Well, so, it’s been cold the past phew days has it not? Us old folk would call it a cold snap but caught a bit being broadcast into my brain via the televisual mind bending implement last evening that explained{?} a lot.
Seems we’re in the grip of a wind drought and guess wot? It’s all to do with something I thought had been shelved in favour of more frightening, cover all terms. Yup, it’s all down to global warming and – here’s a new one to scare the kids – global stilling is coming and it’s our fault of course...
“It's called global stilling. And it's caused by the rapid warming of the Arctic, which is narrowing the temperature difference with the tropics, a gap that drives wind.”
So it’s global warming wot’s giving us this prolonged period of freezing conditions. Do ‘they’ ever listen to themselves?
Anyhoo, if only it’d been know, back in the day, that man could cause wind droughts it’d have been a very useful skill to have had when faced with big winds would it not?
Let’s give all that no never mind and have a bit of a Christmas smile. Stay warm y’all.
Quote; Billy Connolly.
“There’s no such thing as bad weather – only the wrong clothes.”
6 comments:
If I receive a comment concerning how cold it is, my current response is "Thank God for global warming eh.Think how cold we would be without it."
So far my postman has laughed the hardest.
Rick.
Rick,
Great minds... Yes, I use that on occasion. Also, "This golbal warming's a bit of a bug**r is it not?"
Mac,
I have no idea whether its a cold snap, global cooling, climate change. Call it what you want but its made me regret coming out of hiding back into work. Today, in Birmingham on site for 7.30am, installing LPG tanks and associated pipework - temperature -6. By lunch time it had shot up to -2 then fell again, settling at -4. By the time we left the site at 5pm I could no longer function, was into the shivering stage and had lost all feeling in hands and feet. Even lunch has been eaten outside in the van and I can't describe how much below freezing those pipes containing LPG are.
I've been there all week and will be there tomorrow to finish off. Tuesday was bad also, on the way home the motorway was gridlocked and the dual carriageway near home was closed due to an accident - but the funny thing is, it only gets closed after we get stuck in the traffic. I was eating my tea at 9pm, still in work clothes including site jacket and woolly hat while the house warmed up.
Good call on the Steeleye Span, one of my favourites. Mr. Higham has also posted my favourite Christmas carol by the same band. The power in Maddy prior's voice is amazing.
Ripper,
I’ve worked inside the Arctic circle. Not a whole hell of a lot of fun... Offshore Norway in winter could be a tad chilly as well just donned in coveralls and a hard hat. Young, no big problem. Now? Not a chance.
And I’m betting the kicker of that day was not being able to get home in goodly time to clean up, warm up and eat up.
Span? Love ‘em and it’s surprising that Hard Times Of Old England isn’t played before and after every TV and radio ‘news’ session is it not?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoWEiq_Z0aw
Mac,
Yes, I know - what you had to put up with makes me look like a whinging wimp, but still, it just boils down to what you're used to. Me - I did think at one time about working on the rigs but never dared to apply because I can't swim. We spoke about this before if I remember correctly. Which reminds me, you spoke of the welders being allowed only a few rods at a time. I should have been able to tell you why at the time but the thought never entered my head. The guy I'm helping out was a welder on the rigs and I did mention to him what you said. The reason, according to him is that some welds require the use of pre-heated rods, and if you're on one of those jobs, you are only allowed a certain number of rods from the oven in the quiver at any time, and you are time limited to use them. I have done those types of jobs on mining equipment, so that makes perfect sense to me. When I welded the ring feet (the rings are the tunnel supports that prevent cave-ins, which have hydraulic feet), each foot weighed 4 tons and the weld preps had to be pre-heated to 200*C before welding. The welds were 45mm multi-run, consisting of 29 6mm weld runs. Once the weld was started you were not allowed to stop until the end of the weld. If you had a stop/start in the middle of the weld, this would be picked up on the ultrasound inspection and the whole foot was scrap. So, it was a case of scratch any itches, sneeze or adjust your balls before starting to weld.
Anyway, that's what I'm used to - working in a factory - on the inside that is. If you had a go at my job you probably wouldn't be able to stand the heat just as I could not cope with the cold in your job. In fact, I think your people would laugh at me - last night Scotland had -14, whilst we down here had to make do with a measly -9.
Yes I always enjoy a bit of Steeleye and offer you in exchange Patty Gurdy, a German lass who you really should hear playing a hurdy gurdy. She has a fine voice too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCX14PMYjHM
Ripper,
I remember the conversation. Not being able to swim is a great mind concentrator in certain circumstances.
Have you ever had a glance over left at Eye Spy The Past for a chuckle - hopefully - at my alternative ‘company’ news letter...
The rod limit I typed of was a welder I worked with that had worked on the construction of a nuclear power plant way back in the day. Day one and the first bit o’ kit he was issued was a bicycle. This was for quick travel between the warehouse where rods were issued in x number, owing to heat, and getting to the allotted work site.
At the end of the total build every millimetre of every weld was fully documented from rod number, name of issuing guy, name of welder, precise location of bead, time and date each rod was burned into the bead and the supervisor and final weld inspectors names.
Off topic; remember us mourning the passing of video building in Microsoft Photo? I did a tad of searching the other day and it seems that after a recent Billy 11 update, try this; open Photo, click on the settings cog, page down and you should find a link to install Photo Legacy. Not yet tried. Is it legit? Should be but who knows? Can super hackers change and redirect from inside Microsoft’s own software menus? More research needed...
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