Heating on yet?

Ha ha Mishap I love that one. My Dad was lilke that and nearly drove my Mum crazy. She always maintained that he shook hands with the kettle and the cushions first when he came in from work, before he greeted her (i.e. moved it from one place to another and then plumped up the cushions on the sofa to his satisfaction!!)

The joke in our house was: "Don't stand still to long, or Dad will put you in a drawer!"

this is for Elegran - just because she is such a nice lady

Thank you nanny1 I am getting embarrassed by the flowers (but it is very heart-warming)

Elegran never get embarrassed by loads and loads of flowers

Very mild here today, I'm sitting in a t shirt. (I do have the oven on mind you). The sun is shining and the back door open, you just don't know what it's going to be like from one day to the next.

Elegran what a lovely example of living life day by day.

Like Libradi I'm in Devon, so still enjoying mild weather, but I have had the heating on a few times in the evenings. I'm really looking forward to lighting the wood-burning stove soon.

i put my heating on last night, its getting chilly here in the east midlands and my house is old and gets cold late afternoon now. also wanted to check it worked ok as have moved recently.

Felt a lot warmer over the past couple of days. Actually slept with a hat on a few nights ago [like Scrooge!]. Does anyone ever ponder on what it was like in the past with no heating? Having said that, I can't ever remember feeling cold when I was a child.

Anyone have a word of advice about this problem of mine? My flat is in an old solid Grade 2 stonebuilt block and is not too hard or too expensive to heat. Last Autumn I had my sash and case windows renovated and draught-proofed. It seemed effective and also cut down outside noise. I had had reservations about having the panes double-glazed and took the technician's advice that more heat was lost via draughts than through the glass and anyway they would have been made much heavier. (living-room has 6 full-height traditional windows!) During the winter I then realised that I had a new problem. Fewer draughts mean more condensation! I am now thinking of installing a variation of conservatory (insulated) blinds plus radiator shelves and insulation as all the radiators are below the windows. I have no experience of de-humidifiers so would welcome any comments on my ideas please.

em, I remember having chapped knees the first winter I was in Dundee! I was used to the wet west of north Lancashire. Plenty of wind but not quite so cold. Usually. Then, when I was cycling between Dundee and Barnhill, the wind always seemed to be blowing against me along the Tay Valley whether I was going east or west! But I agree, I found Edinburgh much colder than Dundee even though it's further south. The lowest overnight temp we experienced in Edinburgh was –17°C in the early eighties. I forget which year exactly but our kitchen sink outlet froze up. Washing-up water had to go down the loo for a few days. And yes, annobel, Oxfordhire nights were often as cold as Edinburgh ones but the winters were shorter.

Our heating comes on for an hour each morning and then we switch it on as and when it's needed. None today so far as it is relatively mild but last week we had two very cold days and it did go on for a while.

Coldest I've ever been also involved cycling. Getting back for dinner in uni residence at the end of a 6-7pm lecture in St Andrews was a very chilly affair. As I said on another thread, Dundee is a relatively mild spot in the midst of surrounding cold.

crimson I remember freezing cold winters in Manchester when I was growing up; we piled coats on the bed for warmth and slept two or four to a bed. In the mornings we saw that Jack Frost had visited and left wonderful patterns on the windows. We had a coal fire and in the evenings the sitting room would get nice and toastie, but every other room was arctic.

Winter 62 - 63: waiting on the station platform to go into Edinburgh with my mother, my ankles were so cold I was almost in tears and my mum gave me a few quid to go and get some boots. That was a desperate winter!

I remember that winter well. The snow fell on Boxing Day when we were on our way home from spending Christmas with some friends and the car slid on the ice all the way home. I was at boarding school and we couldn't return for the Spring Term as the heating (such as it was) had broken down so school didn't open until February and by then I had caught mumps so I only did half a term - yipee! . I remember my Dad trudging through the snow with my sledge to fetch milk from the dairy a mile away. Gosh, that was a long time ago wasn't it?

62-63 walking home from school wearing my new grey mohair duffel coat. My home was at the top of one of the steepest hills in Dundee and I don't remember gritters and road clearing lorries in those days! The snow was DEEEP but I don't remember feeling too cold.

I do remember snow ploughs in the Borders even clearing minor roads and residential streets so that at least one line of traffic could get through. Only trouble was if your car was parked on the side of the street you often had a snowdrift right over it from the plough! Becuase we had coal fires Mum used to put the ashes on the front path and "our" bit of pavement. That way everybody dealt with their bit and you could walk along the pavements. Last year, for the first time, containers of grit/salt appeared at street corners in our village. The council clearly weren't going to do anything but I got a wheelbarrow, filled it and spread some all along the road from the corner of the road to our drive. One car stopped and the driver thanked me - I suggested that if everybody did their stretch, we would be able to at least get in and out. Ooooh - that could all be happening again soon!!!

We lived in Linlithgow where the loch was frozen for six weeks. The dog had a fine time trying to chase the water fowl which had trouble taking flight off the ice. Never succeeded in catching one, because as soon as she hit the ice, she spreadeagled in a most ungainly way.

em; I wouldn't be without a dehumidifier. First started using one years ago when we [like you] insulated our house. Now use it to dry my washing as well. Unfortunately it's one thing that has never come down much in price. Pity you don't live near me because I actually bought two more last winter [I won't bore you with the details] so they're now sat in my loft doing nothing. B&Q had them on offer last autumn. Everyone in my family [including the S.O.] uses one. No more mouldy walls!

Thanks Crimson - must investigate further. Does the size/capacity of the dehumidifier have to 'match' the size of the room?

grannyactivist; we used to put our coats on the bed. It used to really upset my dad who used to say 'it's poverty'....but I never remember not wanting to get out of bed because I was too cold [which is what happened to me last week]. Jack Frost on the windows was lovely! I used to have strange red marks on my legs from sitting too close to the coal fire...

It's all down to how many bedrooms you have, cause you keep it in a central place. Even though they're expensive they seem to last forever.

Winter of 62-63 was dreadful, I was working and had to get to the hospital very early which meant freezing conditions. Black stockings weren't sexy when the top of your legs got chapped. I remember being very cold as a child especially when there were no coal deliveries, we all had chillblains.

Chilblains - I remember those. Fortunately in the distant past. You don't see chilblain remedies advertised nowadays. I wonder if they will make a comeback as fuel bills rise.