Weather Redux

I managed a lovely walk in blazing sunshine along the sea wall, but the grass was so tall and so wet that I was soaked to the knees. Mostly only common birds, like Avocets and Marsh Harriers.

Chatted to the farmer and complimented him on his magnificent Hereford cattle grazing on the marsh, and met a couple of guys going fishing with a tent and a crate of beer. I don't think either of them was called Eddie.

I spent the afternoon at the Leyland Trucks family day thankfully as most of the attractions were outdoor the weather kept fine

Just one of the exhibits on show was the Leyland Thomas




The history behind this car: http://www.parry-thomas.co.uk/

Looks a great family day Graham ... and so important to have good weather too.

The grandchildren had a school summer fair last week, and after some very non summer like days, it turned out dry.
The organisers and everyone who went along were pleased as these events do raise additional funds for the school to spend

It was great to see 'People's Sunday' at Wimbledon yesterday, and if they were fortunate to get tickets for the Tsonga/Isner match they had one very special treat - Tsonga beats Isner 19-17 in the fifth set, what a match!

All the best Jan

Couple of pics of the kids from yesterday

The youngest Ethan trying out stilts


Rebecca and hula hooping

Fascinating stuff and some history I didn't know.

Thinking about it, most of the "Leylands" I drove weren't actually very Leyland - mostly distribution-sized trucks, the Clydesdale (16 tonnes) was basically an Albion with the 400 engine, six speed and hub reduction axles, and Boxers (12 - 14 tonnes) had the BMC/Nuffield 6/98 engine and Turner 5 speed. They were basic but had better cabs and much better handling than the Ford or Bedford equivalents. Scammell Crusader had a Rolls 280 engine and Fuller 9 speed, that was a real barnstormer in its day. Buffalos were quite powerful though noisy but had the ill fated 500 engine like early National buses, you could tell when a trailer had been behind a Buffalo from all the soot on the front corner. I went on plenty of Atlantean and National buses, the latter improved with the 680/TL11 engine, and a few Olympian coaches.

Here we had a do at the Big House in the next village but I didn't bother to go, I was battling the garden again. I heard this long before I saw it - towing a shepherd's caravan down the road on the way home. No worries about emissions in those days

graham64 wrote:Couple of pics of the kids from yesterday

The youngest Ethan trying out stilts

Rebecca and hula hooping

I see those kids take after you Graham. Good looking and not a gram of blubber.

chris c wrote: I went on plenty of Atlantean and National buses, the latter improved with the 680/TL11 engine, and a few Olympian coaches

.

I was involved in the build of a load of Atlantean chassis


And Olympians


Also Leopards, Tigers and Panthers

Eddie wrote:

graham64 wrote:Couple of pics of the kids from yesterday

The youngest Ethan trying out stilts

Rebecca and hula hooping

I see those kids take after you Graham. Good looking and not a gram of blubber.

Yes and the eldest Abigail is the same unfortunately I did not get a photo of her

graham64 wrote:

Eddie wrote:

graham64 wrote:Couple of pics of the kids from yesterday

The youngest Ethan trying out stilts

Rebecca and hula hooping

I see those kids take after you Graham. Good looking and not a gram of blubber.

Yes and the eldest Abigail is the same unfortunately I did not get a photo of her

Great pictures Graham, super to see your grand-kids having fun.  

Now could I still hoola hoop I wonder .... it's something I loved doing when younger ...

All the best Jan

Jan wrote:Great pictures Graham, super to see your grand-kids having fun.    

Now could I still hoola hoop I wonder .... it's something I loved doing when younger ...

All the best Jan

Yes they had a great day we were there for three and a half hours and they were on the go all the time

Another great picture Graham ... lovely to see, and I bet he scored a goal

We had the most glorious evening yesterday, the sunshine was 'dappling' through the trees and causing the light to do a dance in our living room.
Speaking to my dear Dad later that evening I relayed the fact, and he said "I know just what you mean" it's been like that here".
This summer we don't seem to have had too many days like that, so hopefully we may get some more.

