Can we use public building to stay warm?

[Jobseeker19]

For example can we sit in the library or town hall for hours and use their central heating and charge our devices in their plugs?

I'm wondering if it will come to this if people cannot afford the new energy prices.

@ineedsun Don't worry, @Daffi is bouncing across all the energy worry threads crying foul of people worrying about the increases and implying that they're all a bunch of drama llamas. Probably the same MN user who posted about buying their third car on a similar thread.

@EYProvider

You’d think the UK was the North Pole from some of the comments on here. It’s only really a bit chilly during most winters apart from one or two odd days. Can’t you just put an extra jumper on?

Only a bit chilly? I take it you never use your CH? How cold does your house get? My draughty Victorian house with no double glazing goes down to 10. Yep, already got the jumper, the socks, slippers and dressing gown on. It is still cold! Many of us feel the cold more due to illness or age. Lucky you if you're only a bit chilly!

@JaceLancs

How long do people have the heating on for? I have mine on for 1 hour in a morning and 4 at night set quite low We all wear lots of layers and if chilly and sat around use fleecy blankets When I do work from home I can’t afford to put the heating on anyway

Half an hour to an hour one day a week just to get some clothes dry.

@Monopolyiscrap

All day. I like to be warm.

To be fair I think everyone likes to be warm! The point is lots of us can't afford that anymore.

@undertheCedartree

You've got your heating on for an hour a week?
Or one hour every day- which makes it around 7 hours a week?

@IvanaTrumps

I do think there is a lot of drama over this.

My parents' home didn't have central heating till I was 16. We had an open fire in the living room and that was it. I had a convector heater in my bedroom as a 'treat' if it was very cold ( getting down to -10C.)

And for the first few years of my working life when I rented, 2 houses had no central heating.

You learn to put on layers of warm clothes.

And asking how you dry clothes. Mine go outside on the line unless it's raining, so when they are brought inside the dry faster, put on a clothes horse.

If you are old, ill or have a young baby, then you will need heating on at times. But for younger and fitter people, hot drinks, more clothes and a hot water bottle, if sitting at home make a big difference.

I do think that is one of the differences. Being able to keep warm around a fire everything evening is a bit different to now when most people don't have a working fireplace. So no heating atall.

[quote Porfre]@undertheCedartree

You've got your heating on for an hour a week?
Or one hour every day- which makes it around 7 hours a week?[/quote]
Half hour to an hour per week.

@MC68

You’re lucky if you still have a Library & one that opens more than a couple of days a week for more than a couple of hours & has a seat & desk in it!!! The North has been starved of anything like this for years, so as much as it sounds a fab idea it’s not an option for many/anyone living in the North!

We are so, so lucky to still have some libraries here. They keep trying to close the branch libraries but some have managed to hang on.

@Hearwego

I was young in the 80s but I’m sure that winters were a bit colder than now? Even hear in the south east. I don’t remember much snow here in the 90s ( the odd day now and again) and I don’t remember much snow in the 2000s either. I know the weather differs depending on where you live, obviously. Just basing it on the SE weather.

It seems to go in phases. I'm in the South East too. My eldest was born in 2007 - there was serious snow every winter until he was about 6. It was also beautifully sunny and warm on his Spring birthday for the corresponding years.

For those who can change windows (appreciate this takes money and isn’t always possible) I was quite surprised at what new ones cost and how much of a difference it made to both my parents properties. I feel like it could be one of the more cost effective measures. The new windows are amazing, and the draughts are gone.

(Should clarify - one lives in a flat, the other a house, they don’t have a second home!)

I do wonder if it will spark a widespread move from wfh back to the office, where people do have the choice.