Mud. I loathe you.

[Wayne]

Mud Mud Glorious Mud.

Utter tosh. There is nothing like it to boil my blood.
What's the point of it? Horrid stuff it just makes winters in Sussex unbareable.
Every time you go outside everything gets caked in a thick gelatinous goo. Sticky filthy mud.
Put a bag down it's covered, send the dog out, its the carpet covered.
It's gets everywhere.

So what's your pet peeve about the winter?

 

[Toddy]

Having just done the round filling the bird feeders, and we had torrential rain all day yesterday, you have my sympathy, and total agreement. The grass is a water meadow just now, and muddy is my world. (and there are definitely two moorhens visiting the garden recently)

I think my real peeve about Winter though is the lack of light, and even the rare bright days are too short.

M

 

[Macaroon]

Both the posts above echo my feelings about winter precisely; mud all over house, car, and every square yard of ground for miles around. I seem to spend most of my spare time cleaning various boots, leggings and gaiters.

But there's a little stretch in the days now, at least. I really have my doubts about the ground drying up anytime soon around here, though, as the forestry peole have once again decided to allow the contractors to destroy all the tracks for miles around with those huge harvesters and forwarders, instead of doing it properly and finishing one area at a time. ( I better stop there, we have an extremely fractious relationship with NRW here )

 

[John Fenna]

Oh - the lack of light!
I suffer (mildly) with SAD - so the lack of light is a biggy for me!

 

[Broch]

Mud Mud Glorious Mud.

Utter tosh. There is nothing like it to boil my blood.
What's the point of it? Horrid stuff it just makes winters in Sussex unbareable.
Every time you go outside everything gets caked in a thick gelatinous goo. Sticky filthy mud.
Put a bag down it's covered, send the dog out, its the carpet covered.
It's gets everywhere.

So what's your pet peeve about the winter?

Yep, agreed. But at least it's relatively flat in Sussex; we have water coming off the hills in torrents, mud everywhere, and slopes you can't stay upright on. Any chance of doing work in the wood is gone for the moment and I can't see it drying up any time soon. As I write we have high wind and it's raining bucket loads.

I actually like winter, I don't dislike rain, but this constant boggy wet is getting even me down

 

[Nice65]

Mud for me too. It's raining hard here in Singleton again, walking the dogs has been a real chore last few days, it's hard to stay upright at times. The car is filthy, the carpets are filthy, clothes and boots are filthy and it's dark, dank, and depressing.

And like Macaroon, the walk I would normally take because the path is little used has been torn up by forestry work.

 

[Dave Budd]

yep, mud for me too. I'm not too bothered by mud on my clothes, car or house, but for me the mud is a royal nuisance and a danger every day. Walking to work is unpleasant and getting materials in or out is impossible. As far as my own woodland management is concerned, I'v had to stop after only a small amount of what I wanted to get done simply because the ground is getting too torn up and the muddy rides are getting to the point that they are impassible with my tractor!

 

[Fraxinus]

Having spent the best part of two weeks dealing with a tree felled by a combination of Ash Die Back and high winds, mud and cold winds are high on the list.
Work is slower due to risk of slipping while your boots weigh several pounds heavier and the cold gets into your marrow so it takes ages to get warm again.
One part of the branches had buried itself about three and a half feet into the ground, it was in excess of a foot in diameter, took a mini digger to get it out.
Rob.

 

[Toddy]

Himself came back from his walk, along the riverbank down by the castle and through the woods, and he says that the weir at Blantyre is totally hidden. The Clyde is so high that the fields are flooded downstream....that's where some numpty in Planning wanted to zone for 600 new build houses
The fields don't flood every year, so the planning was going well in getting through process until a local handed in some photos taken over the years.
It's being left as fields.

In the past our ancestors used pattens to walk in mud. (if you google, pattens, mud, images) there are loads of examples.

Dave ? one kind is an iron ring, apparently those gave a really good grip.

 

[Dave Budd]

Toddy, I hadn't come across that style of patten before so have just googled it. The simple iron rings look like they would make a wooden sole better for slippy ground, a bit like hobnails in that respect. The full on shoe ones are a bit more bizzare, with the wearer standing about 3" above the ring! Must'e sounded like horses coming down the cobbled roads

 

[Toddy]

Seggs used to be so common, that unmistakable sound of them. Most folks don't have a clue about them now.

