How to live without heating - save £000s

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HertsLad said:

Swipe said:

I bought another pair of top and bottom thermal base layers at Lidl this morning.

I hope they weren't the ones made of cotton - not a very good insulator.

100% polyester 

MarzipanCrumble

prowla said:

I have to say that I minimise the use of heating in the cold bleak winter.

I tend to wear two fleece jackets and a bobble hat in the house.

When watching telly I sit under a duvet and often get a hot water bottle to ease my aching joints.

However, I do accept that the approach is not right for everybody.

When I was a child we didn't have central heating (and had sheets & blankets rather than duvets).

Not fleeces but a belted shawl and a hat in the house.  Yes, do the duvet (down/feather/single duvet) but joints ok  -  I do raise feet on a footstool.  Yes, no central heating as a child.  Open fire in grandparents' sitting room - grandparents were on groundfloor.  Parafin heaters (ahhhh!) in our 1st floor flat.  Remember frozen pipes in the shared bathroom and jack frost on the windows.  This was north London suburbs near Harrow in 50's.  

Mum brought back flannel lined jeans from Canada (or maybe North USA)  -  thus line my trousers by wearing brushed cotton pyjama bottoms if loose enough.

I remember a burst (frozen) pipe that cascaded water into the dining room-------very scary as a child.

chris_n

HertsLad said:

I am currently in the middle of a ski holiday. Temperatures are around -7C on the slopes with glorious clear blue skies. I suspect I am wearing far more than almost anyone, based on experience from home. I am no longer cold, like years' ago. Neither am I too warm. So I think I have it about right. I see a few other people using electrically heated gloves.

 I am wearing two layers of merino wool base garments on my top, followed by a merino wool zipped top, an 800 fill down jacket branded North Face, and a Thinsulate lined top jacket. On my legs I am wearing two pairs of merino wool long John's, down filled trousers, and Thinsulate lined ski trousers.

That's more than I ever wear unless it's -20⁰C. Don't usually wear anything other than underpants under ski trousers and usually only 1 jacket unless I'm ill. I'm out most days of the season as it's my job.

HertsLad

chris_n said:

HertsLad said:

I am currently in the middle of a ski holiday. Temperatures are around -7C on the slopes with glorious clear blue skies. I suspect I am wearing far more than almost anyone, based on experience from home. I am no longer cold, like years' ago. Neither am I too warm. So I think I have it about right. I see a few other people using electrically heated gloves.

 I am wearing two layers of merino wool base garments on my top, followed by a merino wool zipped top, an 800 fill down jacket branded North Face, and a Thinsulate lined top jacket. On my legs I am wearing two pairs of merino wool long John's, down filled trousers, and Thinsulate lined ski trousers.

That's more than I ever wear unless it's -20⁰C. Don't usually wear anything other than underpants under ski trousers and usually only 1 jacket unless I'm ill. I'm out most days of the season as it's my job.

I returned yesterday. The friend I skied with would agree with you. He told me he'd taken 1 pair of long John's but didn't wear them. I conclude I notice the cold more than most people, despite probably being one of only a few people to live in a completely unheated house. 

HertsLad

OUTGOING JOURNEY

As previously mentioned, I missed my outgoing flight. I decided to book a flight for the next day and hire a car at Verona airport to allow 5 days skiing.. But I forgot to turn roaming back on within my mobile phone provider's app. It had been turned off for trips to Egypt and Morocco. So I couldn't use Google maps, making it very difficult to navigate from Verona to Canazei, where I was staying. The first problem, however, was even driving out of Verona airport. It took ages. I didn't know how to get past a first barrier out of the car park. So I left the car blocking the exit and walked back to the rental office to ask the man. He said to simply push the button. I then reached a barrier with a different design. Pushing the button didn't work, so I parked the car in a no parking tow away zone and walked about 200m back to the rental office, a second time. He said to push a telephone icon to speak to an operator and say I had a rental car. Why wasn't I given this information before? The telephone icon was almost eroded but it worked. I eventually left the airport without knowing where I was going. I had a hunch that one road went north so I followed that. When I checked Google maps it had a low level of information from a previous search or year, and I was able to write down a basic route. The flight had touched down at about 16:20. I probably left the airport at about 18:30. I arrived at the hotel in Canazei at 22:30 after driving there on normal roads; not on motorways.

SKIING

Whizzing down ski runs, it's difficult to understand how I can still do this at age 68.

RETURN JOURNEY

I suggested my friend go on the package tour  transfer bus, in case anything went wrong if he came in the car with me. Little did I realise that plenty would go wrong. I got up at 4am to allow 4 hours for the drive to the airport. Google maps estimated 1 hr 45 mins to cover almost 200km. But I needed to clear ice from the car windows, and stop to fill up with petrol. I drove out of the hotel car park at 04:45.

About an hour later, I filled up with petrol. It was easier and quicker than I expected. Dealing with Autostrada tolls (EUR8) was also easier and cheaper than I expected.

I was so far ahead of schedule, I stopped twice. Once to eat the hotel's packed breakfast. And the second time at a service station on the autostrada, for a coffee.

When I came out of the service station, the battery suddenly had insufficient energy to turn the starter motor. There had never been a hint of trouble, before, even when I stopped for breakfast.

