Big J

Very slightly above freezing. The snow is slowly melting and the roads are not great (for cycling). Had to limit todays ride to the main road as the side roads would have been a major struggle, even with studded tyres. But we've had over two weeks sub-zero, so can't really complain. It was a good run.

It was actually that winter that was one of the reasons that influenced our decision to leave the UK. As a forestry worker, I just couldn't (mentally) handle the rain any more. We had to shut down our forestry site for a month due to it being so wet that it was unworkable. We had 4-5 weeks of very damp weather here October into November. It was grey and drizzled a lot. Minimal wind though.

Coming to the end of a two week sub zero spell. Hovering around freezing now and snowing steadily. May have to call the wife for a lift home. I may struggle on the bike. The photo is one my wife took a couple of hours ago from the top of the ski slope.

Always really enjoyed Alex Horne and the Horne Section, but this has to be their best song 😄

Minus 7c on the way to work this morning. About -1-2c for the way home shortly. A minor thaw with highs of plus 1-2c for the next week. Then back to cold.

And the income from the north sea that was taken was used to fund tax cuts. Typical British short-termism 😞

I've been very happy so far to live in Sweden. Society seems a whole lot more cohesive and equal than what we experienced in Scotland and England. We live in a middle sized village (1700 people) in a very low population area of the south east. I cannot comment on how it is in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö or any of the other larger cities. Here, the average family house is between £60-80k. And the average family house is about twice the size of the average family house in the UK. There is a lot of space (average plot is about 800-1000 square metres) and nothing feels crowded. Wages are similar to the UK and our area has a lot of primary and secondary industry. The socialist nature of society here is something that I generally enjoy. I value the fact that regardless of a parent's financial background, all children have essentially the same opportunities. I also like the fact that having a child isn't going to financially cripple you (as it does in the UK). As regards the housing issue in the UK, I struggle to see a likely outcome that is going to be satisfactory. 90% (or more) of houses are built (badly) by mass developers for whom quality comes a distant second to profit. Basically, they build badly designed houses badly, in neighbours that lack even the most basic of planning considerations or amenities. They make vast profits, whilst all the while convincing (through marketing and lack of choice) the public that what everyone should aspire to is their very own house with postage stamp garden, garage you can't park a car in and bedroom you can't fit a double bed in. Given the desity of the population in the UK, it would be prudent to think about building more vertically, with high quality, spacious apartment with extensive green space and cycle/foot networks. Many suburbs in Sweden are similar to that now. We visited friends in Uppsala who lived in a huge, ground floor flat, where the kids had immediate access to a large playground and it was only 5 minutes of traffic free paths to get to their leafy, suburban school. I really do think the public wouldn't be as resistant to new development if the development wasn't so shit. It's almost impossible to find anything positive to say about your average Persimmon development.

I requested night time hours actually. I work during the day and at weekends I like to have the option of going out with the family or on my bike during daylight hours. The reason they use artificial snow is density. The 10-12cm of natural snow we have lying here just now compacts to almost nothing when you stand on it. It's fallen well below freezing so is very fluffy. Here now. Been up the hill on the tracked quad. Once the slope has been pisted, the snowmobile can be used. At the moment it's just massive piles of snow. Here are photos:

Pumping massive amounts of water out of the lake through the snow cannons mainly. And then spreading it out. We don't actually have much real snow here, though it has been snowing steadily all day and we have about 9cm lying on the ground. Whenever the snow is being made, people have to be there to supervise. The main water pump is about 110kw, plus a smaller air pump to supply compressed air. The Piste machine is very similar to the one you mention. I'm planning to train on it and do some of the operation over this season.

It's a not-for-profit, run only by volunteers, with a little bit of support from the council. You have to pay for lift passes and equipment hire (unless you volunteer there) but it's all very reasonable.

Minus 4c and snowing steadily. It's the village Christmas market this afternoon, so the weather should contribute to the Christmassy feel. Sauna during the early evening (complete with ice hole in the lake) and then I'm on ski slope snow production from 2300 - 0300. Winter in full flow

Minus 13.7c overnight at home. Minus 11c on the bike on the way to work. Snow forecast for later this afternoon. Hope I dodge it on thr way home.

