Preparing for winter II

nicki_2

Mummytoo - when you buy a tow rope, please invest in a decent one! A few years back I bought one from Homebar&ains and we had the unfortunate need to use it to get home one day. My dad met us and gave us a tow, but the hook part came away from both end of the rope so we ended up knotting the rope to the cars, THEN the tow point on the front of our car snapped off due to the stress it was being put under! In the end my dad and I ended up pushing it to my sisters house, my now-ex steered the car. We had to go across one of the busiest roads in Liverpool and then around a roundabout! To say I wasn't impressed is an understatement! One thing I will never scrimp on when I get my own car is the insurance/recovery service and stuff like the tow rope. I NEVER want to be in that situation again!:eek:

mummytoo

Thanks Nikki thats brill something i never really thought of. i just thought one of those things that one was kinda the same as the other!!! dim moment!!! It was one of these things last year when i was heavily pregnant. i got stuck doing the nursery run with dd which usually takes about 5 to 10 mins traffic depending when i noticed the petrol lite was on. The day before being pregnant (and having my pregnancy brain switched on ) i was bursting for the toilet on the way home from work when the light came on thinking oh I'll just get petrol in the morning as i had a hospital check up as well, turned out to be the worst mistake ever!! I was so unprepared for snow. When leaving in the morning to get petrol the heavens must have opened to be the worst snow storm ever without a word of a lie it took me from 9 in the morning to almost noon! without even reaching the nursery. Every street was gridlocked abandoned cars everywhere!! Panicking with no petrol in my little 107! I managed to reach the petrol station on the way to nursery when the floodgates opened!, Stuck with rubbish tyres and my little one in the back (no snow shovel no blankets nothing in the way of being prepared) My little girl was freezing. ( to cut a long story short I put on nearly 6 store with fluid etc in pregnancy I was 10 stone b4 that and had to wear size 20 clothes throughout the winter, this is defo not a boohoo story for sympathy just trying to let everyone to be prepared) well back to the story. I had to give my little one my coat to wrap around her. I was stuck wheels spinning smoke coming from my clutch holding up everyone behind me. So with no alternative, I had to get out and push. With no coat and heavily pregnant being almost impossible not to notice do you know not one person came out in the q behind me to help. Taxi driver going in the opposite direction actually shouted out windows best to push that on to the pavement!!! so we had to abandon ship and walk the rest of the way with no coat and silly wellys on!! to add insult to injury I fell right on my a** by the time we got back home I was crying! Sore! Wet! and my little precious DD asked ...... so mum when are you taking me no nursery!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAArrrggghh I felt like screaming!! Ds was born not too long after that and absolutely perfect!! So this year Im getting prepared!! xxxxx

mummytoo

Meant to say do you think I could store a jerry can in the garage with a litre or two with petrol incase of emergencies again so is that a definate no no!!

Sorry im clueless but learning from my mistakes !!!!!!!!!!!

bluebag

mummytoo wrote: »

Meant to say do you think I could store a jerry can in the garage with a litre or two with petrol incase of emergencies again so is that a definate no no!!

Sorry im clueless but learning from my mistakes !!!!!!!!!!!

When you've made as many as me we'll be talking turkey. I always have to learn by the repeated mess it up and do it again method.

I'm still here tho' so it's all good!:)

jem132

can anyone else think of anything i have missed off my list please

door curtain
wind up lantern
kichen curtains
salt in ice buckets by doors
hats and scarfs washed
get winter beding out
all got new welly boots
new winter coats
12 cartons of milk
30 bread mixes
loads of stocked up food
allmost all xmas presants
all new slippers
blankets on sofas

needs to get ds2 dressing gown from my mums
need to get new pjs

Rainy-Days

mummytoo wrote: »

Meant to say do you think I could store a jerry can in the garage with a litre or two with petrol incase of emergencies again so is that a definate no no!!

Sorry im clueless but learning from my mistakes !!!!!!!!!!!

You will be alright for that providing of course it is store in one of those proper petrol containers!

If you can get yourself into a mode of not letting your car drop below a quarter of a tank and then refill you should be alright. If it turns bad this time around I wouldn't even think about taking your daughter to nursery to be honest. You are better safe being at home, if possible.

I just find it astonishing that not one single person came to help you! My goodness what have we become as a society! Last two years during the winter, well we lost count of the amount of people we pulled out from ditches and stuck on the roads and lanes. We have a Discovery which has a separate dial which you turn and it puts you in to 'snow mode'. I suppose we could have a made a fortune helping people out but we didn't see it like that we just tried to do the decent thing and help someone in genuine need. On the flip side you need to know and understand how to drive a two ton vehicle like this in those conditions and worryingly some people just don't!

My Focus was for the most part locked away in the garage during the worst of it, I think it came out about 10 or so days later when the snow and horrendous driving conditions subsided. I will do the same this time around if I have to, which is another reason why I am doing as much as I can right now so if/when it does hit we are prepared for it.

The last two winters we had we were kind of prepared for. We had all the stuff but it was sort of leaving everything to to the last six weeks or so and having a mad rush then. We also did not have a snow shovel and OH cleared our driveway which is long and wide, I felt so sorry for him! This year is different for us in certain respects. We have dealt with things gradually since June buying things in and spreading the cost and things like the shed, gates, bird table and arbour have been done and protected from the elements for the first time in about five years. That itself gives me a sense of supreme satisfaction knowing that not only are they looking good they are protected from the absolute worst elements and damage. For us this is the first year in 30 odd years we will have slept in flannelette sheets. I am so looking forward to that. The ones from our childhood were those stripey ones! These are lovely, white and cosy. It is the littlest of things like that all of us should be able to look back on in pride and say we did that.

It's not about being smug, it's about protecting your home, looking after your things that you have bought and being safe, warm and well so that when it does come in you are not scratting about trying to do a make do and mend, the last place I want to be is in Sainsbury's trying to get out of the flpping car park because the roundabout is chock-a-block with everyone else doing the same thing and thinking I could be sat at home right now!

Red_Doe

I'm interested in the storage of cans of petrol or paraffin too. Years ago I worked in a petrol station in the days before self service (that's how long ago it was, lol )
and remember the tanker drivers explaining how, even though all precautions were taken at tank filling time, it's actually very hard for petrol to explode or catch fire unless you deliberately throw a naked flame into it. Even then it takes a long burning naked flame.
They could have been mistaken, but I'd be interested to know about storage because I am saving paraffin for my heater overwinter. It comes in plastic gallon containers and I'll be storing it in a cool, damp outbuilding.

Gigervamp

We keep a can of petrol for the lawnmower in the shed.

rosieben

Confuzzled wrote: »

... the main reason for supplying the link was the special tips portion as they are useful for those of us unsure about some things and their freezing qualities, such as if rice and pasta freeze ok etc
...

Sorry I wasn't trying to rubbish your link there's some very useful stuff there

the more information we have, the better :beer:

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Gigervamp wrote: »

We keep a can of petrol for the lawnmower in the shed.

We always did this too,for years with no problem.
Have moved now and don't need a lawnmower thankfully.
We never even thought about it though.
Although I did draw the line about leaving it in the garage as it was an integral one and I thought that that was too close for comfort and I did'nt literally want to add fuel to the fire :eek:.