Watcha Doin' - 2017.1 edition Showing 4,651-4,700 of 5,020

[Sarah]

It was -4C here overnight. The coldest night of the year. And we have a frozen canal!

[Peggy]

You can almost go ice skating! ;-)

I came home without any problems last night. Things got even worse during the evening though. At one point there was a total of 1500 km of traffic jams (previous record was just over 1000 km). There were no trains at all going to or from Amsterdam or Schiphol Airport, nor to or from Utrecht station which is the busiest train station of the country. There were also no busses because bus companies thought it was too dangerous to be on the roads (plus you would get stuck in traffic anyway). I think 1300 people had to spend the night at the airport, and it was very deep into the night before all train travellers had reached their destinations. Several schools closed at 11am and my university also cancelled all classes after 3.30pm.

[Sarah]

Wow. Sounds like chaos. I wouldn't want to risk ice skating. It probably isn't thick enough. I don't want to end up in freezing cold water up to my waist.

[Peggy]

Yikes no, I also wouldn't do it after only 1 night of below zero.

[Travis]

It's been anywhere from -4 to -10C for past week I wouldn't even trust the ice on a mud puddle. Of course all this snow is also insulating the ground keeping it warmer than an open water. We're supposed to do some -18C for next couple of days so maybe I'd trust a puddle but probably still not enough to give that 6" of ice they say is thick enough to walk in. Personally I'm not walking on 6" of ice on a lake maybe 18" thick

[Sandra, Moderator]

Peggy, sounds like hell!

We were supposed to have snow last night, but everything is clean and clear. It is getting colder, though.

[Cherie]

It is currently -4C and clear here in Hillsboro tonight. I can't sleep and I have an upset stomach.

Hope your traffic problems clear up today, Peggy.

[Travis]

Currently we're at 3 ft of snow since last Thursday with another foot supposed to drop in next 24 hrs

[Travis]

Hope you feel better Cherie.

[Peggy]

Cherie wrote: "It is currently -4C and clear here in Hillsboro tonight. I can't sleep and I have an upset stomach.

Hope your traffic problems clear up today, Peggy."

Luckily these things usually only last a day. And I'm working from home today!

I hope you feel better soon and can get some sleep..

[Sandra, Moderator]

Cherie wrote: "It is currently -4C and clear here in Hillsboro tonight. I can't sleep and I have an upset stomach.

Hope your traffic problems clear up today, Peggy."

Feel better, Cherie.

[Janice, Moderator]

I think we've flipped weather systems. November was cold with lots of snow. This morning its +7C!! The snow is melting away. There's still lots of it, just that the roads and sidewalks are bare and dry.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Travis sivarT wrote: "Currently we're at 3 ft of snow since last Thursday with another foot supposed to drop in next 24 hrs"

Yikes...too much.

[Travis]

http://www.syracuse.com/weather/index...

Where I actually live Copenhagen on the chart for 59 inches. Nice little article about my little piece of the snow bank

[Saar The Book owl]

We had here (in Belgium) 3 days with lots of snow. Everyone got stuck in traffic, public transport didn't almost ride normally, lots of accidents...It has been years since we had that amount of snow. It turned from code orange to red into an hour.

[Margo]

Its a balmy 14.5c here in ireland today. Positively tropical 😎
Just in time for my some exams to start tomorrow - i was just getting a bit nervous about being able to drive him the 30k. His college is near the Shannon (pretty big river) and driving conditions were getting worse as we neared it! No problems now ;-)

[Travis]

Same old thing here. Another 16" of snow. And 2 more since I plowed and still snowing. They said winter wouldn't be bad for most of the country but the north east would be hammered with above average snow from la Nina. Sure this time their predictions right . Just when you think it's safe to assume the weather forecast would be wrong.

[Travis]

I have been taking pics. Hopefully when I get my new PC for Christmas my wife can teach me to post pics on Goodreads.

[Peggy]

Sounds like Belgium was in the same situation as we were Saar. Which is not very surprising of course ;-)

[Sarah]

Wow, that's a lot of snow Travis.

