frogesque

12C, blowing a gale and battering down with rain (it's about as technical as I get!)

Unless you are into competitions (and even village hall comps are intense!) then I would stick to things that you will actually use. Leeks are always reliable and great for soup, toms are a longtime favourite but need a lot of care and you'll probably end up giving half of them away, you can't beat new spuds straight out the ground and cooked within the hour and if you've ever tasted strawberries on a warm summer's day right from the plant then you'll never want to buy another strawberry again. Mmmm ... delicious. If you like 'em, raddishes are also quick to grow and all you need is a shallow drill, thin 'em out then plant another drill for a sucession throughout the salad season. Repeat for as long as you desire. Fresh herbs are also much prized by anyone who does the cooking so tyme, rosemary, parsley, dill and chive will aways be uefull. Bay can also be kept outside during summer but provide protection and shelter from cold winds in winter. For the rest it's hardly worth the effort and I would delay planting 'till the garden soil temperature reaches 7C, even if you are sowing in a cool house or frame. By the time your seedlings are ready to go out the ground should then be nicely warm and they will soon catch up with earlier sowings which are likely to either wilt, bolt or damp off. Seed packets tend to be orientated toward the SE of the country and for the likes of Scotland you can add 4-6weeks to the recommended sowing times, Cornwall you can probably get away with planting earlier than it says on the packet so it does depend on your area. When harvesting, sprouts and root veg like parsnips or neeps they always taste better after they've a hard frost or two in the autumn.

Thanks Beverley Lass Super photos and a great memory as well as your moment of fame. Sadly I didn't have a camera then (didn't have two hap'nys either but that's a different story ) so thanks for sharing them here. You will get the occasional aurora visible from Yorkshire so keep a watch in the Space Science and Nature sticky header for any alerts and look for a dark sky location near you with a good view to the north with no light pollution. They can be fickle but they do happen. NCs on the other hand - well at least I can say I've seen them once!

16th. February, 1996 It was a Friday and I'd had hard day at work and just wanted to get home. Stepping outside into the freezing cold February air I stopped dead in my tracks as I looked at the slowly waving opalescence of nacreous clouds visible high to the north and east. I then sat in the car-park for an hour or so 'till well after sunset, mesmerised by this beautifull and rare phenomena unable to tear myself away. They were widely seen over Scotland and the North of England so does anyone else have memories of this or other events. Edit: Nacreaous clouds were also seen on 30th November 1999 but somehow I missed them (I would have been in Nothern Ireland at the time)

Well, while you safties were tucked up cosy during the winter of 62/3 I was a 15 year old kid doing my paper round. :lol: I lived in Guildford, Surrey at the time and there was so much snow that I couldn't ride the bike round the steets so everything was done on foot. Snow over the welly tops, icy cold, then back to the shop to do a second round for holiday cover. It was the Sunday after Christmas (30th) and I got some great tips from both rounds! Arrived back home about midday, 5 hours after I started and absolutely frozen. I think it was later that winter in Feb/March 63 we also had freezing rain while I was out on the round, 1/2" of wet ice covered everything and extemely treacherous even trying to walk.

A92 New Inn Roundabout, Nightime Fog 4th January 2006 Taken from East Lomond Hill, 75mm, f4, 4sec exposure

Just a little light snow on the hills this morning above about 250m asl visible on the way to work.

What can I say? I was born in 1947 but I arrived with the summer heatwave. Mum had to struggle through that winter while pregnant, little or no fuel, Dad still in Germany and strict rationing. Times were really tough, many folk had housing damaged or destroyed by the blitz and that winter was a really cruel blow for them.

If that's a walk I'd hate to think what a climb might be Superb way to clear the head of any hangover and smashing pics too. Is that one of the Munroes?

OK, just to kick it off, these were taken on 1st January 2006 at Kincraig Point overlooking the Firth of Forth.

If you're still stuck there's always evil-bay link. As always though - do your own homework, caveat emptor rules!

Love the pics! Fond memories of N. Ireland and the fireworks on Haloween I was clouded out for 31st here, we did have a minor display on the 12th September which just managed to produce a few miserable green smudges

First off I would check your household insurance policy, a pole or aeriel mounted on the chimney stack may be a get-out clause if not properly installed because they may claim you attracted the strike. You may also have public liability in the event of wind damage or other catastrophy. Earthing for lightning is quite a complicated subject. A full hit can vaporise wood, metal, brick and concrete if it happens to be part of the shortest path to an electrical ground. An industrial chimney stack near here lost 3 foot of brickwork a few years ago due to lightning and the top had to be rebuilt - and that had lightning conductors! The duration of a bolt is fairly short but votage and current are huge. It's not just enough to provide a wire (normally several heavy copper straps to different parts of the building) but they have to be connected to electrically conducting ground for the energy to disipate. All joints must be electrically sound too. Lightning conductors attract lightning (TS watchers note!) but are designed to take a strike rather than it going through other unprotected parts of the buiding. Although it refers to a boat, the catamaran Lady Bounty there's quite a good article about lightning here

This was soooo... difficult. In the end I had to ask the question, "Which photo could I look at for a whole month on a calander? There are three do it for me: No. 4 by kar999 - a delicious photo that would look good on a jigsaw, chocolate box or calander No. 5 by Hemlock - a superb clean seascape with all its power and drama. Framed and on a wall in any hallway. But sadly there has to be a winner so my vote goes to .... ... No. 7 By Essan - Not only a fantastic picture with the mist, river and frost on the yarrow, it just says NOVEMBER and is so appropriate for the month. Note: Edit was for typos only.

West Lomond 28th. December 2005

Not all of December was snowy (although it's probably what it'll be remembered for!) Light Pillar 14 December 2005 Iridescent Cloud 14 December 2005 Dawn 15 December 2005

7.30am: Was snowing here, fairly wet but still lying, total accumulation 6cm level, fresh overnight snow 3cm , 7.30am. temp. -1C 12.00noon Snow turned to heavy rain, now just a light drizzle. Temp 0.5C. Visibility improving and air temp feels colder. Thaw is slowing down - possibly about ready to freeze again.

Snowing here, fairly wet but still lying, total accumulation 6cm level, overnight fresh snow 3cm , current temp. -1C

2005 has been very quiet for UK aurora watchers, nothing much really since last Jan However, for anyone wanting to know what it's all about or for us fanatics suffering withdrawal symptoms there's a fantastic work in progress gallery been created by spaceweather.com covering the last 5 years Aurora Galleries I promise - you will need a whole box of tissues to wipe up the drool

Chrystal Flowers

Winter Shadows

Level 3cm snow overnight. Beautiful crisp sunny morning

Kp has been up to 5 for the last few hours (high solar wind speed) but apears to be dropping back now. Broken cloud with some snow showers so I don't think I'll bother driving out.

Graupel, 27th December 2005

Just looked out the front door, strong NE wind and the first few flakes are starting to fall. 'And there shall be much rejoicing and lampost watching throughout the land'