Change in the Air

Temperatures are about to fall to something more typical of the time of year; we may even get a morning or two of frost. I'm old enough to remember the 62-63 winter, which was the coldest of the 20th century, in fact the coldest since 1740, with freezing temperatures from December to February and a low of -22.2C. My main memory is missing a week of primary school because the water pipes supplying it were frozen, and helping carry straw around the farm buildings, to be set alight under the frozen pipes and valves of animal drinking-troughs. Of course, like everyone, I remember the fascination with the patterns on ice frozen inside windows as the sun rose on the other side

It was cold, it was inconvenient, but we stayed warm, we stayed fed, we could travel locally and shop and the country continued to function. I'm not old enough to have known 1947, when for many people, none of this was the case. We have just watched a documentary that does not a bad job of explaining the grim effect of that year, and its frightening impact on a country and people still in no way recovered from war. It was not quite as cold as 1963, but huge volumes of snow, that just kept coming for 7 weeks, had a paralysing impact on the supply of food, water, coal, electricity and health services. I admit I had a moment of worrying about the gulf stream

When the thaw eventually came, combined with heavy rain throughout March, it created the most extensive flooding of the 20th century - still used as a benchmark in any study of vulnerability to floods. Those had not long subsided, when the country was hit by storm winds of up to 160 kilometres per hour. There was genuine alarm in government that the effect of the winter would be widespread starvation, as many crops were destroyed, animals killed and farms devastated

One small aside in the documentary mentions the surge in applications for allotments in that year - building on the already high numbers created by the 'dig for victory' campaign of the war years. Demand remains high for a plot in our local allotment field - a gentle south-facing slope in a pretty little 'hidden valley', as close to the ideal as you are likely to find. Already, there are signs of enthusiasts gearing up for the new season. They may be hoping for some decent frosts to cut down the number of slugs - who I suspect have thrived in this winter so far