How to keep warm

No snow in London Greatnan but it is quite cold.

I kept warm by taking a brisk walk to the supermarket and buying as much wine as I could carry and walking back.

Granted, not as arduous as shifting snow, but horses for courses

Good grief. I'd hate that much snow. In fact I'm not a snow fan at all. I can never understand why people spend a fortune to go skiing in winter when they go somewhere nice and warm instead.

My way of keeping warm and exercising is to dance 1940s strolls. 10 mins of the Charleston Stroll to Sing Sing Sing certainly gets your heart and lungs working.

Two hours a day in the garden raking leaves and taking them to the tip for the last week is keeping me warm and fit.

We only have one large hazel tree in our garden but next door has a HUGE sycamore close to our joint boundary and prevailing winds mean that most of the leaves land in our garden. At the front there is an avenue of forest sized trees, lime, horse chestnut etc and what the sycamore doesnt smother with leaves the horse chestnut etc cover.

Yesterday as I was raking a found a hibernating hedgehog, all curled up, it lay in my hand gently breathing so I tucked him away in a corner and piled lots of leaves over him/her It was a plump well-nourished looking hedgehog so I hope he/she will survive the winter.

My daughter would agree with you, she can't stand cold either, but she does suffer from Reynaud's Disease. She cannot understand why I have chosen to live in a ski resort! We do have very pleasant weather for many months of the year, and of course I go off to NZ for six weeks of our winter, and also take a snorkeling holiday in the tropics at least once a year.
I just love mountain scenery - my first house in France was high in the Pyrenees. I once went with a man friend to his house in Almeria and I cried when I saw that desert-like landscape.
I liked the Dordogne and Lot, but they were just too far from mountains.

This may sound odd, but it's a different sort of snow! Mr P and I spent one magical Christmas in Bavaria, deep snow, bright blue sky, mountains and forests.

On Christmas Eve (which is the big day out there) we went up the nearest mountain, which is quite a small one, and sat outside on the terrace with friends drinking Gluwein (sp?). As the light started to go, we watched as the lights came on in the village below, and all the church bells started to ring. We then went back down to the place where we staying and stood around the bonfire with more gluwein, as Father Christmas arrived on a horse drawn sleigh with a traditional band playing.

Sorry, rather drifted away from the "how to keep warm" theme!

Oh, I don't know, phoenix - I think the gluwein would keep me nicely warm - as long as I kept on drinking it.

Vigorous activity makes me warm but I cool down quite quickly. Unfortunately I couldn't stay active enough for it to keep me warm. I need warm weather or heating for that.

Tomorrow we are off to our French house for a week. It has been standing unheated for a month so will be very cold.

How to keep warm? electric blanket at night, during the day three layers of sweater, thick socks over tights and lighting the stove and keeping it burning well for thefirst 24 hours, after that the temperature begins to get to a pleasant level and in three days is nicely warm.

Phoenix , how very lovely that sounds . [Christmas smile ]

Well tis 1st Decenbre tommorrow

I find that my flat stays above freezing even if I go away for several weeks in the depths of Winter, but it is extremely well insulated. They know what they are doing when they build in this area.
Yes, the snow here is nothing like the stuff in England. I like to sit outside the hotel at the bottom of the pistes and have a hot chocolate while I watch the skiers performing impossible feats. When I drive home, the lights of the little villages are twinkling all along the valley and they sparkle on the snow. It is quite magical - I live in a picture post card.

or even December !

Enjoy your visit to France, flickety

Thanks, Bags, I will bring bck some wine and we can all share a Christmas glass. What do you prefer?

Wow that sounds amazing. I've heard that the snow is different so maybe if I went I might enjoy it. I can't stand the wet horrible stuff we have here which quickly turns into mucky sludge and sharp ice.

I'm a Sauvignon Blanc girl, thanks flick. I'll look forward to that.

flickety - It's a bit chilly in France at the moment - so glad you know the tricks of the trade in warming up. Have a great break away.

Sipping a chilled Sauvignon right now. My favourite, which I've recently discovered, is a white Rioja. Unfortunately unavailable in France.

Good claret is always acceptable too

Well we are only going across to Normandy so hopefully it will be no worse than here, and I also enjoy a good claret

My local supermarket has wines from around the world, including Spanish.

Yes, Leclerc, Leader Price and Lidl have 'world wines' - but not white Rioja sadly.

In winters sports person faced so many problems as how to keep warm but exercises variety make them to provide a natural lifestyle that include yoga and many more

On previous thread too!

Looks like I am following you around Ariadne, you having trouble sleeping too ? Went to bed at one but hadn't shut my eyes by 3.30 so got up again.

Just joined gransnet,but if anyone reads this,heres a useful tip to make snow shoveling much easier (especially WET snow!
Polish your snow shovel with car polish-the snow slides off easily then.(was given this tip while living in the Alps!)
if you can keep your shovel somewhere not too cold,even better!