Preparing for Winter V

Primrose

MingVase.   Well. That means you get two more hours  of darkness and if you're lucky, two more hours of sleep ! 

pollyanna_26

I had a hibernation day yesterday Mar. I'm finding the day after the day after I've been out is the day I'm fit for nowt!

I've been wondering how Scotland, Wales, N Ireland , the Irish Republic and of course the Isle of Man who can as an island close down can conrol their borders while England seemingly can't.

We visited Eyam in the Peak District years ago. The village that isolated during the Plague to keep others safe.

The first time we visited Edinburgh Castle I was pretty bemused by how difficult it was to get up to it then learned it was impossible for it to be seized due to the fact any invaders would be spotted and driven back.

I'm not sure if this reply is to your post re closing the border on this or another thread- I've lost the plot.

I hope you see your beloved snow. At least it wont be coming through the skylight or battering the RVs Sky dish. No forecast for snow here. Just dreich last week and the same today.

pollyx

Rowan9

Mar have you moved? 

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
Apart from going to work I think hibernating is the way of the world this year. OH makes me laugh this year because he used to chuckle about me knitting nice wooly blankies but now will happily snuggle up under them to watch tv. Our flat is quite small so we have the heat set to just comfy and then top up rather than open the windows if it gets too warm.
It’s gone really cold here now but no snow so that’s good. We rarely get snow here with the sea air, it tends to be the wind that keeps the temperature down.
My preps are holding well which is a good thing because we’re finally leaving Europe in a few days and that’s an unknown that I’d rather not have empty cupboards for. Now Xmas is over I’m not sure how much work there will be, whether there will be furloughing again. Things don’t pick up around here until Easter anyway so I’m hoping that COVID will be at least a bit more under control by then. After the year we’ve had I think Brexit is just a side issue that can’t be as bad as what’s already going on anyway. The people on here prep for winter and it’s just going to be longer this year.

noodles86

Is there a more updated thread for winter prepping or does this one need waking up? 

Funny to be thinking of winter prep in the current heat wave but it just makes me yearn for my favourite season - autumn! I hate feeling too hot to do anything so whilst I'm trying to move very little I'm thinking what jobs I can do when the weather gets a bit cooler. 

First on my list is to check and prep my car. It's still fairly new, will be 4 in November, so haven't had any breakdowns or major problems but I like to be prepared for any eventuality. 

I also like to look around the house and garden around now to see what needs repairing or throwing out etc and making lists! One thing I have to change is to get the log burner serviced earlier this year, I always leave it until October which is too late as they're fully booked so need to remember to book it for the same time as the boiler service. 

fionaandphil

@noodles86 great minds think alike!  I think we can reawaken this thread

I booked the chimney sweep last week and we chopped a load more logs at the weekend in the shade.  Oil prices as really high this year compared to last so I am delaying purchasing but I think I will have to go for it in the next few weeks, it is more than double last years price at about 42p per litre.  I've just started looking through curtains and thinking about winter coats for DS - very sad with the sun so hot! I did manage to fix my electricity price for the next 2 years before the prices rose though so something to be thankful for.

pollyanna_26

I've just spotted this thread has come alive again. I can't see any reason why we don't just carry on. We're well into July although it doesn't seem long since many off played safe and did a quiet not the normal Christmas.

I've spent the last few days thinking I was in danger of melting we were forecast 2 or 3 hot days. They got that wrong. Over here on the NW coast we aren't used to such tropical weather. I'm still muttering the Summer of 76. Two nights in a row of no sleep at all. I had to convcince myself last night that wandering alone to the beach in the middle of the night was not one of my better ideas. For years on still and muggy days I used to call on Odin to send the wind so my washing could have a good blow. That used to shock the children as the wind started blowing, warm but good drying conditions . i never thought to see if

there was a rain god. I must look that up. Even when I was growing up I couldn't cope with hot humid days . I blame it on the Irish Scandi ancestors who made us blue eyed, pale blond or strawberry blond  with a couple of redheads heat avoiders.

It's a long time since the summer of 76. I'm a lot older now and couldn't go through that again. Our water company did a very bad job when these houses were being built and that made things a lot worse during the heatwave.

One positive is when I started trying ti sort the back garden out as it had had a cement mixer on it pick ups driven across it and there were pieces of wire netting left from temporary fencing it was cold and we'd moved in a week before Christmas so we got on with unpacking and srting indoors out. We were all young and developed a plan to fence the full length of the row of houses at the bottoms of the gardens and then fence off our houses helping each other.

By the time we were digging down to put fence posts in we were heading towards summer. Every time we dug at the bottom of my garden water would appear. It kept on happening. Never having bought a house and with two very small childern I was worried one of us had damaged a water pipe. I spoke to Colin the site manager who went to find the man from the water board. Each time we'd dug we were btinging up shells and sand . The water board dug around and informed me the land being built on was reclaimed from the Irish Sea hence the shells.

They offered to divert it but all four of my grandparents came over from Ireland during the famine soI kept it. I've never tried to drink it but I've often used it to clean my trowel and other hand tool and water flowers and shrubs. It was very useful during the summer of 76 when they'd turn the water pressure down very low and hosepipes watering cans were banned. Only these three houses had that  none of the others.

They took a closer look and decide there must be some sort of breach in the sea defences but never found it. None of us were worried . The worries came when storms breached both the sea wall and embankment.

All the small children had lots of sea shells no need to visit the beach.I haven't drunk alcohol for decades but that summer is a haze of sleepless children  and adults, ice cold martinis lots of digging, lifting and painting fences.

Nowadays my fences are taller, stronger and never move in gale force storms. The husband of one of my neighbours considered investigating if that water could be purified for an emergency but someone handed him another can of lager and i think he forgot about it. All manner of things end up in the sea so I wouldn't want to be drinking the water , purified or not.

pollyx

bellabella

Looking forward to re reading the thread as we have now moved to a larger house and whereas the old house had everything done that needed doing for winter i need to start again here so will book the boiler service thanks for reminding me 

jamanda

Had boiler serviced today and chimney swept a couple of weeks ago.  Folks think I'm crackers.

Nargleblast

Why?? It makes sense to get those things done in the quiet time of the year. Come the cooler autumn days, every man and his dog will want their boiler serviced or chimney swept.