Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

jk0 wrote: »

Your posts are interesting and informative as usual GQ.

Regarding the boiler parts, would it be worth suggesting to the council that they keep a stock of common parts for the boilers in their properties?

(I do the same to a lesser extent with a few storage heater spares and immersion thermostats.)

The gas engineers are a private company and although they have some stock, they don't have a huge inventory. Thing is, there are lots of different kinds of boilers as they have been installled at different times over the years, and inventory is dead money to a private company.

Every time we come into Dec I dread a re-run of Dec 2010. It went badly until nearly Xmas and my team were being run ragged. Plus no one this far south can seem to go up even a modest slope in snow. I was told how by a Scot; put it in 2nd gear and ride the clutch. Have seen a Tr@nsit van crabbing sideways on a modest slope in this not-particularly-hilly city. Kind passers-by rallied together to give it a shove on its way.

Parts of my job are fairly predicable according to the weather; wind = panel fences down, tiles off, trees down. Heavy rain = gullies not coping, roofs leaking. Fog = shunts and debris/ oil on the highway.

I like my job enormously, although some of the public test our patience to breaking point at times. I have been accused of having the patience of a saint, which isn't strictly true. I'm just calm and soothing under pressure, even if inside I'm sometimes yelling !!!!!!!!!!:rotfl:

thriftwizard

Thinking about those winters - I just remember '62-'63 & have heard my mother's tales of '47, when she was a 21 year-old with a sick newborn baby in a vast & draughty vicarage with no money whatsoever to heat it - there are some significant differences in how we lived then & how we live now that will probably not be beneficial to most people. An awful lot of the housing stock built in the 70s, 80s & 90s is very poorly insulated. I worked for a while in a "sheltered" housing scheme built in the late 80s that was almost guaranteed to kill half the inhabitants as soon as it got cold; it relied completely on circulated heat blasting continuously from two boilers which would stop as soon as the power supply was interrupted. There were no back-up generators. The windows were single-glazed & huge, most tenants had nothing but floaty nets "to make the most of the light" and lived in what was essentially one big room with little corners carved out for kitchenettes & shower-rooms. So not possible to make a cosy corner, and no storage whatsoever for anything beyond a couple of days' worth of frozen meals. And if the power did go out, as once or twice it did whilst roadworks outside were underway, not only did the poor tenants freeze, their food was spoiled. However, their tendency to act like the cast of EastEnders in an emergency didn't work in their favour, either.

I grew up on the edge of Dartmoor. Our village was cut off from the rest of the world, apart from a couple of helicopter food/medicine drops, for 6 weeks in '62-'63. And we all survived, including the elderly and a family who lived in caravans; the younger generation had to abandon their posh mobile home & move in with Granny in her vardo, though. It wasn't that long after the war & rationing, and everyone had a larder of preserves, and people shared without question & without resentment, despite some family feuds of many years' standing. We were lucky enough that District Nurse & Dr. Hugh Jolly (of baby fame) both lived in, or very close to, the village so there was medical care available - all in huge centralised surgeries now - and the tiny village schoolroom still had a huge stove; I can remember placing our boots round it in a big circle & watching the snow slide off them. I think that was all the warmth some people had, but the cob cottages with 3' thick walls & thatched roofs never really got that cold, although they might have felt it as they were always damp.

Would people share in the same way now? Would they have anything to share? Would the doctor trudge miles over frozen fields to get to someone he couldn't reach by road (Dr. Jolly did) or the school be open at all if the temperature was below 15℃? Would thin-skinned detached "executive" houses with little insulation & cavernous garages taking up much of the ground floor be much shelter if there was no power to keep the boilers going?

[Deleted User]

Good post THRIFTWIZARD and I suspect we'll find out just how life will be disrupted this coming winter. I suspect some people will be prepared a little, some people prepared a lot and some not at all in every respect. I know we would share as we have the stove in the lounge and would always let friends and neighbours come in to get warm, I would certainly share supplies if the alternative was for them all to go hungry in a major way but I wouldn't just hand out all my stocks in storage to just anyone, it is a hard way to learn a lesson on being prepared, to go without, but it needs to be experienced first hand to effect a change of attitude. I would most certainly help some of our oldest residents as much as I could if they would let me, but as most of them are very independent minded individuals it's by no means a given that they would accept the help, Cheers Lyn xxx.

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

I was told how by a Scot; put it in 2nd gear and ride the clutch.

Not quite the way I'd do it.

2nd gear, minimal throttle, and feed the clutch in gently.

Once moving, just enough throttle to keep the vehicle moving.

Riding the clutch will wear it (and the thrust bearing) out in no time.

GreyQueen

Interesting post, thriftwizard.

