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Freezing me ‘nads off

Born 1957. I did not see central heating until about 1967. From '57 until '62 we were in farm workers' tied cottages with open fires only that I can remember. In 62 or 63 we moved to a new house on a new estate in Stafford. 62/63 was a baaaad winter!. Until '67 the only heat upstairs was a paraffin heater on the landing of our 3 bed detached 'new' house. Everything got damp as a result. Hot water bottles in bed. Gas fire with a back boiler in the lounge. The bathroom and loo were really really unpleasant places for cold. Plenty of jack frost windows.
 
I remember the winter of 1947, we had electricity cuts every evening in winter for about an hour or so - this was to provide the power for the factories to work. We lived next door to a Smith's Crisp factory which of course was working with all of it's lights on while we lived next door in a house with no power in the evening. Fortunately there was no TV service to miss only The Light Program plus Home and Third programs but as the Home and Third were only on the medium wave the reception in the evening was a bit feeble.

Ice sheets on the inside of the windows was business as usual during the winter. Along with deep snow drifts.
 
Apart from nought to four near Worcester I’ve always hugged the south coast. First Canterbury to grow up, then Brighton to finish my education, then Cornwall for the rest of my life to keep warm.
 
Born 1957. I did not see central heating until about 1967. From '57 until '62 we were in farm workers' tied cottages with open fires only that I can remember. In 62 or 63 we moved to a new house on a new estate in Stafford. 62/63 was a baaaad winter!. Until '67 the only heat upstairs was a paraffin heater on the landing of our 3 bed detached 'new' house. Everything got damp as a result. Hot water bottles in bed. Gas fire with a back boiler in the lounge. The bathroom and loo were really really unpleasant places for cold. Plenty of jack frost windows.

I was born in ‘68, I never lived with central heating until the house we’re in now, bought in 1999, thinking about it, same for wife, a year younger than me.

It’s grim up north :).
 
We’ve lived in our terraced house for forty five years and it was twenty five years before we had central heating installed. Up until then we had a gas fire in the front room and an electric heater on the landing. We had single pane windows for ten years until I made new wood frames and fitted double glazed sealed units. They lasted twenty years or so and we’ve gone upvc since.
 
Glad to hear you've got power again Colin - that's a long stint without!

The house I grew up in also didn't have central heating and I also recall the ice inside the windows at times. All the houses I've owned myself have had it though, and it's certainly something I've come to rely on - in fact our current main house doesn't have any fireplaces (there is one built into the living room but walled over but we've never opened it up, and we've owned the house from new). We have had gas boiler failures from time to time in the 25 years we've owned it, but have never had a power outage of more than an hour or two so always had electric fires we could use as a back-up. Losing electric for an extended period as happened with our cottage in the Cairngorms last weekend isn't something we had a plan for, although give it does have a wood burner and a fire place we're at least better place there (where it's more likely to happen) than here.

I'll ask the locals if losing power is a regular occurence when we're back in Tomintoul at the weekend, and if it is then I'll definitely put a plan in place (either by allowing for generator use to ensure the boiler has power, or maybe just getting some stand-alone gas fires).
 
We have had a commando socket installed with essential lights , sockets and the Central heating linked to it via a change over switch. Just need to sort out the generator.
 
I remember the winter of 1947, we had electricity cuts every evening in winter for about an hour or so - this was to provide the power for the factories to work. We lived next door to a Smith's Crisp factory which of course was working with all of it's lights on while we lived next door in a house with no power in the evening. Fortunately there was no TV service to miss only The Light Program plus Home and Third programs but as the Home and Third were only on the medium wave the reception in the evening was a bit feeble.

Ice sheets on the inside of the windows was business as usual during the winter. Along with deep snow drifts.

Windows? Luxury.
 
Yes, grew up without central heating. A coal fire in the front room and one in the kitchen which also heated the water tank. We 'ad a bath once a week whether we wanted one or not.....
Must admit it is going to be tough if all you have is leccy power as you loose the lot. At least we have a gas oven and a log burner so if the worst came to the worst we could manage OK without central heating, which doesn't get used much anyway. Only use it for a couple of hours in the evening to 'take the chill off' the bedrooms when its really cold outside. Could definitely manage without TV.... which seems mostly cr4p nowadays.
 
We're likely heading up to the Cairngorms tonight, so I decided it was about time to pack a survival kit into the car - as it sounds like there is a good chance we'll need it at some point given that two of the main roads into Tomintoul were blocked with snow last Friday!
 
We're likely heading up to the Cairngorms tonight, so I decided it was about time to pack a survival kit into the car - as it sounds like there is a good chance we'll need it at some point given that two of the main roads into Tomintoul were blocked with snow last Friday!
Winter tyres?
 
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Almost all the snow has gone around here.

My dog won't be happy about that! The weather forecast is suggesting there might be more snow tomorrow afternoon and again on Monday morning but I'm hoping that shouldn't really affect our travel plans.
 
The weather reports for the Cairngorm may not have been entirely accurate:

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Ludo is very pleased:

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