Just typed one up about snow tires and ""Whoof" gone into the wilderness??

Was just enquiring if people used snow tires in Northern Ireland,I have decided due to the outrageous fee they charge now for installing them not to bother and have disposed of mine, if the weather or roads are bad will just not drive. Where we live the local authorities are pretty good in keeping the highways clean and open. Mauri

Hi Mauri,

I just sold my snow tires, like yourself if the weather gets too bad we will stay indoors. I am not able to drive too far anyway. We have Fibe TV with Netflix and Crave TV so plenty of movies to watch and a lot of British Series both old and new....Why worry driving.

I only drive a few Kilometers yearly now so I use M&S Tyres which when ordering a new car I tell them I want them installed. They last out a few years. Before that I had winter and summer tyres (both on rims ) so I could change them myself
donald

Mauri, I don't know if large vehicles here use snow tyres. Maybe they do. We really don't get that much snow to warrant buying snow tyres. Having said that, isn't snow lovely to look at from a nice, warm house.

Beano, as you seem to be able to get old black & white films, why don't you watch Kitty Foyle, starring Ginger Rodgers. It's a film without dancing and I think Ginger received an Oscar for her performance. Lovely, bitter-sweet story. Your wife would love it. My mother's pin-up boy was in the film too - Denis Morgan.

Ann, I know you don't get a lot of snow in Ulster however I remember way back in January 1963 I was on the BP Tanker "British Osprey"and we had been trading between the Persian Gulf oil ports and ports in India and East Africa.

Then we were ordered to Rotterdam to discharge cargo and Belfast for refit. We arrived and anchored off Bangor in the late evening and sailed up to Belfast the next day.

When we were secured in Belfast the Custom Officers came aboard to do a routine search of the ship. They found drugs in the engine room so called for reinforcements to do a thorough search,in the meantime we were all dressed and ready to go ashore which we finally did after we were cleared.

My friend on the ship a Scotchman from the Outer Hebrides wanted to come with me to Lisburn so we got a taxi and up to Lisburn we went.

This was on a Thursday night so we headed for the "Corner House Pub" If I remember right the snow started on Saturday and kept snowing through Sunday when my buddy had to get to the Airport to get a flight to Glasgow. We took a cab and what a drive that was there and back, Billy Wills was the driver who I am sure most of you will remember. I wonder how many of you remember that winter of 62/63. Mauri

mauri beano,
sorry to hear of your driving difficulties. biggest problem here in oz is the sun in your eyes. good luck tom

Mauri, I remember the 1963 snowfall very well. My brother had to help me push the pram from my mother's house to my own that night because of the depth of snow. I also vaguely remember a deep snowfall when we lived in East Down View. I don't know what year it was but I know we left that house in 1948 so it must have been that year of earlier. I remember the pile of snow between our house and next door. I thought it was great climbing up what seemed to me like a mountain.

Hi Tom, Just lost a long one I was going to send you re the different climates between Australia and Canada. In this part of Canada
Southern Ontario, while in winter we get snow its really nothing to worry about as in the event of a heavy fall the snowploughs are out right away.

I do prefer a climate with cooler winters and nice summers to the stinking heat of the Australian summer,many a restless night I had in Aussie due to the humid hot temperatures no air conditioning back in those days. Not to mention the trapdoor spiders and snakes, I remember my Aunt on the farm taking the cover of her wash mangle and finding a black snake curled up,she screamed and grabbed a broom and chased it away. Lots of Fun. Mauri

mauri,
talking of humid nights and extreme heat is in darwin.for,afew summer months ,we don,t ,get it in melmourne so much or gold coast, normally very pleasant. re snakes, when i had my acres it was just a way of life you kept an eye out sort of,. never heard of anyone getting bitten by a snake, or spider where i lived i saw a few snakes off in my time we had snow in winter in mount donna buang 20 k away i used to take my two boys there to play in the snow,but it was a light dressing enough for a toboggan? ride good luck tom

Hi Tom, I know how hot it is in Darwin as I spent some time in and out of there when we were chasing Japaneese poachers who used to try and fish inside Australian territorial waters,we used to operate between there and Manus Island.

I guess on reflection I got my snakes mixed up it was a brown snake my Aunt chased off the mangle as I'm sure you know they are very common in South Australia.I think the black snake has another name and they are more common in Queensland especially among the sugar cane.

One time while in India on a BP tanker some of the guys bought a bunch of grass snakes of a trader who came on board in Calcutta,

One comedian put a couple under his cap while going on watch on the bridge, the Captain's wife who we called Mrs Captain was standing there so he lifted his cap to say good evening and of course the snakes dropped out and she screamed and took off fast. "Good Day Mate" Mauri

Hi all,



Our weather is unpredictable, as Bob hope once remarked while trying yo finish around oh golf in Ireland...... 4 seasons in one day.



Pat