Dear ever so young peoples
Take it from Granny, this is not unusual.
I was born in probably the worst winter of the 20th Century. The snow in London did not melt until the end of April and even on my birthday, VE Day, people were slipping and sliding.
In 1953 we had the perfect storm in the North Sea that inundated with tragic loss of life huge swathes of the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK east coast. Nothing has equalled it since.
In 1963 it was so cold for so long that not only did coastal waters freeze but ice remained on the streets in some places for over 100 days.
In 1967 (?) we had the worst avalanche in modern ENGLISH history, Scafell in the Lake District, and it was not winter months but 6 days before the beginning of May.
In 1976 the Manchester Evening News carried a front page entitled "Flaming June" with a picture of snow falling in St Peters square. A week later temperatures started to climb towards the longest and hottest heatwave in UK history.
Just to prove that I occasionally wear an anorak I was invited to an open day for a bus preservation society at Brooklands. It was the 8th April (2008?). It was cancelled due to heavy snowfall,
In 2011 Belgium was gripped by the coldest February since 1947. No relevance really except that it prevented my family coming to visit me when I was in intensive care in Antwerp.
This is not unusual. 2014 was exceptionally cold through to the beginning of May. We then had a stunning summer. Time to polish the BBQ.
