A cold shorts snap for Chepstow posties

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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IT will feel “positively tropical” as the cold snap ends and temperatures return to near-normal levels next week, a Welsh weather forecaster predicted last night.

The prediction will come as welcome news to six Welsh postal workers who have been donning shorts for charity throughout the cold snap.

However, the disruption caused by the big freeze showed little sign of abating yesterday, as burst pipes flooded homes and cut off water supplies. Just hours after restoring the mains supply to 5,000 homes and businesses in the Maerdy area of Rhondda, teams of Dr Cymru Welsh Water engineers returned to the area to deal with two bursts on a water main in Trehafod.

Supplies to about 600 properties were affected and a spokesman for the company apologised to residents for the inconvenience.

He added that the two ruptures were not related to the problems at the Maerdy water treatment works, which began on Tuesday when one of the over-ground pipes bringing in water from a reservoir froze solid.

Firefighters were also kept busy pumping out homes in West Wales that were flooded when pipes burst.

Crews in Haverfordwest, Milford Haven and Fishguard helped a number of residents salvage belongings.

Jonathan Powell, senior forecaster for Abergavenny-based Positive Weather Solutions, said milder conditions are on the way, with temperatures reaching around 7C, slightly above average, next week.

But he warned there would be a return to colder weather at the end of the month, followed by snow in February.

While Wales has been wrapping up warm, five brave postmen and one postwoman from Chepstow have kept their promise not to wear anything longer than shorts on their legs.

Having donned them in October for six months, they plan to continue their marathon whatever the weather.

Veneshia Read, 42, of Portskewett, near Chepstow, a mother of three, said: “People give us strange looks and I have to explain we’re doing it for charity.

“When I get home I jump straight into a nice warm bath.

“All my customers keep telling me I’m mad, but I’m going to persevere – we all are.”

Joe Farrell, 62, said: “The other day a man stopped me in the street because he was shocked at my shorts.

“ I explained why and me gave me £20, there and then.”

The Chepstow postal workers are raising money for the Prostate Cancer Charity.

[stokes11eg]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... -22650418/

IT will feel “positively tropical” as the cold snap ends and temperatures return to near-normal levels next week, a Welsh weather forecaster predicted last night.

The prediction will come as welcome news to six Welsh postal workers who have been donning shorts for charity throughout the cold snap. Just thinking of the posties in their shorts, takes me back to the fifties and sixties when boys and girls alike, spent all year with their knees exposed! Remenber the painful chapped legs, that kept you awake all night? Good luck posties.

However, the disruption caused by the big freeze showed little sign of abating yesterday, as burst pipes flooded homes and cut off water supplies. Just hours after restoring the mains supply to 5,000 homes and businesses in the Maerdy area of Rhondda, teams of Dr Cymru Welsh Water engineers returned to the area to deal with two bursts on a water main in Trehafod.

Supplies to about 600 properties were affected and a spokesman for the company apologised to residents for the inconvenience.

He added that the two ruptures were not related to the problems at the Maerdy water treatment works, which began on Tuesday when one of the over-ground pipes bringing in water from a reservoir froze solid.

Firefighters were also kept busy pumping out homes in West Wales that were flooded when pipes burst.

Crews in Haverfordwest, Milford Haven and Fishguard helped a number of residents salvage belongings.

Jonathan Powell, senior forecaster for Abergavenny-based Positive Weather Solutions, said milder conditions are on the way, with temperatures reaching around 7C, slightly above average, next week.

But he warned there would be a return to colder weather at the end of the month, followed by snow in February.

While Wales has been wrapping up warm, five brave postmen and one postwoman from Chepstow have kept their promise not to wear anything longer than shorts on their legs.

Having donned them in October for six months, they plan to continue their marathon whatever the weather.

Veneshia Read, 42, of Portskewett, near Chepstow, a mother of three, said: “People give us strange looks and I have to explain we’re doing it for charity.

“When I get home I jump straight into a nice warm bath.

“All my customers keep telling me I’m mad, but I’m going to persevere – we all are.”

Joe Farrell, 62, said: “The other day a man stopped me in the street because he was shocked at my shorts.

“ I explained why and me gave me £20, there and then.”

The Chepstow postal workers are raising money for the Prostate Cancer Charity.