[Saar The Book owl]

Peggy wrote: "Sounds like Belgium was in the same situation as we were Saar. Which is not very surprising of course ;-)"

A bit of snow and everything falls apart :)

[Cody]

Travis sivarT wrote: "Same old thing here. Another 16" of snow. And 2 more since I plowed and still snowing. They said winter wouldn't be bad for most of the country but the north east would be hammered with above avera..."

i would love to see what 16 + inches of snow looks like, am sorry you have to go through it though.

today i woke to a flooded kitchen, i generally paint the area that pipes go through its flat roof wth liquid rubber every summer, this time i mustnt have been concentrating and picked up the wrong paint.

the paint froze and cracked last night, dragging a small part of the roof with it. there is a bucket under the leak at the mo and a roofer coming to see how much he can do.

i think i am just going to get the proper paint again BUT that will stop working as well now due to this large crack. it is going to be about £1500 to get reroofed in a few months when i have saved.

i asked my sister for that to be my christmas present, she said no :(

[Sarah]

Oh that's not good Cody. Can you claim on your house insurance at all?

[Rusalka, Moderator]

So sorry to hear, Cody. What a major pain in the bum! I hope the roofer has some good ideas how to fix it. You don't want to have to put up with that all winter.

[Peggy]

Yikes Cody, that's not something you want to wake up to!

[Cody]

Sarah wrote: "Oh that's not good Cody. Can you claim on your house insurance at all?"

unfotunately not, the insurances do not accept the flat roof part of your home, especially in manchester which is synonymous with rain. whoever thought flat roofs here were a good idea is an idiot! (the extension was on before i bought the house by the way)

@rusalka i dont think there is much, my dad is fairly handy, he was an engineer and just has that knowldge that dads seem to have but i have no idea about.

just waiting for it to dry (it is meant to stop raining next week) and will just poor 2 cans of that rubber on. i should have saved the money by march or april if i am fairly frugle and luckily nobody does anything Jan / Feb anyway.

[Janice, Moderator]

Nasty thing to wake up to, Cody. I hope you can get that sorted soon.

[Sarah]

How about once that paint and rubber stuff is dry you through a tarp over it. That's the answer to everything for me. That and gaffer tape. You'd be surprised how they've got me out of a few situations.

[Cody]

Sarah wrote: "How about once that paint and rubber stuff is dry you through a tarp over it. That's the answer to everything for me. That and gaffer tape. You'd be surprised how they've got me out of a few situat..."

I would but this is difficult to explain so i hope i do well enough

the reason i have a flat roof is because the people before me decided to have the house extended and since i have moved in (years ago) i have come to think they got it done on the cheap.

so instead of getting the waste pipes diverted, it is all boxed in (quite nicely) and i have an archway now between what was formerly my outside wall and the extended room (almost like the m of a very small queduct)

the waste pipe runs down the outside wall untill it hits the roof of extension and goes through it, through the archway and then wherever.

The pipe runs very close to the wall (perhaps less than a cm) and this is also where the water pools now, eroding.

so i cant really throw a tap over, :( :(

i also realised a couple of years ago that if something ever happens to that pipe or drain, i will be knackered as they will need to dig part of my xtension up.

When i bought this house i payed the higher level payment for a survey which came through fine and cost me £800 i think

@peggy @janice thanks :)

[Margo]

Cody wrote: "Travis sivarT wrote: "Same old thing here. Another 16" of snow. And 2 more since I plowed and still snowing. They said winter wouldn't be bad for most of the country but the north east would be ham..."

oh cody that's bad luck - and just berore xmas too x-0

[Sandra, Moderator]

How annoying, Cody! I hope it gets fixed soon and it is not as expensive as you are expecting...

[Cody]

thanks guys :) h said his guesstimate over the phone for a new roof was about right and the repair is expensive also, 400 so i might as well save

[Lisa]

Oh, that's not good, Cody! I hope you get it fixed soon. Fingers crossed it will work out cheaper than you think...

[Margo]

Just home from my book club xmas dinner. I enjoy it so much every year. We have book quiz and the prizes are books and chocilate - two on my favorite things! A good meal, some great laughs with friends - bliss :-)

But it makes me a little sad in a way that we will never all get together and share a few laughs. I spend far more time chatting to you guys than i do my " real life" book friends and yet most of us will probably meet. It's bizarre :-/ I'll never get my head around this internet lol

[Sandra, Moderator]

I know what you mean, Margo...

[Sarah]

Ooh. You're book club xmas dinner sounds fab.