All the best Jan

Jan wrote:Another great picture Graham ... lovely to see, and I bet he scored a goal

Actually it was an open goal no keeper the speed of the shots were being timed he managed 39.7 mph not bad for his age, the eldest hit 40.6 mph but she plays regularly for a team in a league

Some of my friends have amazing kids (and grandkids), gives me some hope for the future.

Where I was born and brought up all the buses were AEC, RTs and Regals. Oop north they were mostly Bristols with Gardner engines, and in Bristol and Bath the Lodekkas were Gardners but the REs mostly Leyland engines. When I was very young and we went to Margate the buses were mostly Leylands and Guy Arabs, I remember going on one of the latter, over the hills to Ramsgate, with the singing David Brown gearbox. Somehow technology in those days was much more individual than today.

Well I've chopped down my elder tree and fed that and a whole bunch of nettles and other giant weeds through the shredder. Tomorrow I'll probably have to take the hose to the runner beans and a few other things. I think this is the longest I've ever been without having to water the garden.

chris c wrote:Some of my friends have amazing kids (and grandkids), gives me some hope for the future.

Where I was born and brought up all the buses were AEC, RTs and Regals. Oop north they were mostly Bristols with Gardner engines, and in Bristol and Bath the Lodekkas were Gardners but the REs mostly Leyland engines. When I was very young and we went to Margate the buses were mostly Leylands and Guy Arabs, I remember going on one of the latter, over the hills to Ramsgate, with the singing David Brown gearbox. Somehow technology in those days was much more individual than today.

Well I've chopped down my elder tree and fed that and a whole bunch of nettles and other giant weeds through the shredder. Tomorrow I'll probably have to take the hose to the runner beans and a few other things. I think this is the longest I've ever been without having to water the garden.

Hang on a bit Oop north in my neck of the woods the buses were mainly Atlanteans, one abiding memory I have is of the bare chassis with a makeshift open to the elements drivers seat going out on test drives. They were also delivered to the body builders this way

Heh, that takes me back, we used to see the Bristol chassis just like that, and on rainy days the drivers wrapped in clingfilm, heading out up the M4 to ECW in Lowestoft or up the M5/M6 to wherever Plaxtons were in those days.

Oh yes, Tyneside PTE and Teesside both ran Atlanteans. Surrey went over to Daimler Fleetlines, like an Atlantean with a Gardner engine. The air suspension made some passengers seasick.

Health And Safety would have a field day! They succeeded in closing down several local farm machinery work-ins. One reason these also went out of production



Yet they still permit low fat diets which have done more harm to more people than all the industrial accidents put together.

chris c wrote:Heh, that takes me back, we used to see the Bristol chassis just like that, and on rainy days the drivers wrapped in clingfilm, heading out up the M4 to ECW in Lowestoft or up the M5/M6 to wherever Plaxtons were in those days.

Oh yes, Tyneside PTE and Teesside both ran Atlanteans. Surrey went over to Daimler Fleetlines, like an Atlantean with a Gardner engine. The air suspension made some passengers seasick.

Health And Safety would have a field day! They succeeded in closing down several local farm machinery work-ins. One reason these also went out of production



Yet they still permit low fat diets which have done more harm to more people than all the industrial accidents put together.

The atlantean delivery driver in the picture was wearing a crash helmet, this was not the case in the early sixtes when flying helmets and goggles were the norm

One thing I did not realise was that several drivers died of exposure

With the introduction of rear-engined bus chassis, the bare chassis without body became almost un-drivable (I know - I used to test them before delivery).
After several drivers died through exposure (driving over Shap in driving snow was no fun) there was universal agreement that henceforth they would be carried on transporters rather than be driven to the bodybuilders.

http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/477587-really-really-boring-totally-pointless-snippets-information-thread-mkxix-424.html

... back to weather, today has been warm, windy and cloudy.
Watched the Ladies Wimbledon finals and saw Serena Williams win

Of course Andy Murray plays tomorrow, but it is also the British Grand Prix

Anyway - for all who may need to know about the weather apparently we have a 'Spanish plume' approaching ...

'Spanish plume' to bring 30C heatwave to Britain?

