Cold weather stories!

A group of climbers had to be rescued in the Cairngorms today, or possibly yesterday. The rescue took five hours. I hate to be a spoilsport. I am aware that some people really relish a challenge such as climbing in difficult conditions. But surely when you know that the weather is going to turn harsh and that others might have to turn out to rescue you, is it fair to go up that mountain?

Somewhere else in the country, a young man went out and got drunk - at least that’s what they think happened - and at some point climbed into a rubbish container, where he fell asleep. And then froze to death! His body was only discovered when the rubbish container was emptied at the local dump. What an end to a night out!

These are among the consequences of the cold snap!

Stansted airport has had a load of possible passengers stuck there overnight as their flights were delayed or cancelled. Frozen runways cause chaos once again!

Friends and relations in other parts of the country have been contacting us to ask how we are coping with the cold weather. Very well on the whole! To the north of us they have snow. To the south of us they have snow. We can see white-covered hills all around us in every direction but right here, although it’s very cold, we don’t have proper snow to speak of. So we can admire the view without having to worry about slush underfoot!

Here’s an odd feel-good story I just heard on the BBC news. A bloke called Marius - just Marius, no surname - went out just before Christmas, maybe on Christmas Eve, to have a drink with his work-mates. At some point in the evening he pulled his phone put of his pocket to take some pictures and accidentally, and all unawares, pulled out his pay-packet and dripped it on the floor under his seat. At the end of the evening one of the bar staff, sweeping up, spotted the pay envelope and recognised it for what it was because he used to receive his pay that way when he first worked in the UK. In the pay-packet he found £600!!!

(Aside note: I find myself wondering if Marius was working on the black market, cash-in-hand, paying no tax. £600 is a lot of money to get in cash. If he hadn’t got it back, he would have paid a huge amount of tax!)

The landlord put a notice out on social media, with a photo of the pay-packet. A few celebrities, including J. K. Rowling, spotted it and tweeted it onwards. Social media went mad. People all over the world joined in the hunt for Marius. Because, of course, if you live in Australia you CAN help locate someone in the UK! The landlord’s phone started buzzing “like a fridge” - his words!

And then a few days later Marius walked in and claimed his pay-packet. He said he had not noticed it was missing for a day or so! The news reporter suggested that maybe he just kept quiet about it so that his wife did not give him a whole lot of grief over Christmas - well, it’s a theory!

The moral of the tale - one moral of the tale anyway - must be that young men should not just go stuffing things into the back pocket of their trousers! An accident, or a pickpocketing opportunity, waiting to happen!