I've never lived anywhere nearly as remote as Dartmoor but we did spend our earliest years in an early 17th century cottage with very thick walls. Dad and I had a "walk" online around the one next door to what was ours (we rented it) and compared how ours was, back in the day, to this expensively-improved one.

Our cottage had originally been one room downstairs with a large fireplace at one end, a staircase at the other with a larder underneath. Staircase went around a tight bend and into main bedroom, smaller bedroom off the main room and a sort of ladder/ stair into a fully-boarded attic with a window in the gable end.

At some point it had acquired a grown-on kitchen under a catslide roof but there was no bathroom when we had it, and the only plumbing was a cold tap in the kitchen, and the only heating the one fire.

I was born there and so was kid bruv. We're both wintertime babies. The folks used to keep me downstairs with them until they went up to bed, me in the carrycot and then just put the carrycot into my cot. I was never a sickly snotty child, either. We moved not long after kid bruv was born when we got a council house. That was much bigger and much colder but it did have indoor plumbing. Luxury or wot?

Mind you, that cottage only cost £1 old money a week when Dad earned £16 a week. You can buy the one next door, mucho improved, for £350,000.............!

I think a lot of modern housing is appalling and won't be able to be retro-fitted for more sensible living such as woodburners. When we pass the era of affordable gas (give it a couple of months) people will be left with leaky boxes made of ticky tacky.

Enjoy Pete Seegar's Little Boxes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlSpc87Jfr0

Proof positive that devastating social commentary can be delivered in a non-aggressive way.

[Deleted User]

Although alive in 62-63, I'm too young to remember it.

I do remember subsequent bad winters, with several inches of snow on the ground, which, unlike nowadays, didn't lead to the schools being closed.

I remember getting up to a freezing cold house, the result of an unlit coal fire, and ice on the inside of bedroom windows.

I remember frozen water in the toilet cistern (a high up wooden one, with a pull chain) and, on some occasions, frozen water in the toilet bowl.

I also remember using newspaper, in place of toilet paper.

Perplexed_Pineapple

I wasn't around in 62, I seem to remember some pretty bad winters in the 70s and early 80s though, and ice on the inside of the windows, although not in the toilet bowl :eek:
Things that have changed for the better include more double glazing, free loft and cavity wall insulation for the needy, more efficient gas CH boilers. Most places are utterly dependent on gas for heating and we would struggle to heat the house without it, although we wouldn't freeze with plenty of layers on and at least the means to have a hot meal. Lots of our neighbours have Land Rovers and other 4x4s for work on the farms and we're unlikely to become completely cut off as a community. I do have the feeling that this winter is going to be bad, although couldn't tell you why.

Butterfly_Brain

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Although alive in 62-63, I'm too young to remember it.

I do remember subsequent bad winters, with several inches of snow on the ground, which, unlike nowadays, didn't lead to the schools being closed.

I remember getting up to a freezing cold house, the result of an unlit coal fire, and ice on the inside of bedroom windows.

I remember frozen water in the toilet cistern (a high up wooden one, with a pull chain) and, on some occasions, frozen water in the toilet bowl.

I also remember using newspaper, in place of toilet paper.

I remember ice on the windows and was 4½ in the winter of 1962 but I can still remember it. Dad actually had to burn furniture to keep us warm, we only had an open fire,a gas fire in the kitchinette and a paraffin stove for Mum and Dad's bedroom.

VJsmum

GreyQueen wrote: »

Enjoy Pete Seegar's Little Boxes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlSpc87Jfr0

Proof positive that devastating social commentary can be delivered in a non-aggressive way.

I love this song - it is so apt and with great foresight. We did a bit of house hunting last weekend and this song was buzzing round my head the whole day. LOL and I work in university

Butterfly_Brain

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

I wasn't around in 62, I seem to remember some pretty bad winters in the 70s and early 80s though, and ice on the inside of the windows, although not in the toilet bowl :eek:
Things that have changed for the better include more double glazing, free loft and cavity wall insulation for the needy, more efficient gas CH boilers. Most places are utterly dependent on gas for heating and we would struggle to heat the house without it, although we wouldn't freeze with plenty of layers on and at least the means to have a hot meal. Lots of our neighbours have Land Rovers and other 4x4s for work on the farms and we're unlikely to become completely cut off as a community. I do have the feeling that this winter is going to be bad, although couldn't tell you why.

I have that feeling as well there are so many berries on the bushes. If there are power cuts then the boilers will not work. We have been saving for years for a multi fuel stove and it is being fitted on the 20th :j
We just need to stock up on coal and wood now
Got some logs and kindling in Aldi this morning, but they had no coal which miffed me so we are going up to our local farm shop because he does coal up there at a good price and if you buy more than 5 bags he gives a good discount and I love his eggs, fruit and veg.