Reports suggest summer will finally arrive at the end of July

The great summer slump is reportedly set to lift next - as forecaster suggest we could be in for a heatwave that could potentially last for six weeks.

Reports suggest a Spanish plume will push warm air over Britain, with temperatures reaching 30C by the middle of July, with the hot weather set to last until the end of August - great news for the school holidays.

This warm air - which is being pulled up from Africa and the Continent and pushed towards northwest Europe - could also bring thunderstorms, too, however.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Piers Corbyn, forecaster for WeatherAction, said: "From Wednesday onwards we are now looking at a period of very warm and at times hot and dry weather with the possibility of heatwave conditions building.

"High pressure is building over northern England with winds coming from a southeasterly direction.

"This will allow for major Spanish pluming with African air heading into Spain, France and Britain."

James Madden, from Exacta Weather, told the Express that he agrees the end of July could be a "scorcher". He said: "An evolving pattern of widespread settled weather and very warm to hot conditions will pave the way for the perfect start to the school summer holidays for many parts of the country during the second half of this month.

"This will then pave the way for what is likely to be a pleasant and potentially scorching July period, in particular, during the second half of the month when it's likely to become very hot at times across many parts of the country."

The news is certainly music to our ears after it was recently revealed that June was one of the wettest and dullest starts to summer since records began, according to the Met Office.

Despite the temperature being above average for the first month of summer, there were just 138 hours of sun - making it the seventh dullest June since 1929.

It was also the wettest start to summer since 2012, with an average 101.8mm of rain falling across Britain - 39% more than usual.

Data from the Met Office confirmed it was the 11th wettest June since records began in 1910.

So, time to get that staycation booked:"

Story from here:
http://travel.aol.co.uk/2016/07/09/uk-weather-spanish-plume-six-week-heatwave-britain/?cps=gravity_7587_4107375951239981928

It would be nice if the school holidays provided a good few days/weeks of dry sunny weather ...

Wait and see

All the best Jan

"One thing I did not realise was that several drivers died of exposure "


Those bodyless chassis were FAST! I guess the airflow alone would have done a job at reducing temperature even without Shap or a snowstorm. Probably the drivers failed to eat their Belvitas.


Well it rained just enough that I didn't bother with the hose yet, the damn lawn has growed another few inches. In fact the only watering I did this year was with the can when I put some new plants in. Looks like that's about to change then.


There's a lot of very healthy silage been cut so far, I haven't seen any combines out yet but it's only a matter of days for the barley. Some of the rape crops look massive, less so for the wheat, so expect a big push for "vegetable" oils and margarines.

chris c wrote:Those bodyless chassis were FAST! I guess the airflow alone would have done a job at reducing temperature even without Shap or a snowstorm. Probably the drivers failed to eat their Belvitas.

It's only when I was searching for more photographs of the delivery drivers I found out about the deaths, I recall seeing them as I was turning up for work setting off in the middle of winter clad in many layers of clothing

Not much chance of them getting Belvitas in the sixties the labs hadn't started producing much in the way of frankenfoods then

Jan1 wrote:... back to weather, today has been warm, windy and cloudy.
Watched the Ladies Wimbledon finals and saw Serena Williams win

Of course Andy Murray plays tomorrow, but it is also the British Grand Prix

Anyway - for all who may need to know about the weather apparently we have a 'Spanish plume' approaching ...

'Spanish plume' to bring 30C heatwave to Britain?

Reports suggest summer will finally arrive at the end of July

The great summer slump is reportedly set to lift next - as forecaster suggest we could be in for a heatwave that could potentially last for six weeks.

Reports suggest a Spanish plume will push warm air over Britain, with temperatures reaching 30C by the middle of July, with the hot weather set to last until the end of August - great news for the school holidays.

This warm air - which is being pulled up from Africa and the Continent and pushed towards northwest Europe - could also bring thunderstorms, too, however.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Piers Corbyn, forecaster for WeatherAction, said: "From Wednesday onwards we are now looking at a period of very warm and at times hot and dry weather with the possibility of heatwave conditions building.

