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Been a pleasure to be out and about today, blue skies, sunshine , and a sharp frost to start, 100% improvement on the Atlantic driven s....te that we've had to endure since October. A winter of this would do me just fine.

A week or so of High Pressure, and dry weather will do me just fine, if it's cold I can work and put on an extra layer, if it's chucking it down I can do diddly squat.

I've been around for 60 winters, and within all of those , there have been about half a dozen or so that could described as being cold and snowy.. That must tell people something. The early/mid 70's were very snow less, in Somerset.

Fair point, the weather do as it sees fit, I think that if you have had first hand experience of extreme conditions , then ,as in a lot of other things in life, you know what it is that you are letting yourself in for. My lads for example are in their 30's but with the exception of 2010 , (which lasted for just under a month )have never experienced snow and cold lasting for weeks on end. The other thing is back in 62/3 78/9 most homes were still using coal fires, albeit in just the living room as a rule, these days , most rely on central heating, no power = no heat .

Quite agree Knocker, I think if you've had first hand experience of such conditions ,you tend to look at things completely differently ,as opposed to someone who has merely read of such things. Working outside on and off for 44 years has certainly given me a definite opinion of the merits, or otherwise of such weather.

There's a big difference between having a day or two off work/school and having a bit of fun ,and having freezing cold /snow preventing you from working and paying your mortgage and bills. Not everyone continues to be paid if they can't turn up for work. add to that the elderly not being able to afford to heat their homes,the homeless freezing to death on the streets and the whole thing takes on a different perspective. My Dad worked through the winter of 62/63 clearing snow by hand for the local authority, and developed pneumonia for his trouble. Don't get me wrong I like a bit of cold/snow as much as the next person , but sometimes a bit of common sense is needed on here.

Watched the Country File forecast, I could have condensed it into five words, " It's going to be S...te "

That's me finished work wise for Christmas thank God. Since the end of September , it's been a =====ing nightmare trying to get anything done and earn a living. A decent dry spell after Christmas would be great, don't care if it's mild or cold , just want it bl'''dy dry.

Roll on some cold, dry sunny weather, how anyone could prefer this soul destroying bucket of sh...te is totally beyond me ,no matter how poxy warm it is. .That's it rant over

Totally sick to death of this incessant rain, I thought at one point that we were possibly in for a dry week ahead , but no, once again sh..te from the Atlantic rears it's ugly head from about midweek onwards.

Try working in it, you end up sweating your cods off. Funnily enough wind driven rain doesn't do mortar joints a lot of good either.

Could do with seeing an end to this crap rain now, need to get some work done. Got bl..dy soaking wet three times last week.

A bit of divine intervention works every time Ed

Will probably take a day or two off work ,the roads around here are a bloody nightmare when Eavis holds his knees up.

If this crapfest is supposed to be Summer , then they can poke it.

Oh goody, wet and windy crud to try and work in, oh well,at least I'll be warm when I'm soaking wet through and hardly earning a bean

Agree 100 % working outside today made a really nice change, don't get me wrong I like a good cold spell as much as anyone else, but even I am looking forward to some warm and dry days now. I think it makes a big difference to your point of view if you depend on settled weather ,to earn your living..

The way this winter has panned out, I reckon Mission Impossible would be more apt

Ably led by their High Priest Darren Bett

The Met O can call it what it likes, 21st of March in my book.

We had a good 6 or 7 inches here yesterday, I reckon most of it will be gone by Monday ish. From a selfish point of view even though I've enjoyed it , I really need to get back to work now and earn a few bob. This weather aint a lot of good if you are in the Building trade.

You never know Catacol, Feb 18th 1978 produced an awesome blizzard in our neck of the woods, can't recall it being particularly cold prior to it. Living in Axbridge at the time, and we were buried.

Quite agree , it's only the weather for Gods sake, get some more years on your clock you soon realise that there are a lot more things in life to get upset/stress about apart from a bit of frozen rain falling from the sky. Nice to see it if it comes, but get it into perspective.

Do me a favour, If every 8 day chart had verified this winter ,I would have been buried in snow,and freezing my nuts off weeks ago.I know next to nothing about interpreting charts,but even I have sussed out that at that range, especially this winter you might as well put some seaweed outside of your back door.and get the same degree of accuracy.

Just to put into perspective what a crap place the UK is for cold and snow, I turn 59 in March, and during those 59 years I have lived through 5 or so winters that could be called classics. 62/3 78/9 81/2 86/7 2010. Quite a few more have had snowy spells but mixed in with mediocre dross..