Preparing for winter II

Fruball

Argos do cheap lined curtains plus you can 'extra line' them with fleece and a few safety pins. HTH

sammy_kaye18

toontron wrote: »

Maybe I find it odd because, as I said, I live in a seriously isolated spot, so its "normal" for us to have emergency things in place, we can get the snow here at the start of December, then generally off and on for a couple of months (DS had snow on his birthday this year - in April!). Basically if there is snow in Wales, it lands on me, so these things are just everyday to me. Obviously I dont have a clue where the other posters live, whether they are rural, semi-rural or in towns, but I am betting that there are very few on here that would have serious problems in the event of a few days bad weather.

TOONTRON

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Where in south Wales? I seem to get that feeling sometimes too.

Fingers crossed when I am paid at the end of the month I should have a fair bit left over (no chance of that this Thursday as its all allocated to bills and a much needed food shop!)

Definitely going to be keeping an eye out for a new fridge freezer as our freezer is tiny and that means we cant take advantage of meat deals/BOGOF etc as we have no idea if it will all fit in the freezer.

Hopefully what's left at the end of the month will be able to go towards some heat proofing/winter prep etc.

Didn't realise we have a rather large pound stretcher opened up and they have a lovely large shaggy red rug for £25.99 over there which I know seems a lot but doubt I'll find anything near that price and it will do for the boys sitting on and holly laying on too. Think for the boys I will definitely invest in some trays though for their dinner to go on because they seem so messy lately!

Also I've notice boyfriend keeps trying to sneakily steal my V shaped pillow that I cuddle into in bed, to the point I almost fell out of bed yesterday as he was taking it over. Think I will get a good few more extra pillows for our bed as we only tend to have one pillow each but since I have my V shaped pillow boyfriend seems comfier snuggled into it so might be a good investment plus will provide extra warmth too .

Soubrette

toontron wrote: »

Maybe I find it odd because, as I said, I live in a seriously isolated spot, so its "normal" for us to have emergency things in place, we can get the snow here at the start of December, then generally off and on for a couple of months (DS had snow on his birthday this year - in April!). Basically if there is snow in Wales, it lands on me, so these things are just everyday to me. Obviously I dont have a clue where the other posters live, whether they are rural, semi-rural or in towns, but I am betting that there are very few on here that would have serious problems in the event of a few days bad weather.

I live in a small town not half a mile away from a main A road. Last winter I was totally embarrassed by how many shops/schools shut down because of a smattering of snow. A colleague was apparently unable to make it into work from the nearest city of Bristol to us, up said A (mostly ploughed and salted) road which runs through the middle of Bristol.

I shall definitely be stocking up on dog food and making sure we're well stocked on cooking salt (couldn't buy it for love nor money until about March!!). Otherwise I like the tips on keeping warm and people's stories

carriebradshaw

toontron wrote: »

Maybe I find it odd because, as I said, I live in a seriously isolated spot, so its "normal" for us to have emergency things in place, we can get the snow here at the start of December, then generally off and on for a couple of months (DS had snow on his birthday this year - in April!). Basically if there is snow in Wales, it lands on me, so these things are just everyday to me. Obviously I dont have a clue where the other posters live, whether they are rural, semi-rural or in towns, but I am betting that there are very few on here that would have serious problems in the event of a few days bad weather.

I'm in the Scottish highlands and it doesn't wait til December to snow or freeze up here either, From my house to the nearest town it's 60 miles & a lot of that is single track roads so it's quite hazardous for most of the winter,not to mention the blizzard conditions and white outs,if the snow is really bad the roads do get closed.The hard frosts are very hard indeed,some days it doesn't lift at all.We also get a lot of powercuts during Winter time as well, had a few small ones only this morning and it's only September.

It's normal to be for me to be prepared too and that's what this thread is all about,I still enjoy reading and contributing tothe thread though, as I hope you will.There's quite lot of people on here that are rural and semi rural and if they prepare well, then they won't have any problems,hopefully.Remember last Winter was quite a long and icy one,not just a few days.:D

rachbc

toontron wrote: »

Maybe I find it odd because, as I said, I live in a seriously isolated spot, so its "normal" for us to have emergency things in place, we can get the snow here at the start of December, then generally off and on for a couple of months (DS had snow on his birthday this year - in April!). Basically if there is snow in Wales, it lands on me, so these things are just everyday to me. Obviously I dont have a clue where the other posters live, whether they are rural, semi-rural or in towns, but I am betting that there are very few on here that would have serious problems in the event of a few days bad weather.

