Preparedness for when

lovefullshelves

We're at about 17 degrees in most of our place, the living room is warmer with the log burner I refuse to put the electric heaters on till there is a frost! I have jumpers and aren't afraid to wear them!
At least when we lose power (twice so far this year) we're used to just having the woodburner. And it makes DS far more sociable! I used to love it as a kid when the leccy went out. Its so peaceful. And I still love it now! But OH is attached to it so would complain if I suggested playing 'powerdown'!
Sorry I've been quiet recently, finding out this here farming malarky is harder and more stressful without dad about! And I've been filling the shelves with jars of apple and grape related things!
x

pineapple

Nargleblast wrote: »

I heard it on the news recently (when the energy companies announced their latest price rises, the barstewards!) that during cold weather it is advisable to keep living rooms at 21 degrees and the rest of the house at a minimum of 18 degrees.

Can you hear me having a laugh from here? How many people on a basic wage or pension can keep their home heated to this temperature? More so if you are home all day.

Its going on 6.30pm and my lounge is 15 degrees. I've been out and my feet feel like blocks of ice. But it didn't bother me earlier. I think I read somewhere that your body temperature drops later in the day so maybe that's why I feel it more in the evening.
Anyway I believe that some hypothermia deaths are due to people not realising how much their body/basal temperature has dropped so maybe one way of prevention is to keep track.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/hypothermia-management/206156.article
In the absence of a hunky guy, I get under a heavy throw with a hot water bottle when I feel cold!

Nargleblast

jko - the butter in the bread mix just acts as a conditioner/flavour improver. If you leave it out the bread is perfectly edible but in my opinion not quite as nice. You can also use the same weight in oil if you prefer.

Pineapple - re keeping warm, a lot of it is common sense. make sure your home is as well insulated as possible (draught excluders, door curtains etc), wear lots of layers of clothing, eat warm. comforting food, have hot drinks, use hot water bottles, all the usual stuff that most people know anyway. And I agree, although we can currently afford to heat our living area to 21 degrees, I do begrudge having to put the thermostat up because I can see in my mind's eye that little meter whizzing round..... I know many older houses are not as well insulated as modern ones. I don't know how much longer the energy companies can keep putting up prices - did you notice, when they were being grilled in Westminster the other day, not one of them could give a straight answer to the question about how they can justify huge salaries and bonuses when their customers are struggling?
Perhaps we should all emigrate to warmer climes?

[Deleted User]

It's now over 72 hours, and the LED Lantern is still putting out light.

Odd thing is, it doesn't seem to have got any dimmer, over the last 24 hours :huh:

GreyQueen

JayneC wrote: »

I told my kids that they could just put me in the wheelie bin when I die. I said well I won't mind I'll be dead. They didn't think that would be allowed!

They're right, it wouldn't; you'd make a terrible mess inside the compacter lorry.

Although it is perfectly OK to put dead urban pigeons into the on-street council bins (I asked the Grand Fromage in charge of these things).

dragonette, the safe temperatures for indoors have been elevated a lot since my young day. Have we as a species changed? I'm running a bit hot atm (think I've started the change of life) but I judge coldness by my nose; if I dab the back of my hand onto my snout and it's cold to the touch, then it's time for more layers or the heating on.

As we speak, I have the kitch and the living room windows ajar (they're opposite each other) and am enjoying a cooling thru draught. No heating on but I like to let the humidity out esp as I'm drying laundry.

That said, I am in southern England, where we've had a goodish day of reasonable temps and brief fast-moving showers. Weather did get a bit windy late Saturday evening but it blew over during the night.

I guess indoor temperatures are variable according to the age and health status of the people in the room. If I'm too hot I struggle to sleep and have weird dreams involving mucho scariness and tend to wake up with a yelp.

elaine, I often feel out of step with the general pre-occupations of my peers and wider society. People queuing all night to buy the latest idiot phone? And regarding home decor as something to be re-done for fashion? I'm contemplating changing the pix inside two of my three pic frames in my sitting room, as I feel that two of my photos of mountains could be retired to the album. If I see a cheap but "me" bit of art in a chazzer, I may get it and re-frame it.

