Just seen pictures of your snowfall on the international news. "Lake effect" snow got me during my last series of factory visits in December 2001. For a few days I managed to keep ahead of it but finally it caught up with me at Portland. I woke up to find my hire car almost submerged in snow and faced with a forty mile road journey to a factory on roads where the road signs and markings were obliterated with the white stuff. For the first and only time in 15 years/500 odd factories I cancelled and went back to bed!

I wasn't old enough to drive in 1947 but I do remember that long cold winter (I was still in shorts!) The chap in the attached picture taken near Rochester, Kent has my admiration. When he has finished digging he will get back into his Austin 10 with no heater and pretty dodgy road holding - that's what I call a motorist.

Best regards to you both,

Mike

Thanks for the photo Mike. I remember in Berkshire in the 1950s we would get a couple of inches of snow, and like the poor guy in the photo my father would try to clear the front path with a coal shovel and a yard broom. Nowadays people would think you were feeble of mind to try that. Even our local grocery stores carry "snow shovels" these days; the trick is to spray them with cooking oil so the snow doesn't stick, something this poor guy has yet to learn.

The news here is that the "Lake Effect" snow in the Buffalo region of New York has been particularly heavy this year. My grand-daughter living near Oswego has sent these photos, apparently taken this week.

John W

The Morning After . . .
Yet another six-inch snowstorm. Thank goodness I'm through with getting up at 4:00 am to go to work!

The photo shows how the village plow typically clears the road and dumps as much snow as possible into everybody's driveway. I wonder what the point of clearing the road is, since nobody can get to it?

John W

I finally broke down after 30 years and purchased a snow blower!

Only a small push-along, mind you, but it does the job.

John W