Preparing for Winter V

fuddle

It is colder here today. The gritting truck trundled up the hill at 6am this morning and aside from a couple of frosty mornings it feels bizarre, certainly here, that winter is just beginning. It does feel a little late.

Both of our duvets are on the bed as of teatime. Our old very warm sleeping bags from our caravan are now on my DD's bed. They're currently drawing on a piece of old duvet cover to design their own quilt which will be painted with fabric paint and I'll turn the old bags into a quilt. It's keeping them out of mischief anyway and I k ow they'll be warm in the night until they're prettied and stitched.

mardatha

White frost here all day and the birds water is frozen solid. Going to be a cold night I think.

Siebrie

I am spending most of my days at home now, and I have discovered something.

We keep our temperature at 17C when we are in, and wear fleece or woollen cardigans and sweaters, and are snugly warm. We have spent ten days over christmas at my parents', who keep the thermostat at 21C. I did not pack my thick cardi, because I figured it would be warm enough there. But I wasn't!

So: low temperature + warm layers = warm. Just high temperatures isn't warm enough.

PipneyJane

Siebrie wrote: »

I am spending most of my days at home now, and I have discovered something.

We keep our temperature at 17C when we are in, and wear fleece or woollen cardigans and sweaters, and are snugly warm. We have spent ten days over christmas at my parents', who keep the thermostat at 21C. I did not pack my thick cardi, because I figured it would be warm enough there. But I wasn't!

So: low temperature + warm layers = warm. Just high temperatures isn't warm enough.

Exactly. The other factor is drafts. If your parents house is more drafty than yours - and where you sit for long periods is in that draft - you will automatically feel colder. Where I sat for years at work, 95% of my body would be warm enough to get through a day in the office without feeling cold. The 5% that wasn’t, was my right hand which caught the draft from the air conditioning, felt like ice and ached from the cold. Even in summer, I could often be found in a tee-shirt with a fingerless mit on my right hand.

(This doesn’t happen in my current role. I spend most of my working week in a portacabin, wearing leggings under my trousers because despite heaters, the bottom third of the cabin is always cold. On top I wear a jumper, a cardigan and a fleece, gradually stripping off as the cabin warms up. I have been known to wrap my coat around my legs when the temperature is sub-zero outside. The men in my team attempt to be “hard” and end up shivering before putting their coats back on.)

- Pip

SpikyHedgehog

PipneyJane wrote: »

Exactly. The other factor is drafts. If your parents house is more drafty than yours - and where you sit for long periods is in that draft - you will automatically feel colder. Where I sat for years at work, 95% of my body would be warm enough to get through a day in the office without feeling cold. The 5% that wasn’t, was my right hand which caught the draft from the air conditioning, felt like ice and ached from the cold. Even in summer, I could often be found in a tee-shirt with a fingerless mit on my right hand.

(This doesn’t happen in my current role. I spend most of my working week in a portacabin, wearing leggings under my trousers because despite heaters, the bottom third of the cabin is always cold. On top I wear a jumper, a cardigan and a fleece, gradually stripping off as the cabin warms up. I have been known to wrap my coat around my legs when the temperature is sub-zero outside. The men in my team attempt to be “hard” and end up shivering before putting their coats back on.)

- Pip

I work in a preschool and we are in and out of the garden all day (as we and the children should be :-) ) - I wear fleecy trousers with leggings or thick tights underneath, and warm socks and warm ankle boots. I was outside yesterday and didn't need my coat as I was well layered up. One of the other teachers went outside with a blanket wrapped around her legs - she had a pair of leggings on, thin socks and trainers, so nothing to keep the warmth trapped in.

I turned our heating up so 17 is the default for times when we'll be in and not asleep as DS1's lurcher who joined our family in October was really unsettled when the house was colder. He did have a 'hot' water bottle tucked under the mattress of his bed every night until he chewed a hole in it... Luckily DS1 found him in the act so took it away from him so he didn't swallow the bits or cause a flood on the landing :rotfl: My kingsized bedspread needs washing to remove dog hair and spilled makeup, but won't fit in the washing machine, so I've draped it over the banister on the landing to baffle the drafts and tucked old fleece blankets in his beds.

We have found a jacket that DS2 will wear! DS2 has autism and struggles with textures and noises of clothes, so coats and jackets are particularly challenging... DS got him a heavy weight black demin jacket for Christmas and he is actually wearing it when we take the dog out! It's quite embarrassing, walking over frosty grass in a thick coat with hat, scarf and gloves, the dog in his warm coat, and a 15 year old in a t-shirt! (A black t-shirt, of course.) Now to get him to a shop that sells walking boots as I really can't buy him footwear without his feet with me.

[Deleted User]

I think winter is in the process of arriving this afternoon! I think we've got all we need in place for a snow period and the milkman obviously thinks tomorrow might be difficult as he's left our two pints that we normally have on Wednesday this morning!

Princess_kate

No snow here in Cardiff as yet, forecast for a cold night and as it's been raining so much today the ice could be really nasty. I've put the bins out in hope they're collected tomorrow, we are still waiting for our christmas tree to be collected! Windscreen cover is on the car and I topped the screen wash up with the lower temp stuff I'd bought. I had done this already but then I got a new car so needed to put some in this one. I also bought a big bag of salt/grit on amazon as we have some steps up from the house and they're often icy, I'm 5 months pregnant so really don't fancy slipping on them, that has been sprinkled down before it gets dark and the temperature drops.

I watched the MET office forecast earlier and Thursday looks like it might get interesting!

How are you doing Mardatha?

mardatha

A bit of snow but not a lot, minus 6 last night and the car is a frozen white lump lol

cuddlymarm

It’s snowing here too. We don’t get it often as it doesn’t tend to like the sea air, luckily my online shop is due to arrive and it’s my day off so i don’t have to go out in it.
We’re due for the temp to drop like a stone later though so that might be interesting. Eek.
Keep warm and well guys
Cuddles

mardatha

We had to go up to the dentist -walking down street from the car
park to the dentist my throat closed up with the cold air, was quite painful. And my ears were agony! I should have had a scarf on.