Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

flamingo747 said:

@cuddlymarm good idea, covid is definitely going around again, I know several with it or recovered in last two weeks

I've got some long train journeys during October so I've been looking out my masks once again. I expect to be one of only a few, even the only one, wearing a mask, but with a husband who has a serious medical condition and as I shall be staying with my very elderly parents whose booster vaccinations aren't til the end of October, I don't want to take any chances more than I have to. 

VintageHistorian

Bought a ready-to-roast large turkey breast joint in M&S today and put it in the freezer. This is our emergency Christmas dinner just in case the family goes down with Covid or flu, the country goes into lockdown, parents house has a powercut, everyone gets snowed in etc.

Also got the makings of pigs in blankets already in there and closer to the time we'll have updated frozen veg and probably a frozen dessert too. If we don't need it for an emergency then it goes for a nice roast dinner in January.

Chloepad1

I and Mum had our flu jabs last week and will get covid boosters next week.  The weather has turned and it now feels very autumnal in the early mornings and after dusk.  We added two new kittens to our household so we now have four furbabies.  We've stocked up on their litter and food and made sure their blankets and beds are all washed.  I'm debating getting a new little ceramic heater or two to warm up our downstairs rooms without putting the heating on.  Does anyone have any recommendations ? I'm starting to think about Christmas and getting bits ordered now and food ordered in advance.  Need to do a more comprehensive freezer and cupboard audit to see what we need.  I need to get a car mot booked in the next month or so.  

Laura_Elsewhere

Can I recommend 'stone pig' ceramic hot-water bottles again, please? I pipe up every autumn... 

I grew up with them, and we find them so useful that we don't use our heating at all, even when the flats below us have been unoccupied! Admittedly, we are happy with a cooler temp than many, but still, exceptionally cheap, long-lasting and useful.

The things I'm talking about are those Victorian bottles, with a knob on one end to hold it by, and a screw-top in the middle of one side to fill it by. You can find them in second-hand shops and charity shops for a tenner, sold for door-stops (!), and after much experimentation we find the best thing for making a new washer is an old-fashioned cork-sheet cut into a ring with scissors  

Fill it with boiling water and put it on the floor to rest your feet on if you work-from-home and it will stay properly hot for an hour or more, much better than a rubber hottie... but even better is if it's covered and stays hot for longer. If you have a bed that has a footboard or if you have tucked-in bedclothes then it's wonderful, as it stays hot til morning- properly, actually hot, not jsut warmish or tepid. Fill it at 9pm and have it covered by bedclothes and it will stay hot all night. 
I use the cut-off sleeves of old woolly jumpers as covers- they can be so hot when freshly-filled that you really don't want to snuggle up against them uncovered! 
In midwinter, I air the flat for three minutes and then close the windows tightly, and put a freshly-filled stone-pig on top of the bed, so it can lose its heat out into the bedroom to take the chill off; I put one on my husband's desk-chair to do the same. 

But basically, if you can pick one up (check for cracks, but mostly they're pretty solid still), then you can have a little storage heater iyswim... 

My husband has one as a footrest under his WFH desk, and I have one for my chair at the table; we have one in the bed at night, and that keeps us cosy all winter! 

flamingo747

Laura, Mr Flamingo definitely needs one for under his desk!

Auntycaz

Where do you get the cork sheet from please @Laura ?

Laura_Elsewhere

Auntycaz said:

Where do you get the cork sheet from please @Laura ?

I think we just found it on eBay... I just had a quick look, and a 3mm sheet is under £3 with free p&p. Or you could ask your local huge hardware superstore if they have any broken cork tiles- I have got oddments from time to time free from my local large orange store (!)... 

Auntycaz

Thanks @Laura_Elsewhere.  I live very rural and don't drive so the superstore is out but I will try eBay

kayannie

Your photo of the ceramic hot water bottle reminded me of something from my schooldays in the early 1960's. We lived in a very rural area & one of my friends (who lived in a modern house) stayed the night with a school friend who lived in an older & colder house. My friend got into bed & banged her toe on something hot & solid in the bed. It was a brick that had been heated up in the fire, wrapped in a towel & used as a bed warmer. Thankfully we don't have to resort to this (yet!).
KA

Laura_Elsewhere

You just need to be careful at night not to kick the stone pig out of bed! If you have a divan bed with a loose duvet, it's probably not going to work... 

@kayannie, blimey, a hot brisk heated in the fire is another layer of history further back in time!!  

Luckily we have the 'modern' ( ) option of the stone pig filled from an electric kettle- our little flat has no fire to heat a brick!!