LadyPakal

Temp dropped from 11 to 8 pretty suddenly with a hail shower, dewpoint dropped too. Gone from a windchill of 11 this morning to one of 3 currently. The colder stuff is coming... and I cann see a pretty rainbow out of my window.

Ah, but the DP here was lower earlier.... all through the day it has risen with every shower going over and then dropped again.

It's rain - correction sleet - here in Aberdeen (and inland looking at the traffic cams). DP is at 1 here, temp 2.5. Sorry, just realised you nean NE England....

I'd like to go for a 5.8 please! :blush:

Range of 20.9 in Aboyne yesterday according to the Met website - min of -4.9, max of 16. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/gr/...st_weather.html (see the 24 hours ending section at the bottom)

What I find quite interesting about those numbers is that 4 of the top 5 warmest Januaries were pre 1917. *goes off to look at the other winter months for those years*

The temp averages for Aberdeen are as follows: Max : 6.7 Min : 0.5 Ave : 3.7 Days zero or below : 14 Coldest January since 2001 (which was 2.7). I only have records since 2001 unfortunately so can't tell you how far from average that it was. I can tell you what the last 8 years Jan averages were tho'- 2001 : 2.7 2002 : 4.4 2003 : 4.1 2004 : 3.9 2005 : 5.3 2006 : 4.3 2007 : 4.7 2008 : 3.7 Amazing North/South difference this month.

Top 10 warmest January CETS: 1916 7.5 1796 7.3 1921 7.3 1834 7.1 2007 7 1733 6.9 1975 6.8 1983 6.7 1898 6.6 1686 6.5

Here's a nice link which shows why, just because it falls out of the sky, the water that comes out of your tap isn't free for you. http://www.dwi.gov.uk/pubs/tap/index.htm Think for a minute about the sheer size of the infrastructure of this country. The volume of chemicals purchased to treat the water, the amount of electricity required to pump the water out of the ground or along the pipe work to your house. Now, why should someone who chooses to have sprinklers running all day pay the same as someone who doesn't?

And I've said this before (but maybe not here) - there are always going to be some people who are happy to have others subsidise their lifestyles. Doesn't mean I have to be happy paying for it. Still, it's not like I have any choice in the matter, is it? If charging on amount of water used makes people think before wasting it, then I consider it a good idea personally.

They don't pay for a license - the companies make 'bids' - they say they'll drill so many wells or shoot so much seismic and the gov decides who to give the license to for a set period of time (several years maybe). They are then taxed on the money they make from selling the oil, assuming they actually find any. Some UK oil & gas companies are extracting oil from Iraq or Kuwait etc. Usually the companies form a coalition (several companies work together, splitting the costs & profits). Who said it's inexhaustable - not me. However, if you had oil bubbling up in your garden I doubt you'd not consider it 'free'. Water does cost more than oil - certainly bottled water does. $100 a barrel (£50 or so). A barrel of oil is 159 litres.

Hmm, addendum. Not counting those with their own private water wells/supply.

Unit cost consists of getting a 'unit' of water from the reservoir/river/waterwell to your tap, in potable form, and removing & treating a 'unit' of water waste. The cost increases as water consumption increases, for obvious reasons. 2 'units' cost maybe a little less than double (chemicals, electricity etc.), discounting the initial infrastructure costs. Untrue. The oil and gas sit in reservoirs totally free and waiting to be extracted. In the same way as it may be necessary to drill down to a water reservoir or you need to create a pipe network to remove water from a reservoir, so it is the same for extracting oil or gas. Just a little tricker and probably more expensive. Once the infrastructure is there, the costs of extraction decrease. I work in the Oil & Gas sector so I know. Licensing from the government for exploration & extraction is required, but that's not much different for the water companies either. No it's not, but we don't have water shortages here.

Sub 3's over the same period: 1997 2.5 1987 0.8 1985 0.8 1982 2.6 1980 2.3 1979 -0.4 1977 2.8 1966 2.9 1963 -2.1 1959 1.6 1955 2.6 1954 2.9 1952 2.7 1947 2.2 1946 2.7 1945 0.4 1942 0.9 1941 0.5 1940 -1.4 1933 2.2 1929 1.3 1919 2.9 1917 1.6 1908 2.5 Just a quick note - used the CET analyser (by Bottesford) for these.

Except that it is probably an annual charge divided by number of users, then by month for those paying monthly. Similar (but not identical) to the way the gas board/electricity company charge those paying by DD monthly - they average your annual use then divide by 12, so the same amount of money is collected each month. It's nicer than getting clouted hard with a huge bill in cold weather when you use more, but you pay more in summer than you use. I expect that people tend to use more water in the summer however with outdoor activities - gardens, paddling pools, car washing etc. - being less likely in winter. In Scotland the water rates are actually collected with our Council Tax and the charge is annual.

Sub 2's, since 1900: 1987 0.8 1985 0.8 1979 -0.4 1963 -2.1 1959 1.6 1945 0.4 1942 0.9 1941 0.5 1940 -1.4 1929 1.3 1917 1.6 Not actually very many over 107 years.

Just 'cos the water is free doesn't mean it gets to your house in a form suitable and safe for drinking by itself. Each gallon of water has a unit cost based on everything done to it when taken from the reservoir, transport costs and post-use treatments at the sewage works.

Whereas at the moment it's like you and I in a supermarket and you expecting me to pay part of the bill for your shopping at the checkout? Since when did kids object to being dirty? It is their natural state surely?

Well, they are closer to the tropics than us up here, within reach of the arctic circle. :lol: Finally Hadobs have updated themselves. I was beginning to think they'd forgotten. Currently on 5.4 (1.9 over).

It's only been mild down south, different story up here in the north. A month of two halves...

Not everyone can have children, you know. I work and pay taxes. I also pay NI, even tho' I am opted out. I'm not entirely convinced that many of the 'future taxpayers' will in fact be paying tax, looking at the number of welfare families being encouraged to breed without constraint. Sorry, but that sort of comment (above) gets my dander up. If people choose to have a family then they should be able to support them - and if they use more water (and all of its associated services) than others then they should pay a little extra for it.

Instead of thinking about the Thames, which has changed over the years, why not consider the freezing over of a body of water (Windermere as an example) which hasn't been subject to as much change. "The Lake has frozen over several times during severe winters and Frost Fairs were held. Special trains brought visitors from Manchester and in 1895, 100,000 people came to skate on the ice. Bands played, bonfires were lit, there were ice yacht races and they even skated at night with lanterns. The last time the Lake froze was in 1964." From: http://www.linthwaite.com/the-lake-distric...-windermere.htm "Legends interwoven with history abound along the dreamy shores of Bowness. In 1864, Windermere froze and it was possible to walk or skate across the lake from shore to shore. This remarkable event happened again in the severe winters of 1894 and 1929, when thousands came to experience the thrill of walking and skating on the frozen lake. The lake froze over again in 1963 and 1982." From: http://www.timetravel-britain.com/06/Oct/lake.shtml

Yes, March 2006 was the 'worst' snow fall here in 40 years apparently (according to the met office). From a northerly I seem to remember... I moved up here in the autumn of 1998 and don't remember the 2000/01 winter being that bad to be honest.

Am I too late for a punt? Meant to do it last night but alcohol got in the way.... I'll try 10.3 for 2008 if I may. Happy New Year to all!

I'm going for a straight 4 - thanks and have a Happy New Year!