Preparing for winter II

Broomstick

I got the emergency kit for the car sorted out well in advance but realised that I could have done with a one-person portable kit to throw at DS1 when he left the house at -12 degrees at 7am this morning to attempt a 12 mile bus journey into town. At that time, the local bus company was saying that the buses weren't running. He managed to get one of the first that got through and if he doesn't stay with friends, he will try to do the journey back very late tonight after a party. People were stuck for hours on this route yesterday but he isn't at all worried about being properly prepared - I suspect it might be an age thing.;)

So, I reckon we could use something the size of a sponge bag that can get thrown in each of my boys backpacks containing: two spare pairs of socks (one can be used as extra mittens if needed), a bottle of water, chocolate/high energy snacks, one of the high visibility jackets and one of the space blankets from the car plus some spare cash. If it's in a zipped up container that doesn't take up much room and isn't heavy, I don't think I'd meet with much resistance.

Can anyone think of any other useful bits to add to a teenager-survival-kit to cope with a 'stuck on a bus for several hours late at night' or a 'needing to get out and walk home' scenario?

Many thanks
B x

NualaBuala

Mardatha ... am SOOOOO glad your son made it onto a bus! Fingers crossed he gets there safely without too much delay. Will they keep him in or how will he manage getting home?


We weren't set for more snow but has changed so that they are predicting some tomorrow. We got about 3 flakes last night (and not the chocolatey kind mmmm) but everwhere still has a very light dusting. It's -4C now, brrrr!!!

Edit: weird, just saw 3 big gulls swooping around outside, we don't really get gulls around here. The magpies who usually have the run of the place looked a bit shocked! Wonder what caused the gulls to come.

Edit within my edit: It's snowing!!!!

rachbc

i just has someone out to survey my wooden windows for draught proofing/ poss double glazing. He told me the dg like we want (wooden glazed panels made to match the original frames) is not worth the expense and that 85% of heat loss is through draughts and that thick curtains are as effective. Makes me happy we have thermal interlined curtain and can keep our lovely original windows without having to save up £20K to get them DG!

NualaBuala

Just as I thought I was getting all grown up and sensible ... I had been saying I didn't want more snow as worried I wouldn't make it to relatives for Christmas Day ... my inner child is bouncing around in excitement that we have more snow!

elisamoose

rachbc wrote: »

i just has someone out to survey my wooden windows for draught proofing/ poss double glazing. He told me the dg like we want (wooden glazed panels made to match the original frames) is not worth the expense and that 85% of heat loss is through draughts and that thick curtains are as effective. Makes me happy we have thermal interlined curtain and can keep our lovely original windows without having to save up £20K to get them DG!

We had secondary double glazing panels made to measure by a company called storm windows. They are great and invisible from the outside(listed building)! Not cheap but made such a difference.

sexki11en

Oh. Ok. There's the snow!

Just got back from y interview and it's been snowing for 4 hours - Bristol is currently grinding to a halt lol.

6 moe hours of the stuff forecast now :eek:

SK x

tiff

Its not snowing in Bristol any more and no more forecast for today?

NualaBuala

sexki11en wrote: »

Oh. Ok. There's the snow!

Just got back from y interview and it's been snowing for 4 hours - Bristol is currently grinding to a halt lol.

6 moe hours of the stuff forecast now :eek:

SK x

Silly me - I meant to wish you luck - hope it went well!

Kittie, are you the resident weather guru here? I would like to know from any of you who have your fingers on the weather pulse what is going on! My 3 websites - metcheck, netweather and accuweather all thought/think I'd have no snow today but it is falling fast and heavy! So I guess everyone (including me) has been taken a bit by surprise. I'm not complaining, I'll be fine - I reckon I could make it till next March or beyond if need be!

tiff

NualaBuala wrote: »

Silly me - I meant to wish you luck - hope it went well!

Kittie, are you the resident weather guru here? I would like to know from any of you who have your fingers on the weather pulse what is going on! My 3 websites - metcheck, netweather and accuweather all thought/think I'd have no snow today but it is falling fast and heavy! So I guess everyone (including me) has been taken a bit by surprise. I'm not complaining, I'll be fine - I reckon I could make it till next March or beyond if need be!

I've been following this forum for my family in Ireland

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=374

Primrose

NualaBuala wrote: »

I'll be fine - I reckon I could make it till next March or beyond if need be!

I've often wondered as an academic exercise how long we could survive on our freezer and storecupboard stocksif we really had to, and being practical, it's good to run everything right down every so often to ensure a regular stock rotation so that things don't get too out of date..

However, I don't think that's likely to happen in our household as my dear OH is manic about keeping us well stocked. One day I would really like to find exactly what's lurking at the back of our large food cupboard!. Unless we start being really disciplined about this it's not likely to happen until we get carted out feet first and some poor soul has the job of clearing the house out.! And I'm glad I won't be around to listen to all the comments like "They people must have been squirrels in a former life. Have you seen the amount of stuff they've got stored away ......:rotfl: (Oh dear, this is sounding just like my grandparents and parents. History is obviously repeating itself!)