At 07:00, I phoned the breakdown number on the documentation from the car hire firm. A text message provided a link to a tracking map. The truck was 9.5km away and was supposed to arrive in 30 mins. I rechecked the tracking map about every 10 mins. The truck never moved. Phone calls to the car rental office were never answered. After about 1.5 hours, a man from the breakdown company's central office phoned to tell me the delay was due to a problem with the breakdown truck getting authorisation (weird, strange) to travel down the autostrada to reach the service station.

I continued charging my phone, drawing further power from the car battery. With the ignition on, the daytime driving lights and car systems were also taking power. After about 2 hours, the dashboard lights went out and the central locking stopped working. A battery that low would be seriously damaged and may only ever partially recover, in my opinion. 

The breakdown man arrived at about 09:00 so it took 2.0 hours; not the promised 30 mins.  He agreed the battery was flat. It was not my user error in knowing how to start the hire car. He hooked up a jump start unit and started the car. But after only 1 minute the car would start again under its own power. And again after about another 2 mins. It doesn't seem feasible. It would take much longer to charge, even if charging was working normally. I reckon it was something more devious, but I will never hear more. Does anyone here have any thoughts on what could have been wrong with the car, a Fiat 500 Hybrid?

The breakdown man thought the car needed to be taken to a garage. He drove the car onto his truck. But he phoned breakdown central and they probably pointed out that I needed to reach Verona airport, 40km away. So he rolled the car back off and suggested I drive to the airport without stopping the engine.  I arrived 45 mins too late for check in and missed the flight which took off at 11:00, on schedule.

So by this point, I had missed both the outgoing and return flights. I have never missed a flight before, ever.

A ticket office at Verona Airport quoted £200 to fly out later on Saturday with Ryan Air to Stansted. But my car and bicycle were at Gatwick so it was too expensive and not convenient. I searched for nearby hotels and flights for the next day, Sunday. I found a hotel for EUR69 and an Easy Jet flight for EUR103.

Other than the high costs, the extra day was enjoyable. The entire week was enjoyable. The 3 star airport hotel was good, too.  I travelled into the centre of Verona on Saturday afternoon by rail to walk around the old town. I walked to a nearby 4 star hotel for a very pleasant breakfast on Sunday morning.

Yesterday, I submitted a claim to Nationwide travel insurance (Aviva) for the hotel and return flight. I wasn't hopeful it would be covered but around 2 hours later they sent me an email to say I had been refunded, less the £50 excess. They didn't even want to see proof of purchases, photos or anything. Great service!

QrizB

That's definitely an adventure, thanks for the engaging report 😃

dealyboy

I did say you might be tempting fate HertsLad, but you beat it 

RavingMad

Great story Herts

How were you able to make a claim? Presumably it's down to you to make the flight? Is there an optional extra you can buy for this scenario?

HertsLad

RavingMad said:

Great story Herts

How were you able to make a claim? Presumably it's down to you to make the flight? Is there an optional extra you can buy for this scenario?

I only claimed for the consequential losses related to the return flight. 

I missed the outbound flight due to my negligence in forgetting my wallet with passport, bank cards and cash. I am pretty certain I can't claim for that. I have now added further steps to my packing list for future trips. These are to always call in at a nearby petrol station to top up my car fuel. I nearly did that on 10 Jan. If I had, I would have realised my wallet was missing, before I started to pump fuel and before I had travelled very far. Second, I will improve my packing list to tick off stages such as picked, packed &:checked for each item.

HertsLad

HertsLad said:

Scot_39 said:

Anyone tried the one level up fleece lined base layers - such as decathlon 500 rated at c£30 a set or the ones at Primark for £20.?

Suspect might be overkill indoors at my 16C in lving room, 14 elsewhere levels.

I use the looser light vest and long john style cheap ones from primark £12 a set as a base layer - and sportier stretch ones from lidl last year c£16-20  set iirc whilst cycling in winter - but don't find as comfortable / good for all day use

Many thanks for flagging up the Decahlon fleece lined base layers. I will look out for them in my local store with a view to trying out a pair. As they are just over twice the price of the standard base layers, I'm interested to see how they compare to my approach of wearing two layers of the lower cost product. I assume you mean:

Wedze Men’s Warm and Breathable Ski Base Layer Top, BL500 £14.99

"Do you like skiing, but not the cold? Its brushed fleece fabric creates a thermal barrier to insulate you from the cold. Its classic cut adapts to all body shapes."

Scot_39 - thank you again for pointing out the BL500 base layers. I bought one set, top and bottom. It's led to a further improvement in the 'efficiency' of what I wear to stay warm at low temperatures. It's 7C in my house at the moment. I am wearing 2 pairs of £7 base layers, top and bottom, with the BL500 £14 base layers over the top. So that's now 3 base layers, top and bottom. Then on my legs, Lidl ski trousers as the top layer (now £13). On my top I add a pure wool jumper and 800-fill down jacket (North Face). With a polyester fleece over the top. I suggest it feels more efficient because the extra base layer is hardly noticeable but I would have previously needed to wear two insulated coats/jackets at this temperature, and down to 5C.

The Lidl ski trousers are absolutely essential, in order to be warmer than 'luke warm', overall. Yesterday, I replaced them with denims to walk to the shops. When I returned, I didn't put the ski trousers back on and I was soon not warm enough, overall. My legs didn't feel cold but I know I need to wear almost as much on my legs as on my top, to feel warm overall, over winter.