Hell....on the Eastern Front

[Bier Keller]

Well maybe not quite but getting there. Was trying to work in minus 3* today with about 120mm of snow on top. My razor-edged entrenching tool just bounced off and I am sure some of the features laughed at my efforts. Even proper, grown-up tools with some guts behind them failed to make much of an impression. We only got going around midday when it warmed up to about minus 1* and then packed in at 15.00 due to bad light. What a wasted day. Anybody else feeling the cold? (And to top it off, the Radio played "You're as cold as ice" by Thingy Whasit. How we laughed)

Just give me a cold Becks

[BAJR Host]

Feet up.... glass of cold beer and wait for spring is my advice!

"Gie's a Job.."
Prof. 'Dolly' Parton

[Bier Keller]

Funny you mention the beer...it is going done very nicely as I type. I would love to just say "bugger it" and wait for spring as you suggest but the prospect of doing call centre work or hiring out parts of my body in lieu of digging (or at least pretending/attempting to dig) is not on the agenda...it does not pay quite as well as smoking harsh german tabs whilst trying to empty out postholes. Thats the bugger - trying to look like you are working (and being seen to at least look like you are working) even though it is ultimately futile. And it is only November. A winter of pot washing and plenty more cheap tabs awaits. Joy! I guess I really should not grumble, I appreciate that a lot of guys and gals back in Blighty don't even have that

Just give me a cold Becks

[BAJR Host]

It is bad... and will get worse... BUT..... the reinvigorated SCAUM is going to do something.. actually do something!

"Gie's a Job.."
Prof. 'Dolly' Parton

[Curator Kid]

quote:Originally posted by BAJR Host

BUT..... the reinvigorated SCAUM is going to do something.. actually do something!

It sounds like you have some beans to spill Mr. Hosty? Pray tell...

[Windbag]

I heard a good piece of advice from a Scandinavian colleague about digging in the winter- put a straw bale on the feature you need to dig at the end of the working day. When you come back the following morning the heat from the straw decomposing will keep the feature frost-free.

[kevin wooldridge]

We even have more sophisticated than straw these days!! There are relatively light rockwool filled plastic mats called (unsurprisingly) 'Winter Mats' that you can lay over features to stop the frost getting at them. Each mat measures circa 2m x 1m

http://www.rockwool.dk/sw44900.asp

Of course if looked after these things can last for years....Not sure what the cost would be in the UK, but there is a Rockwool office in South Wales so you could ask.....

[monty]

......... reinvigorated SCAUM ......going to do something . . . wow ..........come on then spill the beans !!!!.... the anticipation is ovewhelming me........freezing here watching trial pits............

[m300572]

If the entrenching tool doesn't cut it then a lump hammer and cold chisel might be the answer as used in removing a sand layer in the coldest winter for 40 years - 1986 - on a site in S Wales.

That was a site that hadd some bizarre attributes anyway - only time I have seen melting sections in hot weather and the only excavation where liquid mercury was a small find!

[Dirty Dave Lincoln]

Ah the winter of 85/86 I remember it well, pick axes that just bounced straight back at your face having not even dentd the ground.
An Old boy training me at the time said it was the coldest he'd known it since 69!!!