Preparing for Winter V

Wednesday2000

I have stocked up on medicine and tinned food now and feel a lot more prepared.

I was texting my friend last night (he is almost 70) and he was saying that they might only put lights on in the room they are in now with the bad news about energy. They live in a big 4 bed house.

I was saying to my husband today that I think we should get a door fitted for our kitchen as it is open plan at the moment and I said every time we open the garden door in the winter all the heat will escape. I need to get that sorted before it gets cold and also I will try and book the chimney sweep person next week.

cornishchick

found a rug for free to go under my dining table, but found it was too big so swapped it for the one in the front room,Both fit perfectly.. means when I am sitting at the table working my feet will be warmer than the wood floors allow. 

Laura_Elsewhere

Wednesday2000 said:

I was texting my friend last night (he is almost 70) and he was saying that they might only put lights on in the room they are in now with the bad news about energy. They live in a big 4 bed house.

My parents, now in their 80s, have done that since the 1980s when we moved to the big old house in Edinburgh! 

It works fine nowadays as you simply put a light on in the hall when you leave the sitting-room to go to the loo or front door or kitchen or whatever - but in the 1990s it was awful as Dad was very early-adopter of low-energy lightbulbs which in those days took minutes and minutes to warm up to the feeble brightness, so when you first put them on it was indescribably feeble tiny spark of light! 

But it does actually work fine (so long as you don't have those ancient old low-energy bulbs )  

EDIT to add: Dad grew up with it too, come to think of it - after the war, the railways put the whole family into this great huge house that had been requisitioned. They only had furniture for two rooms, just beds and the kitchen things, and not only could you not get hold of materials but you also couldn't get hold of workmen, so my Dad grew up able to fix all kinds of things about big old Victorian houses, which came in very handy when we moved to the Edinburgh house  
But I remember him saying that they only had a lightbulb in the kitchen to begin with, so he and his brother did their homework in there and then Gran took them to bed with a candle but took it away with her. And you went to the toilet in the dark, which with two little boys must have either involved very impressive training or a lot of wiping next morning...! 

Eenymeeny

We use plug in motion detector lamps all year round in the hall, landing and utility room. They're enough to light your way for bathroom trips etc and pop back on as you make your return journey. We've got one from Ikea, one from Wilko's and one from B&Q. I mention this because they were hard to source last year for some reason. Ikea said that they knew what I was asking for and they'd been very popular but not available any more! 

YorksLass

annieb64 said:

I use those little glass pots that that puddings like creme brulee come in for tea lights.

Me too, some of them are very pretty and too nice to throw away.

We have a solar plug-in light on the landing (lights up at dusk, turns off at dawn and uses the bare minimum of electricity) that's very useful for those middle-of-the-night trips to the loo.  This came from my late DF's home several years ago so I've no idea where he bought it - probably one of the £ shops.

TheBanker

Wednesday2000 said:

I was texting my friend last night (he is almost 70) and he was saying that they might only put lights on in the room they are in now with the bad news about energy. They live in a big 4 bed house.

I've always only had the lights on in the room I'm using. Lights are turned off when rooms are not being used.

I can't be the only one who has a childhood memory of dad going round the house turning all the lights off and declaring 'It's like Blackpool illuminations in here" ?

Laura_Elsewhere

TheBanker said:

I can't be the only one who has a childhood memory of dad going round the house turning all the lights off and declaring 'It's like Blackpool illuminations in here" ?

Blimey, are our dads related?!  

Laura_Elsewhere

I've spent this afternoon re-organising our tiny fridge-freezer space, so the drawer we use for ready-meals is now completely free; tomato and basil soup, and cauliflower-cheese soup ready to freeze as portions (in washed supermarket ready-meal trays, with cut-up cereal-bags as covers ), three across, two deep and up to four high once frozen  
Next we'll do some pasta-and-sauce ready meals, and then I think some stews with cooked potatoes, maybe some sweet-and-sour chicken with boiled rice portions... 

Primrose

A little early yet but memo to self to get our  two pint plastic milk bottles filled with dishwasher salt out of garage store and ready by front and kitchen doors for dei-icing  paths.

i find the handle on the milk bottles makes it easier for sprinkling the crystals onto the path and I,m sure out possie snd newspaper delivery people will appreciate a de-iced walkway.  They must suffer a few accidents in the course of icy winters yet we all take their services for granted. 

sammy_kaye18

Well today I have spent the day de-weeding and tidying up the front garden - if bad weather hits then I want to be able to sort our path easily without a load of hedge debris in the way or boxes etc (bin bags etc)

I have brought some loppers for the hedge though and I plabn to store some of the smaller sticks etc in the greenhouse in a box as kindling etc to use as an alternative heating / cooking source if the blackouts start. Least then I can heat things on the BBQ etc and even warm some water for a cup of tea since my cooker is electric! 

Tomorrows jobs will include
-  making a start on knitting a scarf
- try out my hand loom kit that I was given at christmas
- finish tidying the front garden as I have missed some weeds
- measure gate space since my top hinge has broken and the gate has dropped so FIL and son are going to build a new one together so my front garden is secure again
- empty some of the boxes in the garden that have finished growing in, and get them set up in the greenhouse or under the parasol ready for winter planting. 
- use some veg in the fridge to make a veg soup and get some portions frozen. 
- rearrange back freezer to make freezer space for some homemade meals
- try and find a second hand microwave