Weather : past adverse weather in Birmingham

[badger]

Remember those fogs well. My mate and me used to go out with torches to guide the lost cars, it made up our pocket money.

 

[Lloyd]

Fog!

I remember one very bad fog, in the late 50's, was so thick that if I went outside and held my hand up, I couldn't see it!
When I woke the next morning to get ready for school, there was an Inner Circle No.8 bus on the pavement outside, wrong side of the road. We lived about 2 miles from the route (on Hagley Road, nearly at Bearwood) he must have been very lost or trying to get to Harborne or Quinton garage.
It was there until about midday when an Inspector came to get it!
Relatives told me that the trams could run OK, as the rails steered them - they just went slower than usual, but sometimes cars would follow them.
Sometimes they'd follow the wrong one, and end up miles from home - or worse, follow one into the depot at the end of its duty!

 

[Astoness]

Iremember very well the thick pea souper fog we used to get in the 60s.i was living in villa st hockley at that time. myself and loads of friends used to play tracking. does anyone remember that game. it was a great game to play in the fog as you couldnt see your hand in front of you. one night one of my mates broke the boundery we had but we all thought he had gone home. it wasnt till next day that we found out that he had tried to jump a big hole but because of the fog he misjudged it and fell in. ended up with a broken leg. o happy days. lyn.

 

[DribblinWizard]

I remember the fog too, I came out of work in the city one evening to find the buses had been taken off because of it. We all had to walk home, only nearly 4 miles but it took hours!

 

[Graham]

Brum fog

I remember it well, but it was not just fog it was filthy smog from all the coal fires, factories and steam trains.

As a budding keen racing cyclist with ambitions, after work I had to go out in it to do some winter training. I would wrap a scarf around my face and do two laps of the N° 11 outer circle bus route, because that had street lighting, saving me ending up in a hedge or ditch. Many a car tried to follow me but I was too quick for them to follow in that 'pea soup'. By the time I reached home, Sparkbrook, the scarf was black! How my lungs ever recovered from that lot I'll never know.:036:

 

[Peter Walker]

I remember that the fog was particularly bad by the river Tame in Perry Barr. On bad nights it would spread right along Birchfield Road up to Heathfield Road.
Peter

 

[brenda barr]

Weather report from Lake Jackson Texas....its bloomin hot 104degs today and all this week its been triple digits....we need rain so bad have'nt had any measurable ran in months were on a burn ban so it does'nt look like there will be any fireworks July 4th....but l'm ok just sitting in the a/c its really to hot to do anything after all these 50years l've been in Texas one would think l'd get climatised but l never will just wish it would cool off.....Brenda

 

[jennyann]

Now that is really hot Brenda...I remember seeing a programme from Texas and the radio host saying "Good Morning, it's 104 degrees here already". We hadn't had any rain for 28 days which is almost unheard of for Vancouver at this time of the year. It is, however, tipping it down now. We really needed it. Hope that you get some rain soon and also cool down. We have had a couple of very large forest fires up country.

 

[in exile]

My Mother told me a story about the fogs.
One evening after a shift at The Valor factory in Erdington, a group of them had to walk home after all of the busses were called off due to the fog. By the time they had reached Hodge Hill Common near to where the Hunters Moon pub is, there were around 6 of them left walking. They had an idea they may be lost, so decided to ask the next person they saw for directions. One woman spotted a man walking near by an said "Love, love....excuse me love..." trying to get his attention. He yelled back "I don't need ladies like you" and sprinted in the opposite direction. He thought they were prostitutes!
Anyway, eventually, she got home to Kingshurst after a 3 hour walk

 

[MiriamB]

I too,remembered those awful fogs and smogs. One night I had a life from work in a sports car. Driver couldn't see a thing so he opened the top hood and had me stand up with my head through the opening. When I finally reached home - my mother screamed and shouted "what have you done to your face" - my hair was wild and my face was black and streaky from the weather. Nasty nights thy were. Miriam.