Cycle commuting at minus 10c means you have to be OK with ice on your face Coldest day of winter so far.

Very pretty! We have snow too, but only maybe 2cm. Still minus 10c on the way to work this morning though

It is very pleasant, and nice to have some variety too (I'm going to go via asphalt for the next few days). They are normal, USB rechargeable batteries and a heating element in each sock. Washable, but not in a washing machine. About £25-30 for a pair, if memory serves.

Minus 10c on the cycle ride to work this morning. Was absolutely fine with my heated socks and ski mitts. Really enjoy it. A centimetre of snow fell yesterday and I was following my tyre tracks from yesterday this morning. No one else had been on the gravel road ☺️

Didn't get above minus 2c here today after minus 7c overnight. Minus 7c again now, forecast to drop a bit further overnight. It'll make for a chilly commute in the morning. Cycling in those temps results in 'beard-cicles', which my daughters find very amusing. Snow production on the ski slope is starting imminently. Has to be below minus 3 or 4c, or a touch milder if the humidity is low (which it is - barely any frost forming). A few photos from the weekend:

Properly sub zero here now. Went out for 67km of gravel cycling this morning on crisp, frozen (but ice and snow free) tracks and gravel/sand roads. Between minus 2 and 4c all the way around. I think we'll see minus 10c this weekend, and maybe a bit colder next week. Good chance of seeing aurora borealis tomorrow evening too

There is a large paper producing plant in the viscinity that takes birch and aspen, as well as spruce. But it's still not grown commerically in any great quantity. The Finns do grow it widely though. All chipped, I believe. Most of it feeds the kilns, some of it is sold.

Whilst it's favoured as a firewood species, it's regarded as a weed in forestry. It's never planted, and always regenerates in clearfells, meaning that it has to be cleared several times before the first thinning with clearing saws (to make way for the spruce and pine). It grows very straight and clean due to the fairly minimal wind and consistently sunny summers. I'm not really bothered what I burn personally. I prefer a mix.

Prices for firewood here are generally really cheap. This seller on Marketplace is doing 2 year seasoned birch for just under £50/cube. Minimum order 5 cube, free delivery on 10 cube. I did my own firewood this year, but I'll just buy it in for next year. It's not worth doing it yourself for that price.

Yeah, very good thanks! Busy as hell between family, work and cycling over 1000km a month. We're all looking forward to the ski season (end of Dec/start of January hopefully). Spending a lot of time on the bike (much of which is commuting now, and I've got three cycle tours that I'm leading for a UK holiday company next year) gives me a lot of time to process the stresses of day to day life. I didn't have that in the UK, and it'd be hard to find hours and hours of traffic free cycling anywhere in GB sadly.

Dropping to consistently below freezing by the weekend. Really chuffed about that as hovering around freezing means a lot more ice than solidly below.

I guess so, but you'd see big efficiency gains, meaning you can charge more. Also a lot less annoying to operate. When I had the Vimek with the tilt rotator grab, it was just brilliant. Going back to a normal swinging, non-tiltable grab afterwards was awful. Glad to hear you're both getting on well with them. I have even seen 2t machines with them. They don't even seem to consider using a digger without one. The other thing which seems incredibly efficient (and I'm pretty sure it's illegal in the UK) is for wheeled excavators to run (often tipping) trailers. Coupled with tilt rotators, they are versatile machines for all manner of road work, reducing the staffing costs due to reduced machine requirements.

Why does hardly anyone use tilt rotators in the UK? I'm reasonably handy on a digger, having dug out many forestry tracks, but only in the UK and only with 'dumb' excavators with direct mounted buckets. In nearly 1.5 years living in Sweden, I have yet to see an excavator without a tilt rotator, with most equipped with a grab on that rotator too. Watching theIt jm work, it quickly leaves you with the impression that to not have a rotator would be insane. It just seems very odd.