Bullets 'n' Babes

Shingster wrote:Have you had the chance to visit Hokkaido in winter?

I lived one year in Hokkaido

Shingster wrote:

bradavon wrote:-27 is nothing, check out how cold it gets in Sibera (-40). Officially the coldest place on the planet. A place where hot water turns to snow instantly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11877471

You're not going to impress a Finn with that statistic, they only have to travel up North to get a feel of that kind of chill!

That's true. 28.1.1999 in Kittilä: -51.5

bradavon wrote:I was surprised when I was in Japan to find out they've no culture of central heating, getting out portable heaters in winter time. It gets bloody cold there too. Are you back home then Hung?

That's one thing I was disappointed with. Finnish houses are top quality and certainly keep you warm. Every room is heated (often including floor heating in bathroom), the corridors are heated, windows are made of a minimum of 2 but often of 3 layers of glass...

What I had in Hokkaido, a place that has almost equally long and snowy winter, was a window that was leaking cold air, a noisy gas heater (everything would be eletricity in Finland, and certainly not make a sound) and a bathroom that wasn't heated at all. I was freezing every morning when I took a piss

I set the room temperature around 21 celsious (slightly colder than in Finland) only used the heater while in the room, and paid approx. 4 times more than in Finland.

bradavon wrote:Are you back home then Hung?

Unfortunately. I have hopes of returning in 2012 for Master's, but for that I would have to reach university level proficiency in Japanese. That's a long way to go. And pass the entrance examinations.

HungFist wrote:I was freezing every morning when I took a piss

Just be careful you don't take too long as you might end up with an icicle sticking out of your knob!

We're off the east coast of Scotland so we get a lot of weather come in from the North Sea. It's cold, but not unbearable - as yet. The snow is about a foot (?) deep - I dunno, not good with measurements. Looks pretty - but is a pain in the arse to walk thru. The council haven't done anything with the pavements so you can imagine how difficult it is.

I just spent an hour at my bus stop freezing my ass off with about 30 people and have given up and come home. It's like an ice rink around here, queues of cars everywhere with people trying to push them. Gonna get a lift with my mum soon when she's off to work but I can see her little car having loads of trouble on the ice

Most of the snow here has melted or rained away, but it's still slippery out there.

I was up pretty early today because of my stomach, but now I feel a bit better. Will have to go out for a grocery-run with my mother, but hopefully the roads will be fine and I'll be home safe soon, so I can spend the rest of the day in bed or behind my PC.

HungFist wrote:That's one thing I was disappointed with. Finnish houses are top quality and certainly keep you warm. Every room is heated (often including floor heating in bathroom), the corridors are heated, windows are made of a minimum of 2 but often of 3 layers of glass...

What I had in Hokkaido, a place that has almost equally long and snowy winter, was a window that was leaking cold air, a noisy gas heater (everything would be eletricity in Finland, and certainly not make a sound) and a bathroom that wasn't heated at all. I was freezing every morning when I took a piss

Doesn't it on average get much colder though?

In The UK, central heating is pretty much the norm. I don't have it because my landlord was too tight to pay for it though but no one has floor heating. Windows tend to be double, not triple glazed. Mine are single glazed because it's a Georgian flat, so they're probably not allowed to mess with the windows.

Most bathrooms are heated. Mine isn't but I doubt I'd have it on, if it was. It costs a fortune to heat a building and I'm only in the bathroom for the minimal time possible (man up basically). I rarely have baths and shower instead. Girls like spending a long time in the bathroom. For me, it's a functional room. Nothing more.

We use a mixture of gas and electric heaters, most are electric. My bedroom window lets in a ridiculous amount of air, hence why it's like a freezer in there. I've been sleeping on the couch.

Does anyone know if you can buy something to fill in the gap between the window? Maybe some sort of poly filler. I won't be opening it until the spring, earliest.

bradavon wrote:Doesn't it on average get much colder though?

In the recent years the Finnish winter has been like Joel Schumacher's career. Last year was cold as hell... -25 when I went to MacDonalds during the Christmas break (briefly visited Finland cause I had "extra" fight tickets)... and I think it got even colder later. The preceding two years had been on/off... sometimes snowing, sometimes raining (that fucking sucks). I do remember some very cold winters when I was a kid... it was more consistent back then.

I only have Hokkaido experience for one year but the temperature was pretty steady, between -5 and -12. We had a couple of cold days with close to -20 but no rain and no cold-as-hell Finland experience. I really liked that.

Interestingly, for us the snow's gone and it was even sunny today but not warm. Japanese weather seems similar to UK weather.

Still cold and icy up here. Local football matches been cancelled again.

Markgway wrote: Local football matches been cancelled again.

hah, I saw some pictures from European football matches in the news... the chaos isn't just on the streets...

To my embarrasment I must admit Helsinki is also in a bit of a chaos at the moment due to heavy snow. Stupid southerners

bradavon wrote:but no one has floor heating.

My Japanese teacher does. The snow is still here where I live by the way, and iceeeee.

gasteropod wrote:

bradavon wrote:but no one has floor heating.

My Japanese teacher does.

Making good progress there, man. Already know all about her house

My lessons are in her house now

lol, I'm reading my (Finnish) friend's facebook status update... he was on his way to Dubai Film festival...

it's 3 a.m. and I'm finally at the hotel. The room is very nice. Too bad I'M IN THE WRONG FUCKING COUNTRY! Because of a severe snow storm, I got stranded in Riga, Latvia. It's over 40 degrees colder here!