garden and the chickens now have heating and have not left their perches all day.

Forecast for us is not much above freezing for the next few days till Thursday when we are supposed to be in for another 3 days of snow. I wonder if my guests will turn up tomorrow and what they will do for the next 3 days if they actually get here.

As for my car, well its out there somewhere but I can't see it.

[hakunamatata]

We had crocus and anenomes (sorry about spelling) but they have all said "sod it" and gone underground!

[hakunamatata]

Quillan, we are just about to get some chickens, what form of heating do you give them in these conditions?

[Quillan]

We don't have fancy chickens just the plain old red/brown ones. We use a cheap oil filled radiator we bought from Mr Bricolage. I have set it to the 'frost' position so it will heat to a couple of degrees above freezing. In the past the chickens have been OK down to -15 but a couple are getting old now (5 years) and are starting to feel the cold. Its the first winter we have done this. Our chickens have the whole garden (7,000m2) to run round in so in the hen house we put loads and loads of straw down on the floor and in the laying box's. The older ones sleep in the box's and the younger ones on the perch.

You will enjoy your chickens if you are a softy. They follow us round the garden, come when called and sit on our laps in the evenings when we are down by the river with a bottle of wine. Our 'old ladies' are not scared of anything, they regularly attack our dog to steal his bone and the cats are very careful with them, usually giving them a very wide berth. They actually make excellent pets as well as producing brilliant eggs.

[Quillan]

Train stranded for 18 hours in snow March 09, 2010   More than a hundred passengers have spent the night stranded on a broken-down sleeper train in the Pyrénées-Orientales after it hit 40cm of snow near the Spanish border yesterday afternoon. The train, linking Barcelona to Paris, came to a halt in the border town of Cerbère at about 14.00 and is still stuck there 18 hours later, with 110 passengers on board. The train cannot be reached by emergency services because the roads are blocked. The local préfecture has requisitioned a local convenience store to supply passengers with food and drink and the SNCF has worked overnight to keep the train heated using an emergency generator after the area lost power yesterday evening. There are no trains running today between Narbonne and Perpignan because of yesterday's burst of heavy snow, which hit 10 departments in the south of France from the Pyrenees along the Languedoc coast to the Vaucluse. Some 600 lorries and hundreds of cars were stuck on the A9 motorway and local councils opened emergency shelters for stranded travellers. School is cancelled today in the Pyrénées-Orientales because of the icy roads. Today it is the turn of Corsica to get snow and winds of up to 110kph. Météo France has issued a weather warning for the island until 6.00 tomorrow morning.

[Mpprh]

We had about 15cm snow last Monday.

We don't make a fuss - we moved here from Sweden !

Peter

[valB]

No snow here in dept 79 but still very cold.  Yesterday there was this strange yellow thing in the sky but it has gone again today...wonder what it was as it felt a bit warmer while it was there.  [:D]

[pachapapa]

That timid Mr Sun will show his face in 79 on lundi,mardi,mercredi,jeudi.[:)]

[Gardengirl]

And in 30, I read he'll be visiting on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, when we arrive back; then he's apparently going to get a touch of shyness and let that more boisterous Mr Rain come out to play!  [:(]

[valB]

Yippee, a few days of Mr Sun next week. We went out for a meal this evening and oh my gosh it was so Bl***y cold, the wind was bitter. It makes going out a misery. Roll on Spring and Summer then we will be complaining  it is too hot but at least my bones don't ache in the heat.

[Judith]

[quote user="gardengirl "]And in 30, I read he'll be visiting on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, when we arrive back; then he's apparently going to get a touch of shyness and let that more boisterous Mr Rain come out to play!  [:(][/quote]

Yes, we had sun today, but the wind ..... b***y freezing - when will it warm up, I ask!