Tornado 1 Train 0

Freak out weather man

Laughed at this bloke in crisis over last weekend's American snow storms!

Weatherman Freaks Out - watch more funny videos

And now the weather ...

With my little pick and shovel I'll be there

CARDIFF CITY fans are being asked to help at the new stadium from 9am today (Friday) to make sure Saturday's home game with Blackpool goes ahead.

With Cardiff needing the money, the fixture presenting a fgood opportunity to cement City's position high in the table and potential investors at the match, the game needs to go ahead.

The weekend sports programme has already been savaged with all sports affected.

In football, the lower divisions are virtually wiped out while in the Championship, geeting on for half the fixtures have already been postponed.


However Cardiff City vs Blackpool is very much on and will be played providing the surrounding areas can be cleared. The pitch, thanks to the undersoil heating now fully fitted and working, has no problem at all and the squad have been using it for training all week.

However outside the ground, the turnstiles, walkways and surrounding areas all need attention. The council will grit and prepare the car park and roads so fans need to help club staff. Many will be working on Friday but let's hope enough can help out.

A decision will be made Friday afternoon as to whether this work has been successful or not.

Britain in the Freezer

It's been the coldest snap of weather for over 20 years, has been going on for almost 3 weeks and there's no sign of any end to it yet.


This satelite picture of Great Britain complete whited out yesterday is incredible.

City set to face new stadium postponement embarrassment

Well in excess of 22,000 tickets have been sold for today's home game with Leicester City, the team are flying, the club could sorely do with a boost to the coffers and the supporters are looking forward to their traditional pre-Xmas drink together ... but, thanks to penny-pinching, the game looks ready to fall victim to the current freeze.


When Cardiff City built the new stadium this year, they proudly unveiled the pipes that would provide under-soil heating to ensure no game would be cancelled in a cold snap. The only problem is ... some clown at the club decided not to bother buying the boiler to go with it!!!

Temperatures since Friday 6pm have dipped below freezing, reaching up tp -4 overnight, and are not expected to rise above freezing until this afternoon. Local parks and gardens are rock solid so unless City have covered the pitch - and they have known this cold spell was coming all week - the game may be postponed.

Current news is a pitch inspection is due at 11:30am. I hope it goes ahead, the backlash will be deafening if this gets pulled.

The Pier Kite Surfers

The storms that battered Britain over the weekend at least made these kite surfers happy as it fulfilled their ambition to clear their local Sussex pier ... check this footage.

And now the weather ...

... it's going to what???

No Entry to Wales from Severn Bridge ... Global Warming? My Arse!

Although South Wales has been hit by freezing temperatures and snowfall all week, it has generally esaped the very worst of the trouble affecting the rest of the country.

So it was a surprise to hear that the Second Severn Crossing was closed today for the first time since opening in 1996 after ice sheets fell from gantries crashing car windsceens and causing general havoc.

Check this BBC story/video for more.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7876022.stm

Charlton vs City is OFF

With the freezing tempertaures and snow affecting most of the country this week, wasn't it just sod's law that the first game of the weekend programme to be postponed - almost 28 hours before kick-off time - was Charlton Athletic vs Cardiff City.

These Londoners are softies, I tell you. After Arsenal cancelling playing us this week, Premiership ref Andy D'Urso ruled The Valley playing surface unplayable.

I was looking forward to a day in The Smoke but it'll have to wait for another time.

More seriously, it puts City's league programme into problem. They are set to be 4 games behind schedule due to postponements and face playing Saturday or Tuesday (Wednesday) for the rest of the season, international breaks apart and it may be worse if we progress in the F.A Cup.

Hope not but got a funny feeling this will impact on the club.

Cardiff City vs Birmingham F.A. Youth Cup tie rearranged

CARDIFF CITY should have been playing their 5th Round F.A. Youth Cup tie this evening at home to Birmingham City but with overnight and morning snowfalls accompanied by freezing temperatures, the cgame was postponed early today in the interests of safety.

The match is rearranged for next Tuesday (Feb 10th) with a 7pm kick-off under the Ninian Park floodlights ... subject to weather of course!

Charlton game awaits Friday decision

CARDIFF CITY's fixture at Charlton this Saturday is in danger of postponement with a lunchtime inspection scheduled tomorrow.

Although the worst of the extreme weather has passed in London and the Valley pitch is not in bad condition, it's the upcomign weather causing some concern. A Charlton spokesman explained, "Unfortunately, heavy rain predicted today (that was expected to shift remaining snow) hasn't materialised and the latest forecast around three hours of snow in SE7 from around 6am tomorrow (Friday) with temperatures predicted to reach minus four degrees on Friday night".

City, already, 3 due to fall 3 games behind the league schedule and with barely any free midweeks remaining this season due to rescheduled games can ill afford more disruption.