 

[Carolynn]

What about the snow??

My brother worked for the Co-op milk in the offices and would even be called out over Xmas to help deliver milk. Mind you snow was fun that was before the P.C. brigade took over!

 

[oldMohawk]

Co-op milk

When I was young, a Co-op Milkman told me that horses pulling milk carts, knew their own way back to the depot when the round was finished. I don't know whether he was joking, but could be useful in a fog.

 

[paul stacey]

hi all
I remember the pea soupers we had in the late 50's early 60's, one night my dad and me came out of the royalty Harborne and it was so thick you couldn't see the bus stop, we waited about 3/4 of an hour for the number 12 to Bartly Green when we got on it was standing room only but by the time we got to the bottom of war lane the conductor was walking in front with a torch. My dad said that "we went quicker than this at 'Monte Casino' and that was uphill into German fire. any way it got about 4 miles on to the Stonehouse pub. The driver said that they couldn't go any further so we walked to Bartly Green (Adams Hill) took about 2 1/2 hours. Some how it was very exciting at 12 yrs old, every one talking and laughing, and then leaving the group in ones and two's saying 'Tarrah a bit all' it happened regularly in the winters then though.
regards
paul

 

[bren]

Give me Duff

 

[Dave89]

When I was young, a Co-op Milkman told me that horses pulling milk carts, knew their own way back to the depot when the round was finished. I don't know whether he was joking, but could be useful in a fog.

Back in the 1960s, when I was at R White's, I knew an old delivery
driver who had been there since the 1930s when the drays were horse
drawn, and he had always had the same round which took him out
past Kidderminster, and on some days into Herefordshire. He would take
a drink at each pub he delivered to on the way out, and then go to sleep
and the horse would bring him back to Western Road. A little more reliable than one driver I remember who got so drunk one day that he lost his way back from Bordesley to Western Road and finished up in Lichfield!

Kind regards

Dave

 

[G G Jean]

What memories you all have of those pea soupers. I love yours Bren serves them right for having a drive as long as most peoples roads. I walked home from town many a time down Aston road to Aston Cross and then up Park road to Holte road. Imagine doing that today?. I think I would have slept over on the floor. Jean.

 

[G G Jean]

Dave 89 forgot to say Pete was on the milk when he first left school and he said those horses sure knew their way home and where to stop when the boss went in for a cuppa and afters. [cakes or biscuites I presume]. Jean.

 

[OtherHalf]

have a look at this link might bring back a few memories for some https://www.archive.org/details/FogAndSmog

 

[Astoness]

thanks for that link tom...it did bring back memories for me...playing tracking round the streets when you could just about see yer hand in front of your face.......tagging total strangers thinking they were one of your mates...lol....happy days.....

lyn

 

[Ray Barrett]

Walked through the town in the fog heading for Newtown Row,went down Steelhouse lane,and turned into Lancaster St.when I bumped into a bloke and asked him,"am I on Lancaster bridge?"he said "no" you are inside the fire station.The same night I met two blokes outside "The Stork" Asylum Rd.they thought they were near the Gate Saltley ???.On another occasion,I drove from Bartley Green to the Stonehouse pub,(2 hours)and decided to park on their car park till morning and walk home,4 cars followed me in,they thought they were still on the main Rd...what fun.

 

[Astoness]

lol ray...what memories..good job weve got them....like we say...happy days.....

lyn

 

[Ray Barrett]

What struck me the most Lyn,was,the uncanny silence,even down the old end where there was always the hum of machinery,it seemed to go silent.
However,there is always comedy,lots of blokes loved it,they could leave work, and pub crawl home,didn't have to explain to their wives why they were late.

