I really do despair of folk these days and keep hearing the doom and gloom news about people being unable to afford to heat their houses. For heavens sake, we didn't have central heating or double glazing or cavity wall insulation when we were kids and didn't freeze to death. I walk into my friends houses and the wall of heat hits me like an oven and I could throw up. For Pete's sake toughen up and stop blimmin whingeing. I see the young folk wandering about their homes with t shirts on moaning about being cold?????? Put a jumper on... or two if you need to. If you really must heat your homes then turn the thermostat down a bit.. or a lot. You'll be a lot healthier for it. We light the wood burner if it's really cold and it's enough to warm our house right through. If it's exceptionally cold we do put the heating on to warm the house if we have friends coming over. We do realise most people aren't as hardy as we are. Kids spend so much time in their centrally heated bedrooms.. Turn the damn heating off upstairs and spend some time in one warm room together. Play cards, board games or watch a film together. Put the heating on for fifteen minutes before bed time and set the timer to come on fifteen minutes before you get up to warm the upstairs if you really must.
Rant over....
I quite agree, Cherie - when we were kids, the bedroom windows had ice on the inside of them on winter mornings, and we used to get dressed in bed under the covers. We had no central heating, only a coal fire in the lounge and paraffin heaters upstairs (smelly old things). We put our C/H on only when it's really cold, we have fleece or crochet blankets to put over our laps in the lounge, and hot water bottles for the beds, with a blanket for on top of the duvet if it's exceptionally cold. You're right, we're all too used to having everything on tap, so to speak, nowadays.
ReplyDeleteWe're an altogether tougher generation Sooze.
Deleteyou do make me chuckle , its that Northern attitude ...call this cold ? you aint lived till the bloody toilets frozen and you dont notice then flush it .
ReplyDeleteAye.. tis grim up north :-)
DeleteHere here. We had ice on the inside of the windows in the 60's before we were lucky enough to get double glazing and only a coal fire in one room.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
Snap. We were the same.
DeleteUnfortunately, most rented homes / apartments in the US do not have any fireplaces/wood stoves, etc. My parents had a wood stove installed in the 70s and it was a god-send during the winter months. For 16 months we lived in a 4 room cabin on a mountain in New Hampshire and ALL we had was a wood stove to heat, propane gas for cooking and until my parents found a house to buy, we used a chemical toilet or got dressed and used the little 'outside' house, lol. Yes,I would rather put on a sweater then up the heat; I can't take the heat too high and my man always putting the heat up at night and I go and turn it down and we go around and around...
ReplyDeleteThankfully neither Tony nor I feel the cold so it's just a case of an extra jumper unless it's really really cold.
DeleteSensible advice. I too remember being cold as a kid and having earaches. Big old uninsulated two story house heated with a free standing oil burner in the living room. No heat upstairs. Windows with hoar frost all winter. A cold water pump in the kitchen; outhouse out back. A long walk to school wearing stockings, as girls had to wear dresses not pants. Ah, the good old days. Not.
ReplyDeleteWe were fortunate to have hot and cold running water. That is the one thing I would really miss if we didn't have it.
DeleteVery good advice, try living in japan were we put up with earthquakes and typhoons what would they do then!! Run for the hills to the nearest volcano!! Softies
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