Preparing for winter II

sammy_kaye18

toontron

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good ips (and welcome to the thread btw)
where in wales do you live??? as Im thinking your more north wales with your bottom of a mountain and very isolated description :D Im south, in a little prone to land/mudslides valley.

dazzle21

Just popping in as a long term lurker! To be honest, I think being prepared for winter is a great idea. I grew up in a rural area, and still live in one, however took for granted how much my parents prepared throughout the year for winter..until last year! Mainly to save money I am keen to prepare as I don't want a huge heating bill next year so every little bit of advice i can gather on lining curtains etc is fab! I will be stocking up on other things, as our nearest shop was inaccessible, and even the big tesco ran out of basics and was not restocked for 2/3weeks. I am expecting a baby the first week of January so don't want to be panicking that i have run out of something essential or that we are cold. Thank you to everyone who post their tips!

lutzi1

I always have a stock of bottled water say 40 litres or so in the house, because obviously water is the first thing we all can't do without. Not wishing to be morbid, but I've thought for a long time our reservoirs are very vulnerable to attack. Buying 20 bottles or so of Mr T's value water seems to me to be a very cheap insurance policy, and it's also useful when the water goes off round here anyway.

(BTW used a bottle of sparkling one morning when the water was off to wash my hair - hair felt gorgeous all day!!)

rosieben

lutzi1 wrote: »

I always have a stock of bottled water say 40 litres or so in the house, because obviously water is the first thing we all can't do without. ..

We came very close to losing our water supply when the pumping station was threatened by bad floods, thousands of people in the county were without water for days on end and the provision of water bowsers was patchy to say the least; since then I always keep a couple of large containers of water in the pantry.

Another major winter prep - I bought 2 packets of crumpets for the freezer they used to be a winter thing and though they're available all year round now, it just doesnt seem right eating them in summer!

toontron

richardc1983 wrote: »

Do you think were in for a bad winter toontron? Your very rural and must be aware of signs of nature.

I think Autumn has started very early I have also been participating on weather forums Heres some interesting links, its also going to turn wintry the next few days.

http://met-monkey.co.uk/weather.forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11800&p=237974#p237974

http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoforecasts/14%20day%20UK%20weather%20forecast.aspx

http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/

Now I have a friend who runs a weather forecasting company, and when the scare stories emerged regarding the terrible winter approaching, I got in touch with him. He said that a clear picture will not emerge until the end of October, they are, however, tracking the weather against previous years and he believes that at the moment it is panning out to be "no worse than last year" - whether you think this is good news or bad news is open to debate:(

Primrose

I think any kind of bread or bread substitute like crumpets, crackers, etc, as well as some bottled water are essential emergency store cupboard items. Never underestimate the lack of morale factor if one is forced to eat just fruit or vegetables in a freezing cold house where you couldn't get out to restock for several days because of bad weather. Granted you will not die of starvation but some good solid food inside you undoubtedly enables you to face your difficulties in a more cheerful frame of mind.

toontron

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

toontron

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good ips (and welcome to the thread btw)
where in wales do you live??? as Im thinking your more north wales with your bottom of a mountain and very isolated description :D Im south, in a little prone to land/mudslides valley.

I am south too!! At the top of a mountain!

parsonswife8

toontron wrote: »

Nope, indeed they are not, I agree, not everyone lives eight miles from the nearest shop (which is a post office), not everyone lives at the top of a mountain that is never gritted, and not everyone has a private water supply (because there are no mains), which runs off the electricity, and of course not forgetting that the supermarkets don't deliver here in any weather. We tend to have five feet of drifting snow here when we get it heavy. I shall from now on count my blessings.

It's your choice to live there and having lived there, you obviously expect to find yourself in that situation.
Many of us live in more urban areas, where we do not have experience of the kind of winter that we were subjected to last year. So trying to make better preperations before this winter comes, just in case it is severe again, doesn't lump us all in one basket as having "siege mentality" and I think that your initial post was very condescending and a little rude to be honest.

Minxy_Bella

toontron wrote: »

Now I have a friend who runs a weather forecasting company, and when the scare stories emerged regarding the terrible winter approaching, I got in touch with him. He said that a clear picture will not emerge until the end of October, they are, however, tracking the weather against previous years and he believes that at the moment it is panning out to be "no worse than last year" - whether you think this is good news or bad news is open to debate:(

It's bad news for me - last year was horrendous which is why I'm concerned it's going to be as bad again. I'm dreading my car getting frozen to the ice again - the brakes froze solid and cost me £250 to repair! I just haven't got that kind of money to lose!

Soubrette

toontron wrote: »

I am south too!! At the top of a mountain!

You're not squatting on Snowden are you:eek:

;)