Zompist Bboard Again

Thank you for your contributions, everyone!

One thing I forgot to mention in the long post near the start is that when it's cold outside, and a building is seriously heated, the air in it gets very dry. I burn through tubes of hand lotion a lot faster in the winter than in the summer.

bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 4:02 pm

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 3:36 pm

bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 3:25 pm

Oh, I didn’t realise that. Even so, Glasgow has far less snow than the rest of Scotland.

I don't think it settles every year, but I thought there's usually snowfall, while here, even that is rare. I have, however, never been to Scotland; where's Alice when you need them?

Well, we haven’t had any snowfall yet… I hear it only happens once or twice a year.

(Emphasis mine)
Yes, that is the difference between not snowy Scotland and not snowy England, if that makes sense.

Lērisama wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:27 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 4:02 pm

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 3:36 pm

I don't think it settles every year, but I thought there's usually snowfall, while here, even that is rare. I have, however, never been to Scotland; where's Alice when you need them?

Well, we haven’t had any snowfall yet… I hear it only happens once or twice a year.

(Emphasis mine)
Yes, that is the difference between not snowy Scotland and not snowy England, if that makes sense.

Yes, this makes sense.

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 12:08 am Thank you for your contributions, everyone!

One thing I forgot to mention in the long post near the start is that when it's cold outside, and a building is seriously heated, the air in it gets very dry. I burn through tubes of hand lotion a lot faster in the winter than in the summer.

We get dry air in winter even in Sydney.

good god i'm glad i live in san diego

Emily wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 11:37 am good god i'm glad i live in san diego

And I'm happy I don't. Hot¹ whether is awful.

¹ Over about 25°C, that is

Lērisama wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 12:04 pm

Emily wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 11:37 am good god i'm glad i live in san diego

And I'm happy I don't. Hot¹ whether is awful.

¹ Over about 25°C, that is

The key thing to remember is that it is much easier to get warmer than it is to get colder.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 12:31 pm
The key thing to remember is that it is much easier to get warmer than it is to get colder.

Depends. I guess if your place is air-conditioned and you don't have to spend too much time outside, even very hot weather isn't that bad. But our place is not air-conditioned, and I found the last few summers here pretty unpleasant sometimes.

But my main problem with the idea of living in a seriously hot place isn't the weather. It's all those lethal creepy-crawlies that tend to live in places like that.

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 12:43 pm

Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 12:31 pm
The key thing to remember is that it is much easier to get warmer than it is to get colder.

Depends. I guess if your place is air-conditioned and you don't have to spend too much time outside, even very hot weather isn't that bad. But our place is not air-conditioned, and I found the last few summers here pretty unpleasant sometimes.

You can always put on more clothing, but there is only so much clothing you can take off, and we haven't invented mobile air conditioning suits yet despite what people allege about Disney characters.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 3:24 pm As the Scottish Culture Test put it:

It snows every winter, yet nobody in positions of authority ever seems to expect it, and there is consequently some disruption to essential services.

Now who the hell would write something like that?

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 3:40 pm

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 3:36 pmI have, however, never been to Scotland; where's Alice when you need them?

Alice! Who the ... ok, nevermind.

I'm here, whether you need me or not. And it's "alice", not "Alice" And yes, I get the reference.

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 2:43 pm In primary school I had a teacher who was from Up North, and when the class was excited about the yearly Westcountry ritual of talking about the prospects of snow while other areas actually get it, mentioned how when she first moved down, she was surprised when her class became completely uncontrollable when it started snowing, rather than just excited – because apparently it snows most years where she grew up, while for most of her students, what would be the first snow they would remember.

Ha. Almost exactly fifteen years ago, during the period when we were covered in snow for weeks in Britain, I was on a plane back from Málaga which was full of Spanish children. As we were landing, they were all looking out of the windows and excitedly exclaiming ¡nieve!, even though the snow was piled in unattractive dirty heaps out of harm's way rather than lying attractively on everything.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 12:31 pm

Lērisama wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 12:04 pm

Emily wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 11:37 am good god i'm glad i live in san diego

And I'm happy I don't. Hot¹ whether is awful.