 

[Astoness]

yes you are right ray...it did seem very quiet...its just the same when it snows...it seems to muffle the air...when we played tracking it was always in the dark and the pea soupers made it so much more fun...my four children have grown up hearing about my exploits as a child and very often they say....DO YOU KNOW WHAT MOM...????? WE SOMETIMES WISH WE HAD GROWN UP IN YOUR DAYS...YOU SEEMED TO HAVE SO MUCH MORE FUN......says it all dont it....

lyn

 

[ladywood]

Pete, I certainly do remember those pea soupers! As a child in Handsworth I can remember a bus driver getting lost and turning off the Soho Road into Soho Avenue by mistake, and the drivers used to have to walk in front of the buses to guide the drivers.

Then when I was older and working in the city centre in the 60s, I remember the fog came down one afternoon, getting worse by the minute, so I rang my sister and told her we ought to start making our way home to Quinton and not wait until 5.30. We got a No.9 from Colmore Row and it took about half an hour to get to the end of Broad Street. We got off the bus and started walking. Took us about 2 hours or more to make it back to Hagley Road West in Quinton. We literally couldn't see a hand in front of us, and when crossing the road had to shout to each other to find our way to the other side. It was deathly quiet and no cars or buses passed us all the way home. I had on a beige coat which I had just had cleaned and by the time I got home it was black with the smog. A girl I worked with used to have Asthma and she always wore a mask across her face when the fog came.

Judy

I certainly remember the pea soupers of the 50's and 60's and the worst ones always seemed to me, to be around Quinton. Going home from my Aunt's house on the number 10 bus from Quinton Boulevard West to the city. The conductor walking [in the gutter] ahead of the bus waving his torch and me hoping to get to the Ivy Bush where I could at least make the rest on foot.
When I was at art school in the 60's and I worked as a temporary postman at Christmas I had to deliver post around Harbourne.
We started sorting the post card and letters about 4.30 in the morning and we made 2 deliveries a day.
In the afternoon of one day the fog became thicker and thicker and by 5 pm I still had about quarter of a bagful of post to deliver. I couldn't see more than 2 yards ahead, I was totally lost, I went into a graveyard and had to climb over a wall to get out because all the gates now seemed to be locked. I couldn't take the post home because it belonged to the 'Royal Mail' so I stumbled on a post box and stuffed all the remaining letters in.
They all came back to the sorting room over the next couple of days [re-franked] and I had to deliver them all again.

In my childhood it always seemed cold in Quinton waiting for that number 10 bus.

ladywood

 

[Astoness]

hi ladywood...what lovely memories.....thanks for sharing them with us....and i love the image you have posted...i will save it if i may....


cheers....

lyn

 

[Ray Barrett]

Driving my first car (a standard 8 ) in fog,I had to reverse out of a tricky situation,leaning out with the door open,I hit a low concerete stanchion,and ripped the door off,(£9 to have a new one hung).
A couple of weeks later,in fog,a double decker bus,on the wrong side of the road, hit the same car head on,I had it fixed and sold it.

 

[Dave89]

Dave 89 forgot to say Pete was on the milk when he first left school and he said those horses sure knew their way home and where to stop when the boss went in for a cuppa and afters. [cakes or biscuites I presume]. Jean.

Hi Jean,

Must have been just cakes and biccies (we were a lot more innocent
in those days (weren't we?)!

Kind regards

Dave

 

[maggs]

I also remember those dreadful smogs we used to get, they even got inside the house, an eerie sort of yellow. Our toilet (up the yard) was quite a way from the house we lived, so we had to walk along the wall using our hands to guide us, until we came to the entry then onwards down that, afterwards it was hope for the best to cross the yard. Then of course we had to find our way back. Even nostrils got black..however did we survive that?

 

[leechrk]

hi you brummy wench,i can still see those fogs,as though it was only yesterday,you could not see across the road .my poor mother came in from work,with her head pouring of blood.as see had walked into a lamp post,the fog was that bad kind rgards leechrk

 

[maggs]

Thank you leechrk, I like being called a Brummie Wench, friendly that is.

Your poor mum walking into the lamp post, it was not impossible though because those smogs were unbelievable weren't they? You literally couldn't see a hand in front of you.