If not, I've got my eye on some pic calendars but want to see if they'll be reduced after New Year. There's no rush and one mustn't spend £2 willy-nilly.

In life, it's not possible to be sympatico with all of the people, all of the time. I just try to bumble about my business without attracting attention or causing annoyance to the citizenry. I would be happiest if no one noticed what I was doing at all, and have always been a tad vexed at being so tall as it's appalling to be so easily recognised.

Gawd knows why some people want to be famous, it'd be my worst nightmare.

fuddle

As you know I'm north eastern but was down South when the winds hit last week. I would say that there is an awful lot of very tall, dense trees growing in heavily populated area.

The winds were nothing that I haven't experienced up north but I can't ever remember being concerned too much about tree danger and loose slates in close proximity to me. The trees down there are monsterous in size.

VJsmum

We heat our house to 19 degrees in the winter.

If we sit and watch TV then we have fleece blankets on us.

I really don't understand people who have the heat pumping out and sit in shorts and t shirts. we did a bit of house hunting last weekend and went in several such houses. I don't get it, they might as well be burning fivers.

In the daytime, even in winter, it has to be bliddy cold for anyone to sit with heating on - and I mean snow cold. Because I sometimes work at home sat at a table doing lesson plans or marking, I can get cold but I have found lighting a few candles makes a heck of a difference as does wearing something on my feet against the wooden floors and having a fleece blanket over my knees.

ALIBOBSY

Thanks, interesting experiment BB. TBH if the power was off for a prolonged period that LED lantern would cover a fair few evenings as obviously you could switch it off when its daylight. Shows how energy efficient those LED lamps are really.

Went to the cinema today as DD2 is 6 tomorrow. Did the kids am thing at vue so just £1.75 each, bargain. Had a good time and took in our own popcorn and sweets so cheap trip out and the kids enjoyed it.

On the way out spotted the Dr Who 50th ad as the are showing it in 3D at cinemas on the 23rd as the TV show airs. TBH I had decided it would be too much hassle messing with babysitters and refuse to pay online booking fees. BUT we stood and looked at the poster and OH looked at me and I looked at him and next thing I know we are in the queue to book the tickets lol.

OH was more a fan of the original Dr Who, but David Tennant put him off a bit.

OH said he had tried to think of something to do on our anniversary at the beginning of Dec, but when he saw the poster he knew I would love to go to that for a treat-that and the fact he couldn't resist seeing Daleks in 3D on the big screen. Nearly 16 years and he knows me so well lol.

Lucky for us parents are available to babysit so we are all set.

Ali x

[Deleted User]

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

TBH if the power was off for a prolonged period that LED lantern would cover a fair few evenings as obviously you could switch it off when its daylight.

Plus, batteries tend to "recover" a bit, when switched off for a number of hours.

For this experiment, the lamp has been on non-stop, whereas, in a real life situation, you are probably talking 8 hours on, then 16 hours off, perhaps even only 6 hours on, 18 hours off.

ALIBOBSY

RE the temp thing I remember watching or reading something where they said when red wine says to serve at room temp it actually refers to the temp of houses from the 19th century so "room temp" means around 14-18 degrees c.

So for healthy people I can't see a temp somewhere in that sort of range being an issue. We have kids tho, 1 under 3 and I have asthma. So we have to watch it being too cold.

Today it was cold so we had a blast of the heating this morning about 30 mins around getting up and dressed times. We then were out at the cinema and even when we got back it wasn't too bad till about 3. Had another blast for 15 mins or so and just having a blast for about the same now for the kids to go to bed.

Once they sleep we get under blankets and try to avoid using it again. TBH on really cold days we will go to bed early and watch TV in bed.

My mum and dad are funny. Sometimes we go around and its freezing and they are sat in the dark, but with a massive TV blasting in one room and a laptop and second TV in the other room. Then they book a cruise costing 2500 each lol. So they sit their shivering in the dark to save pennies, but splurge thousands at once on the various holidays and cruises they go on every year. I suppose it makes sense to them, as mum says at least on the ship its free heat and electric lol.

Ali x