¹ Over about 25°C, that is

The key thing to remember is that it is much easier to get warmer than it is to get colder.

being hot sucks but i'll take it over icy roads and sidewalks, exploding pipes, joint pain, and shoveling snow. i have never once in my forty years on this planet shoveled snow and i have no interest in starting now

Emily wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 11:37 am good god i'm glad i live in san diego

Yeah, that must be nice, at least as far as weather goes. Winter is definitely my least favorite season.

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 2:43 pm In primary school I had a teacher who was from Up North, and when the class was excited about the yearly Westcountry ritual of talking about the prospects of snow while other areas actually get it, mentioned how when she first moved down, she was surprised when her class became completely uncontrollable when it started snowing, rather than just excited – because apparently it snows most years where she grew up, while for most of her students, what would be the first snow they would remember.

must have been a little further south than where I'm at. of my 16 years here in Wyoming, this year is the longest it's ever made it without a substantial amount of snow on the ground, at least below the mountains, which seems to be the opposite of what everyone else is experiencing. the closest we've gotten to this was in 2019, when first snowfall was the day after Christmas.

/ˌnɐ.ˈɾɛn.dɚ.ˌduːd/ wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 9:46 pm

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 2:43 pm In primary school I had a teacher who was from Up North, and when the class was excited about the yearly Westcountry ritual of talking about the prospects of snow while other areas actually get it, mentioned how when she first moved down, she was surprised when her class became completely uncontrollable when it started snowing, rather than just excited – because apparently it snows most years where she grew up, while for most of her students, what would be the first snow they would remember.

must have been a little further south than where I'm at. of my 16 years here in Wyoming, this year is the longest it's ever made it without a substantial amount of snow on the ground, at least below the mountains, which seems to be the opposite of what everyone else is experiencing. the closest we've gotten to this was in 2019, when first snowfall was the day after Christmas.

I'm waiting with such excited anticipation for when real winter finally hits and the snow makes itself nice and cozy and stays long into April.

/ˌnɐ.ˈɾɛn.dɚ.ˌduːd/ wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 9:46 pm must have been a little further south than where I'm at. of my 16 years here in Wyoming, this year is the longest it's ever made it without a substantial amount of snow on the ground, at least below the mountains, which seems to be the opposite of what everyone else is experiencing. the closest we've gotten to this was in 2019, when first snowfall was the day after Christmas.

It's not about latitude as much. All of the US is south of the UK, it's just a massive continent rather than an island and so has more extreme temperatures.

/ˌnɐ.ˈɾɛn.dɚ.ˌduːd/ wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 9:46 pm

Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 2:43 pm In primary school I had a teacher who was from Up North, and when the class was excited about the yearly Westcountry ritual of talking about the prospects of snow while other areas actually get it, mentioned how when she first moved down, she was surprised when her class became completely uncontrollable when it started snowing, rather than just excited – because apparently it snows most years where she grew up, while for most of her students, what would be the first snow they would remember.

must have been a little further south than where I'm at. of my 16 years here in Wyoming, this year is the longest it's ever made it without a substantial amount of snow on the ground, at least below the mountains, which seems to be the opposite of what everyone else is experiencing. the closest we've gotten to this was in 2019, when first snowfall was the day after Christmas.

I think the teacher in question had originally been from Up North, but was living in the Westcountry by the time of the experiences Lērisama talks about.

A huge perk of living on the plain, but with the mountains close by; we can go play in the snow with the keys but we're mostly spared the day-to-day inconvenience.

Personally, I deal with the heat just fine and I never really manage to adjust to cold weather. San Diego weather would be perfect!

Status update: We're deep into melting weather right now. The icicle in the big photo I posted in the second post of this thread has almost disappeared. Here's how it looked like a while earlier; as you can see (or not), you have to look carefully to even see it:

Oh wow, I didn’t realise that icicle was a picture of your house. Here I haven’t seen a single icicle — I’m not sure whether we get them at all, actually.

bradrn wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 5:42 am was a picture of your house.

Not really - a bit difficult to take a photo of a house while looking out of one of that house's windows.

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 5:52 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 5:42 am was a picture of your house.

Not really - a bit difficult to take a photo of a house while looking out of one of that house's windows.

You need a bloody large mirror, for a start.