Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

We're in a small rented top-floor flat, all-electric, so no wood or oil stocks here! 

But we have overhauled all our contracts to make sure we have the best deal for electricity, and My Intended has fitted really good draught-proofing strips all round the front door onto the stairs, which I think will make a big difference come autumn as it was a bit draughty there. Thankfully we have fab double-glazing throughout and good loft insulation! 

Our woollen hats and gloves and mitts need checking over and washing - my beloved fingerless-mitts need their thumbs re-knitting as both wore out at the hems and unravelled a bit. I am usually away for 5 weeks every October/November but this year won't be, so shall be at home to enjoy the autumn more. I am sorting out the empty jar collection, ready for foraging to make lots of preserves, from late July onwards. 

A very contented squirrel preparing for winter here! 

suki1964

boultdj said:

Have you got a farmfoods near you suki1964?  18 pack of toilet rolls is 4 packs for £10.   And if you sign up to the newsletter you get the vouchers as well, I got £5 off a big shop yesterday, loo roll is now stocked up and freezer full again.

No we don't have farm foods here. I make do with the Lidl ones 18 for £4.99 or keep and eye out for Nikki in savers or the cash and carry. We are down to our last packet only because while there were shortages I couldn't bring myself to buy any whilst I had some and then Mr S not getting any money for 3 months and then me on furlough,  shopping has been kept to what we need and Im using the stores without replacing at the moment. But we are ok, Mr S started back on Wednesday so things won't be so tight next month . We have 5 months at least before the bad weather starts to make a difference, 

Things have been tighter then they should have because Ive not been able to shop around . We have a Tesco and a Lidl here in town, all the other supermarkets and pound shops etc are in the next towns. With lockdown it was a question of getting the shop done best as I could within the rules. Our shops reopen tomorrow, Ill give it a week and then head out to the next town with its choice of stores

Eenymeeny

boazu said:

It feels like winter today, you'd never think it was the middle of June and I'm sitting  with a fleecy blanket round my shoulders, it's cold and wet and horrid! I made us a hot dinner to warm us up, big change from May and living on salad isn't it?

It certainly does! I actually did a wash yesterday knowing that I'd probably have the heating on later. Jeans went on the line for about an hour before the rain started so they were hung over the bannister upstairs where they dry quite quickly from the rising heat. Small items are on the radiators and are probably dry now.
Another silly note is that I was watering plants in containers as the rain started, because they are big plants and rely on me for water!

Living_proof

It does indeed look like winter outside and indoors the light is very low. Central heating is kicking in briefly twice a day and I have two layers of tops on. I have also just renewed a fixed rate fuel deal for a year so I know where I am with that. I'm always well stocked with all household stuff but with the combination of Covid and Brexit this year it's hard to second-guess what might be in short supply or hideously expensive. What truly worries me is inflation but there's nothing I can do about that. And as for Spend, Spend, Spend - I don't think so!

Primrose

Today's economic meltdown figures are truly alarming and obviously the economy needs us to go out and Spend Spend Spend, but those of us who are retired and no longer have any means of boosting our income by earning, I think the sensible are going to be hoarding their savings for ever rockier times ahead.    A true dilemma for the politicians trying to navigate a path between the impossible and the unachievable.    For all of us tempted to criticise, we should ask ourselves "Would I have made different decisions, and how would I know whether my suggestions would have been any more successful?"

[Deleted User]

I don't know what could have been done any different, it might have been done sooner though and we might not have had as many people die. I hope we're OK for the winter for most stuff but I will buy more tins and stuff that keeps like porridge and tea and see if I can find a wax jacket second hand, a padded one if I can so I can stay dry and a bit warmer in cold wet weather specially when we get the cold wind in from the North, we really suffer when that happens. Longer wellies too mine are only half height ones so my trousers get damp when I walk in the wet, and some long ski socks to have warm feet.

Living_proof

I fear the mother of all winters of discontent. There are so many issues currently and if there is mass unemployment the crime figures will increase, people will suffer from cold, poor nutrition and plain old worry. I am sure we will all be looking over our shoulders waiting for the second wave and at the same time coping with the social and financial implications of the first. There seems to be a sort of anarchy creeping in to society as well, certainly civil disorder. Primrose is right, once you retire you have no means of increasing your income and savings, bar good luck or inheritance and it's a scary place to be. The young, however, have nothing to fall back on and face a bleak future to say the least. I sincerely hope for a mild, kind winter because it will make difficult times easier to bear.

Primrose

I,m not normally one for "lying down in the roads and letting the tanks roll over me" and do believe in standing up when grave injustices are happening.  What bothers me though is that if you choose to ignore the rules of a civilised society in the way you protest, you risk  immediately negating the "validity " of your cause.  Surely one has to draw a line somewhere before the world erupts into savagery?

I do think we are in for a rocky period ahead.  It perhaps needs the courage of an older generation to perhaps put  their heads above the parapet a little more and exercise their acquired wisdom In a more public way?

[Deleted User]

Sadly in my experience in life all you get from putting your head above the parapet even in a really good cause is a black eye and the mother of all headaches.  The oldsters have enough bad feeling by existing in the first place let alone giving advice and wisdom, no, not a good idea.

-taff

Primrose said:

What bothers me though is that if you choose to ignore the rules of a civilised society in the way you protest, you risk  immediately negating the "validity " of your cause.

I doubt Emmeline Pankhurst would have agreed with you. Racism exists in our society and while physically attacking other people, not a tenet of the BLM, is abhorrent [ and the motives of those who did that are questionable] a few statues being toppled is not going to end our society. And if you think a statue is more important for its historical value instead of the person it represents, and the things they did, then I would wonder what exactly you think is more important. A statue which celebrates philanthropy built on slavery, or a group of people demanding equality, something which should be self-evident amongst the human race.

{all 'yous' after the first sentence are general not specific by the way}