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Freezing me ‘nads off

I live in Scotland albeit the central belt, not that far from Glasgow. So, I've never experienced winter in the far north of Scotland. Actually, the coldest I've ever felt was when I spent 4 days one winter in Warrington, absolutely perishing.
 
AllyD said:
I live in Scotland albeit the central belt, not that far from Glasgow.
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As did I, once upon a time, but one winter in the late 70s I drove up to Dingwall to visit some friends for the New Year. They didn't believe in central heating, only the one coal fire downstairs. It's an experience I'd never want to repeat.


(We did drink a helluva lot of whisky though. :))
 
When I was a kid we had a coal fire in the living room and of the three bedrooms, one had a coal fire. We had those small window panes set in an iron latticed window so the cold just conducted through to the inside. One day it dawned on me that most folks celebrated their Birthdays between February and May. Going back nine months from those dates to when it would be warm enough for grown ups to get it on.

The coal fire was great for sending your letter up the lum to Santa.
 
AllyD said:
I live in Scotland albeit the central belt, not that far from Glasgow. So, I've never experienced winter in the far north of Scotland. Actually, the coldest I've ever felt was when I spent 4 days one winter in Warrington, absolutely perishing.
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My house on the outskirts of Edinburgh is at around 600ft up (on the edge of the Pentland Hills) and we do get some pretty cold weather at times, including one period a few years back where it was very cold and the snow lingered for several weeks. It appears to be quite a bit more extreme where our cottage is in the Cairngorms though - as it's about twice as high up as well as a good bit further north. The power there was only out for 24 hours but I'm definitely giving some though to what we'd do if it was longer. It has a wood burner in the living room and an open fire in the dining room, bit I might get one or two stand-alone calor gas heaters to add to that. I've also been looking into options for using my generator (or possibly getting a considerably bigger one) by getting a transfer switch wired in. I suspect that not a lot of power would be needed to ensure the oil fired boiler can work when there is a power cut and it doesn't look expensive to do.
 
Colin L said:
Angus,

Apparently there is power now from about 17.00, but the water supply is erratic. Presumably you need a decent water supply to run the central heating? We shall check the situation tomorrow morning before venturing back.
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In a pressurised system, the heating circuit shouldn’t be affected, so you can use your heating, loss of power is a bigger issue.
 
gintonic said:
do they



we always thought have a good shag was a great way of getting warm.
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Well, it seemed that way in the sixties. With the advent of central heating Birthdays seem to be an all year thing.
Of course those conceived in the winter months back then must have been the product of a drunken stupor.;)
 
-6c here the other day. Just what was needed with a major power outage. I do hope that Scottish Power Networks are held to account by the Regulators.
 
AllyD said:
I live in Scotland albeit the central belt, not that far from Glasgow. So, I've never experienced winter in the far north of Scotland. Actually, the coldest I've ever felt was when I spent 4 days one winter in Warrington, absolutely perishing.
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-20C ish at Glasgow Airport back in the 90s & a few degrees warmer in the city
 
gintonic said:
11C again today, back in shorts and T
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Similar here. It hit 12c outside today, short sleeves wx while pottering in the garage. Now in t-shirt and shorts for the evening. Inside temp is 17, looks like she turned it up a bit.
 
I grew up in a very chilly house, with a coal fire in one room and not much else by way of heating (frost on the inside of the windows, etc etc). Then, after we’d all flown the nest, my parents had double glazing and central heating installed. The bastards.

I can cope quite well with the cold (unlike Mrs H, who is a Soft Southerner), but see no need to be cold, so like Bob, it’s 20c for us.
 
AllyD said:
When I was a kid we had a coal fire in the living room and of the three bedrooms, one had a coal fire. We had those small window panes set in an iron latticed window so the cold just conducted through to the inside. One day it dawned on me that most folks celebrated their Birthdays between February and May. Going back nine months from those dates to when it would be warm enough for grown ups to get it on.

The coal fire was great for sending your letter up the lum to Santa.
Click to expand...
I have a vivid memory aged about 4, laughing while watching my mother get my two older brothers dressed for primary school in front of the coal fire in the living room while they were complaining and shivering. Also ice on the inside of the bedroom window and those tall paraffin heaters people used back then.
 
Back home now. Got back lunchtime and power and water were on, but no Internet which eventually came back at 20.15. The central heating will be running full blast for a few days and the hifi got a good thrashing this afternoon.

Still lots of people without and lots of lines to be repaired. Apparently the power companies have lots of temporary generators running and the permanent fixes are far from completed.

Thanks to all who posted best wishes.
 
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Joe Hutch said:
I grew up in a very chilly house, with a coal fire in one room and not much else by way of heating (frost on the inside of the windows, etc etc). Then, after we’d all flown the nest, my parents had double glazing and central heating installed. The bastards.

I can cope quite well with the cold (unlike Mrs H, who is a Soft Southerner), but see no need to be cold, so like Bob, it’s 20c for us.
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I grew up with gas fires and central heating, but I can relate as my old man was a miser with the heat. Best of it was we weren't poor and he worked for BG all his life, we could have had the heating on 24/7 and yet our house was like a fridge.

When I go round now the house is like a bloody furnace. Old git.
 
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