Jan 87 was probably the best in Kent over the past century and widely in the SE both fir exceptional low maxima such as 12 Jan and depth of snow
Originally Posted by: sunny coast
And very few people in the whole of the SE would have enjoyed it as much as I did... I was 7 at the time, had a week off school, bread and milk delivered by helicopter, cut off with huge drifts and when the road was finally opened the drifts either side towered over the school bus. And considering the bus was one of these, it shows how high they were:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaxton_Supreme#/media/File:Hedingham_Omnibuses_coach_L105_Leyland_Leopard_Plaxton_BEV_105X.jpg Of course there was no power for a week either, but hey-ho. We at least had a gas oven (my mum was busy cooking things for our neighbours) and we bought the greenhouse paraffin heater into the living room to keep us warm. Thankfully it was a year before I really got into computing, so I didn't miss anything. Indeed, I enjoyed the long walks in the snow, the snowball fights, the icicles everywhere, playing board games and reading quietly indoors and, a rare treat indeed, listening to the radio, powered with something like 8 "D" batteries. They didn't last for very long though!
In retrospect living where I do, a half mile inland from the North Sea, in Kent, and being 7 years old was absolutely perfect. The only downside is, having experienced it, nothing will ever come close - "you can never go home", as they say, even though I still live in the same house. Anyone who's under 42 or so won't know what they missed, but of course you can't miss what you've never experienced.
Being a kid in the 80s was heaven. If only I knew what I know now, I'd have made even more of an effort to appreciate it! (My old gran, who said to enjoy it as some years it doesn't even snow at all, was of course spot on. She died in 1990, having never had to endure our modern climate.)
Bonus picture - the main roundabout at the other end of Sheppey (i.e. less snow than here, as it was a few miles inland). That sign that's mostly covered says "Leysdown B2231" - and they were several feet off the ground, of course!
https://ukwct.org.uk/weather/1987.jpg
Edited by user
24 June 2024 13:08:37
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