City vs Derby postponed

For the first time in almost 13 years, a Cardiff City home fixture fell foul of the weather in keeping with over half of the weekend's league programme.

It was doubly disappointing as supporter rumours of a frozen pitch in sub-zero temperatures were the theme of the week yet there was never a hint from the club of any danger until a midday pitch inspection was announced in the morning. A further inspection was called for 1pm bur postponement was eventually confirmed just after 12:40pm with an unplayable pitch and temperatures dropping again.

It was also likely to hit the buffers and it's a pity it wasn't confirmed earlier saving Derby's 750 followers a wasted journey and also many Cardiff fans too but both sides wanted to play and left it until as late as possible to gave the game every chance of going ahead. It just wasn't to be.

White Christmas? Keep on Dreaming!

Another blue skies, mild Christmas Day for South Wales ... much like any other year. It's unerring how the weather is now always very decent for the time of year on Xmas Day ... never cold, no chance of snow and it's simply a matter of whether it's overcast or sunny.

I don't think there's ever been a White Christmas in my life in these parts ... and I somehow suspect there never will be.

Still, that won't stop every Xmas Special on tv have snow blitzes!!!


MERRY XMAS EVERYONE

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

After the most rotten wettest summer I can recall inmmy lifetime, I (follishly) hoped that at least we might get an Indian Summer or a few dry days before the nights get dark but no chance.

So far, September has beeen even worse. It hasn't just rained every day, it's p*ssed down every day. My step-daughter's school in Barry (St Richard Gwyn) has shut since midweek as, for the secomd year running, it has flooded meaning she has effectively been on holidays again after just 2 days going back to school from the (so called) "Summer" holidays. Nice work if you can get it!

There's some photos on the effects of this rain in South Wales

on BBC website, many of them in the Vale of Glamorgan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7600984.stm

Cardiff's Gay Pride event has been cancelled ... so if we see plenty of pink and glitter at Millennium Stadium later when Wales play Azerbaijan ... thankfully a stadium with a roof ... I guess we'll know why.

YOU KNOW IT'S BEEN A SH*TE SOUTH WALES BANK HOLIDAY WHEN ... ...

... ... the biggest news in town is that a sign blew off a cinema!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7421123.stm

NIGHT-TIME AND IT's STILL BLOODY WARM

Not sure where this heat blast has come from but I'm sure enjoying it. 10:30pm at night and it's still 68 degrees outside.

BBC wesbite currently predicting it'll be almost 80 degrees in Barry and Cardiff this Saturday.

I'm loving it, loving it, loving it!

SUMMER’S HERE … AND SO IS MY HAYFEVER

Just typical!! The Bank Holiday is over, we head back to work and the sun comes out blazing with temperatures hitting 70 in South Wales and predicted to stay this way all week.

It’s days and times like this when I wish I was back working in Cardiff town … it used to be an absolute pleasure for any red-blooded male admiring some of the lunchtime sights walking down Queen Street even if we could only watch and wish!

A side-effect which affects so many of us these days in asthma and hayfever and I certainly suffer the latter. Not as bad as when I was younger – when my eyes and nose were so congested that I couldn’t see and had to regularly to walked home by mates from playing outside – but there’s still nothing worse than itchy eyes, a congested head and a nose that wants to run away.

Over the years, you name it and I’ve tried it. Jabs, tablets, eye drops, medicines, locking the doors and staying inside, head in buckets of water and nothing prevents it. The tablets around today seem to make it more bearable even though there’s something unpalatable about how it dries up my nose and creates snot harded so much that it’s like mini cannonballs and just as distracting.

And this is just the start – June gets much, much worse. But still, I’ll take this weather anyday.

If you’re a fellow sufferer, sniff sniff! You have my sympathies.

BEST WEMBLEY TRANSPORT - SKIS OR SLEDGES???

Blimey, snow and possibly heavy, is predicted for Wembley on Sunday!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?uk=4702

MY EARTHQUAKE HELL

It's rare I have a thought for the day or reflection but it has been a traumatic week.

An earthquake midweek, storms last night. It really makes you think. Add in all the news on TV lately about the hurricanes that America is experiencing, the typhoons in China, flooding in Switzerland and recent mudslides in South America.



Locally, I've been pre-occupied with Cardiff City - with its continuing misfortunes, its financial woes and the utterances of Ridsdale and Jones- we tend to regard this as a disaster and forget it's just a game.



All of this was brought home to me this week when I realised just how precious and important life is and what really matters to me.



Below is a photo illustrating the damage caused to my home from the earthquake that occurred all over the UK on Tuesday night. It's made me cherish what I have and reminded me not to take things for granted.



Peace be with you.