I agree about YLTO. You guys know me better than many of the people I see on a regular basis. I speak to you all daily. Meeting up with ylto members isn't out of the realms of possibility though Margo. I met up with Rusalka in the Summer and Rusalka and Kirila met up too.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I did! It was fantastic! So not outside of the realms of possibility. But I do understand. The benefit of the internet is we can talk all the time, which is harder in real life.

Funnily enough, I don't think we talked about books much at all! Either with Sarah or Kirila!

[Sarah]

Yes it's interesting we didn't chat much about books. I guess that's what ylto is for. I need to win the lottery so that I can come visit all the people I want to from here :-)

And on a different not, it's Star Wars day!!! I'm very excited.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Cherie, Isn't your birthday today?

[Margo]

The only online friend I've met in real life is Paul. He was visiting the town I live in on business. We had a great chat mostly about books and films and a bit about another group we were in that had problems with bullying - we have since both left that group! It was nice and we hope to meet up again. Ireland is a smalll country.

What is Star Wars day Sarah??

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Margo wrote: "The only online friend I've met in real life is Paul. He was visiting the town I live in on business. We had a great chat mostly about books and films and a bit about another group we were in that ..."

I'll make sure I visit the next time we're in Ireland! Glad you and Paul had the chance to meet up and hang out though. I do love it when friendships can slip over mediums.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "I agree about YLTO. You guys know me better than many of the people I see on a regular basis. I speak to you all daily. Meeting up with ylto members i..."

Yes, I agree. I talk to all of you way more than to most of my friends. My best friend lives still in Uruguay, and we use whatsapp for communicating almost everyday, and many times a day. Is like we never stopped the chitchatting. But it doesn't work with my other life long friends in Uruguay. We all have a whatsapp group and talk often, but not nearly every day. I think not everybody felt comfortable switching from RL/teen years communication to whatsapp/email/skype.

In any case, what happens here in YLTO doesn't happen in other GR groups. This one is special. :)

[Cody]

Margo wrote: "The only online friend I've met in real life is Paul. He was visiting the town I live in on business. We had a great chat mostly about books and films and a bit about another group we were in that ..."

I thought star wars day was May the Fourth?

oh is the new film out today? hmmm quick google and the film is out here tomorrow, maybe advanced preview today or something?

can I ask how people were bullied in the other group? I have never experienced it online and am not sure how it would happen on GR?

@Lisa - thanks I woke up to another newer drip this morning lol, in much better spirits about it than I was yesterday though, I think I was in shock!

[Paul]

Rusalka wrote: "Margo wrote: "The only online friend I've met in real life is Paul. He was visiting the town I live in on business. We had a great chat mostly about books and films and a bit about another group we..."
It was great seeing Margo. She lives in quite an out f the way but lovely part of Ireland. Well worth a visit .

[Peggy]

I can't compare ylto to other groups, but it sounds like I made the right pick when I decided to join a group years ago :)

I haven't met any ylto-members, but I have been to meet-ups of other groups/forums or have met individual members. I find it a bit scary to be honest and haven't done anything like that in years. I think I'm a bit socially akward.. A meet-up with 2 people is scary because I'm afraid of akward silences (I'm not the most chatty person), although they do not necessarily happen. A meet-up with 8 or so is scary because it's just too many people and I'd feel overwhelmed and not sure who to talk to or what to talk about. 3 or 4 people is better: small enough to not be overwhelmed, large enough to avoid akwardness.

[Sarah]

The new Star Wars film is out today, advance showing, and we are going to see it. I want to see it before people spoil it for me. So for me, it is Star Wars day!

[Cody]

Sarah wrote: "The new Star Wars film is out today, advance showing, and we are going to see it. I want to see it before people spoil it for me. So for me, it is Star Wars day!"

I thought it might be something like that :)

I have enjoyed the latest star wars movies and I really did not think that I would, I read the expanded universe as a child and thought that might hinder my positive experience

Enjoy :)

[Travis]

For years I stuck with corded headphones for audio books due to blue tooth and batteries. With my new phone I was kind of forced blue tooth and for the most part I love them. I also bought two pairs to deal with battery issue. Unfortunately if I don't remember to charge them neither does me any good. And that's where I'm at this morning. Looks like radio it is

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Oh I feel your pain! You need a battery pack.

[Travis]

I have a battery pack. It's not charged either lol. I drained it all charging my phone