I think those iron hoop pattens were more used in farmyards and by bodgers. I have vague memories of being told that by an old fellow when we were working in a right muddy field one weekend. He said they dug in like horseshoes to stop folks slipping.
There are some in a couple of the local museums too.

M

 

[oldtimer]

I nearly went a over t stepping out of my back gate by slipping on the mud on my way out to lunch with friends in the village. I was wearing my slippy soled respectable shoes. Fortunately nothing was broken as it was a good bottle from the winemakers at the end of our street in France.

The short days are a pain and the cat has gone into hibernation, but I try to remember the wonderful long English summer evenings. The cat is getting tired of me telling him what fun he's going to have when the days lengthen and wants me to do something about the cold,wet rain. Evenings aren't as long by the Mediterranean but are still beautiful. I missed the English evenings when we were in the Bahamas where the nights are the nearly same length throughout the year. When I was a child, every summer evening was long sunny and I camped out every night. How good it is to misremember!

The local rivers are very full and the water meadow beside the house is beginning to fill. This morning a flotilla of domestic ducks were happily exploring their extended territory.

The days must be lengthening. I checked my kit over yesterday and repacked it: a sure sign of spring!

 

[Diamond Dave]

Yes, defiantly mud......

 

[Wander]

I love Winter.
And I blimmin' love mud.
The only thing about Winter that disappoints is that though we get stormy weather (like today) we don't get much thunder and lightning with it.
That's more of a Summer storm thing.
I do like a good storm - hail, brimstone, thunder, lightning, cats and dogs living together. Let utter madness reign.
But you don't get so much thunder and lightning during a Winter storm.
So I'd like more of that.

 

[Mesquite]

Damp, cold weather.

I love it when it's cold and frosty or dry and cold but throw in wet and it feels utterly miserable to me

 

[Trig]

My biggest annoyance is the melting snow.

I like snow, love walking through the fields and hillwalking in it. Everything always looks better, and cleaner. I hate the fact that at low levels we get it for a day or two at most, before it thaws out and becomes a horrible slushy wet muddy mess.

 

[nicksteele1990]

Mud Mud Glorious Mud.

Utter tosh. There is nothing like it to boil my blood.
What's the point of it? Horrid stuff it just makes winters in Sussex unbareable.
Every time you go outside everything gets caked in a thick gelatinous goo. Sticky filthy mud.
Put a bag down it's covered, send the dog out, its the carpet covered.
It's gets everywhere.

So what's your pet peeve about the winter?

Mud glorious mud,
Nothing like it to boil the blood.
Winter's unbearable,
My lawn is terrible!
Came back from a walk with the dog
Looking like I've trekked through a bog.
Sticky, filthy mud.

Very sorry for the poetic skit, I'm not trying to wind you up, but I couldn't resist a little rhyme.

I had a nice walk at the weekend, up until the last mile, which was uninterrupted mud. Couldn't even get a fire going for a brew, everything was so wet. I really prefer a dry cold...

 

[Stew]

It sounds odd but this year I would agree on the mud! I don't know if it's something I'm doing differently this year or a particularly wet one but I seem to be having more challenges with it than in other years!

 

[daveO]

Damp. Living at highish altitude we're up in the clouds a lot more at this time of year and on top of the rain things just don't dry out. Everything turns green or goes mouldy, we can't dry clothes outside. Windows drip, the car is always steamed up. I just wait for a dryish day and open all the windows to air the place out. No wonder people love a spring clean after a wet winter.

I love the really cold days that freeze all this mud solid and you can get out to places that have been off limits from being too muddy. Hopefully we'll get some of those again soon.

 

[Nice65]

Yep, agreed. But at least it's relatively flat in Sussex; we have water coming off the hills in torrents, mud everywhere, and slopes you can't stay upright on. Any chance of doing work in the wood is gone for the moment and I can't see it drying up any time soon. As I write we have high wind and it's raining bucket loads.

I actually like winter, I don't dislike rain, but this constant boggy wet is getting even me down

Sussex is dominated by The Downs. Chalk clay and mud plus steep hills make for a miserable and hairy walk. It's only the flood plains to the coast that are flat. Both Wayne and spend most of our days either going up or coming down hills that are almost ice slick with clay. I've taken to using the trekking poles all the time now.