"High pressure is building over northern England with winds coming from a southeasterly direction.

"This will allow for major Spanish pluming with African air heading into Spain, France and Britain."

James Madden, from Exacta Weather, told the Express that he agrees the end of July could be a "scorcher". He said: "An evolving pattern of widespread settled weather and very warm to hot conditions will pave the way for the perfect start to the school summer holidays for many parts of the country during the second half of this month.

"This will then pave the way for what is likely to be a pleasant and potentially scorching July period, in particular, during the second half of the month when it's likely to become very hot at times across many parts of the country."

The news is certainly music to our ears after it was recently revealed that June was one of the wettest and dullest starts to summer since records began, according to the Met Office.

Despite the temperature being above average for the first month of summer, there were just 138 hours of sun - making it the seventh dullest June since 1929.

It was also the wettest start to summer since 2012, with an average 101.8mm of rain falling across Britain - 39% more than usual.

Data from the Met Office confirmed it was the 11th wettest June since records began in 1910.

So, time to get that staycation booked:"

Story from here:
http://travel.aol.co.uk/2016/07/09/uk-weather-spanish-plume-six-week-heatwave-britain/?cps=gravity_7587_4107375951239981928

It would be nice if the school holidays provided a good few days/weeks of dry sunny weather ...

Wait and see

All the best Jan

Hope your right about the weather Jan , the school holidays are looming hate for the kids to be stuck indoors

I always hope that the weather is dry, sunny and warm for the school summer holidays.

It's great to get out and about when the weather is dry, and warm.

In years past I can remember the week or two before the holidays would be wonderful and come the first day of the holiday it would be pouring down ... our great British weather certainly keeps on on our toes ... and we love talking about it too!

Just make sure that sun-cream, plus umbrella and wellies are to hand

At the moment it is grey and breezy ...

Off for a late morning cuppa



All the best Jan

Jan1 wrote:I always hope that the weather is dry, sunny and warm for the school summer holidays.

It's great to get out and about when the weather is dry, and warm.

In years past I can remember the week or two before the holidays would be wonderful and come the first day of the holiday it would be pouring down ... our great British weather certainly keeps on on our toes ... and we love talking about it too!

Just make sure that sun-cream, plus umbrella and wellies are to hand

At the moment it is grey and breezy ...

Off for a late morning cuppa



All the best Jan

I'm also hoping for some decent weather over the school holidays need to get the kids out in the fresh air not much fun being stuck indoors

Today has been a wet and miserable day and cool with it, on Sunday the forecasters were saying some warm weather is on the way towards the end of the week but that has changed with the latest forecast

We had some drizzle yesterday, just enough to dissuade me from getting the hose out, and a bit more rain today, with thunder in the distance. It's probably just memory but I seem to remember far more sunny days in my childhood, though I do remember some harsh winters. There were February days when the sky was blue and the sun shone and bees were all over the crocuses, while Britannias and Viscounts and Comets flew overhead leaving vapour trails. Then there were sunny days at the beach and on the moors in the New Forest when all the heather was in flower.

This year in particular the weather seems to have changed every few days, sometimes it has changed several times a day.

I suspect if the promised heat wave hits it will be the typical three hot days and a thunderstorm.

Yes I recall long hot summers in my school holidays many moons ago, we had a more snow in winter and lots of cold sunny days. I also remember my dad putting a paraffin heater under the car sump also one inside the car too

Looking back I think perhaps the weather went through more settled phases ...

I certainly remember cold winters, sometimes with snow and my dad putting a paraffin heater under/near the car during those cold months.

Summer holidays were spent blissfully playing in the garden or park with friends, often with a picnic.
Our mums would very often be with us sitting on the park bench chatting whilst us kids played rounders, flew kites sometimes I seem to recall too ...

But back in the 50's / 60's not many mums were out at work ... way of life or the needs of life have also altered ...


Today the heavens opened and I was certainly  pleased to have a hood on my jacket ...

I can't believe that only on Saturday I wrote ' 'Spanish plume' to bring 30C heatwave to Britain?' - see post a little above

All the best Jan