I think the tips on keeping warm etc are great and I do keep a good store cupboard at all times but I definately don't 'stockpile'. As a city girl we generally just ride it out - even during this years bad weather we were never trapped or went without.

However we did travel to my parents in the middle of nowhere and when we got stuck in the snow up the ungritted lane I was very grateful to have prepared - my wlaking boots and warm clothes were to hand, torch ready to go and snacks, drinks and blankets for hubby and kids to wait in the car whilst I walked 2 miles up the get get my dad and his landy to rescue us!

its all about striking a balance that suits you I guess...

Charis

toontron wrote: »

Sorry, its the siege mentality that I find amusing. I quietly prepare for snow weather, I live in an isolated farmhouse, if we get snowed in it can very often be for two weeks at a time, generally a good week of that will be without electricity as well. We just get on with it, so, no, I won't be caught out.

Trouble is, if you live in town, you get funny looks if you have dried goods stuffed behind the sofa or if you try to persuade your nearest and dearest that they should plan ahead. Earlier this year the supermarkets were stripped bare here in two days because the delivery lorries couldn't/wouldn't get through the snow. We've got too used to everything being there when we expect it.

maryb

I don't feel it's ridiculous to talk through what we can do to avoid the stress of finding oneself unprepared for the weather. Like Frugal, I got caught out in a sudden snowstorm last year and it took hours to drive home with DD2 from the dentist, less than 3 miles away. Because my phone wasn't charged I couldn't let them know at home and they were worried. Now I have it on my list to make sure that I keep an old PAYG phone in the car with a car charger so if it happens again (and we're talking monumentally inadequate council here so it could well happen with just a little bit of snow such as we normally get in London) we can let each other know.

Because of where you live it may be second nature to make appropriate preparations, most of us are a long way behind.

In any case, a lot of the chat is about how to keep warm without going berserk with the central heating - that's valid for any winter, mild or severe

sammy_kaye18

Charis wrote: »

Trouble is, if you live in town, you get funny looks if you have dried goods stuffed behind the sofa or if you try to persuade your nearest and dearest that they should plan ahead. Earlier this year the supermarkets were stripped bare here in two days because the delivery lorries couldn't/wouldn't get through the snow. We've got too used to everything being there when we expect it.

Agreed - I worked in the main shop in our village (a la coop) the only other shop is a small spar and with a village population of 5,600 (max) it gets very busy and as said before two of the three roads out of our village are prone to mud slides etc. The shop was manic and some residents hysterical because our delivery lorries couldn't get through and with the snow all the buses had stopped so we were basically deserted unless you could drive but we had a lot of pensioners refusing to leave their houses so the local village group came in brought as much bread/milk etc as they could and distributed between our elderly residents. 60% of my day besides serving on till was answering the phone with people enquiring if the delivery had made it and could I put items aside for them. Luckily any delivery gets offered to staff first (which is harsh) but I was thankful that it was there.

As for dried goods behind the sofa - mine will be boxed up under my bed. mostly tins and packets I expect though although hollys bed is quite far off the floor still so plenty of space to store a few bits under there as well but need to keep in mind that I will need not only adequate dog food storing space but also nappy storing space too!

Primrose

Well I do think it's sensible to plan ahead. Even those who are not in a rural situation could possibly find themselves in difficulty if we have snow this winter, even if they're drivers because a lot of councils may have to cut back on road gritting if they're having to make 25% cutbacks.

So it does make sense to stock up on the basics in case there are delays in deliveries getting through to shops and supermarkets. And that includes remembering to stock up with pet food so that the animals don't go hungry, and bird food too if you feed birds in winter. And even if you've never made bread before, (and we hadn't until a couple of weeks ago), getting a packet of bread mix in and a loaf tin and experimenting with making bread at home so you've got the kit available in an emergency.

Kitchenbunny

We were only just commenting on seeing the last weather report about how cold it seems to have got quite quickly. And I'm seeing how the nights are drawing in and the mornings darker when I get up - it reminds me that it's time for me to start getting more vitamin C into my diet. I'm trying to eat more fruit and veg to help my Vitamin C levels and try to make myself a bit more resistant to colds.

Beyond that, I'm stocking up the freezer with ready meals. Whether we have a winter of discontent, a winter of discount tents, a bad winter or a mild one, I'm trying to be ready.

KB xx