I'm Freezing

[ummmm]

How did we ever cope without central heating?

Does anybody remember when you use to get out the bath and run to the fire cause it was so cold?

[divegirl]

Hi, I do.....and my jammies were always laid out on the floor in front of the fire so they were nice and warm for me....oh the days of being a pampered child....lol. Saying that, even with central heating my house is pretty cold....so I make sure my daughters dressing gown and nighty are on the radiator....I love the cold nights though.... good excuse for a snuggle on the sofa with my kids.

Lisa x

[ummmm]

Yea, my Mum use to do that as well. And lay out our school uniforms in the morning.

[arburgirl]

I remember in the 60's when i was a child, myself and my brother sleeping in the same bed as mum and dad as it was so cold at night, as the airing cupboard with the hot tank was in mum and dads room, there was also ice on the windows inside, and i remember playing in my room each morning in the winter with the ice formations quite a long way up the glass. one winter, (someone else whos older than me will probably tell you the year, but it was in the 60's) it was supposed to be the coldest winter for years, i remember the washing my mum had put out on the line, freezing stiff like cardboard, and she bought it indoors in big chunks to thaw out ! we used to have parrafin heaters all round the house, mum regularly spilled the parrafin on the kitchen floor when she re filled them. very stinky stuff.

[Pippa68]

When I was a kid we lived with my nan in a 1950's council house. Single glazed metal framed windows, the only gas fire was in the lounge. In the winter I used to wake up and find icicles on the inside of the windows! I had a huge eiderdown which I wrapped myself up in and toddled off to the bathroom ~ there was an electric heater fixed to the wall which was tiny, so we used to switch that on and huddle up in front of it.

Later on we progressed to calor gas heaters (remember the smell!!) bathtimes were worse, and I remember burning my bum on the fire when I bent over to dry myself..it was the last time I stood so close to the fire LOL.

From that time on, the story of my 'flame grilled ar5e' became a regular jibe!

[Pippa68]

Not to mention the nylon sheets & polyester jammies which used to cause terrible static..no sitting by the fire in your polyester nightie!

[ummmm]

I think there illegal now

[ummmm]

Too many kids burst into flames

[wolf63]

I was born in 1963 and it was seemingly a really bad winter.

I remember iced up windows on the inside and clinging to the coal fire when watching television. We had to kick the dog out of the way to get to the fire, but he was great to cuddle into during the night - under the covers, all hot and doggy smelly.

Going to the bathroom during the night was a nightmare too.

Nowadays it is so easy to press a button and have a warm house, I used to leave the heating on all day for my late cat - didn't want him getting cold and seizing up during the day.

It is pretty cold in Scotland today.

[noxlumos]

I think wolf's right about it being 1963 there was a terrible winter, I can remember one when I was very little and I was born in 1960. I slept with my sister to keep warm and I had about 3 vests on so I could hardly move. lol

[Pippa68]

I was born in 1968 and I remember every winter being terrible until we got central heating!

[ummmm]

Yea Pippa. Do you remember when we had proper snow?

Not the slush all the grit and cars on the road produce now.

[Pippa68]

Oh yes...I lived in a Surrey village and we had snow most winters. I had to get the bus to school, so it was great when 'the bus didn't turn up' lol. As a little un we used to wrap up and stay in most of the time, apart from the obligatory snowman building in the garden. A grocers van used to come round with provisions, as did a baker. The smell of baking bread always reminds me of my nans kitchen..

There were lots of slopes & hills, so sledging was a must. Going to the shops was an adventure too, as to cross the road we had to slide down the path into oncoming traffic!

I live on the coast now & snow is a rarity...any that sticks, anyway :o)

[Loosehead]

I think the problem now is that most people haven't experienced cold and are very intollerant. There's a guy here who looks like scot of the Antarctice just to walk from his car in the morning! I spent my student days feezing my nuts off up mountains and things and as such now I sit in the office sweating! The people round here are not happy unless it's 80 degrees, they think I'm weird sitting here in shirt sleeves and the air con on! It's only becaue every heating device in the building is on and I'm hot! luckily I sit near an air con unit that I have set on cold! As others have said above, as a child we had a coal fire and hence one room that was warm. my bedroom frequently had ice on the inside! In fact having heating in the bedroom was considered unhealthy at the time!

[shaneystar2]

The winter of 63 was the big freeze.We lived in Kent then and it snowed round about the beginning of December and was still going strong well into Feb .The Medway froze and the men were laid off in the Dockyard where my dad and brother worked .We used to traipse to school in it ....no schools shut in those days.We had no central heating and no bathroom.Tin bath in the kitchen in front of the fire. Outside toilet and open fires.I was born in 1948 and didn't actually live in a house with central heating until I got married and went to live abroad.I still can't stand it although I don't like being cold.It dries your system out I always seem to have a muzzy head when it's on and makes me feel tired.As for sleeping in a bedroom with central heating on I would be gasping for air !!

[~Floella~]

I was born in 1963 and my mum says it was the coldest winter in recorded history at the time.. I live on the Kent coast and the sea froze.
Now thats cold.
I remember ice on the inside of the bedroom windows, and having about 6 blankets piled on my bed.
We also only had a gas fire in the living room, which me and my sisters would all try to huddle round after our bath, and getting dressed in the morning was a challenge to see who could hog most of the heat. I too burnt my bum on the fire while drying myself.
I think its amazing that in a relatively short space of time we have become used to the luxury of central heating.

[mazie]

like shaneystar, I was born in 1948. We had a tin bath that Mum would bring in front of the fire in the living room. No central heating and ice on the inside of the windows and an outside loo.....No Tv just the radio, I used to listen to this really scary programme with my Dad, I think it was called journey into space

[wolf63]

if my mother was still alive we would have had the story of the winter in about 1947 when the snow was so deep they built an igloo.

Perth is in a valley and snow never stays around for more than a couple of days. A couple of years ago I took the dog down the park (the South Inch its called) and there was a sort of blizzard/white out. I was totally disorientated, and I was only on the edge of the city centre - it was quite frightening for a minute or so.

The kids nowadays don't know what real weather is! Having said that I have the heating on low and a warm house makes me want to sleep all the time.

[Waaii]

Lucky lot with central heating, we make do with Aga and Ingle nook with logs. No heat upstairs tho, Brrrrrrrrrr!

[mazie]

Wolf 63 we were up in Dunkeld in March this year, went to bed Saturday night and woke up to 10 inches of snow on the Sunday morning. My sister in law lives in Perth

[drussila]

I was born in 1966, and can remember proper winters, with thick, freezing fog and frost that lingered for weeks. We only had coal fires to heat the house and water, and I remember ice on the inside and outside of the windows. Kids of today don't know how lucky they are to have central heating,or what a realy cold winter is like!