We are too used to Central heating..

[Dampclout]

Until the 1980s very few houses had central heating. Most people heated one room, had hot water bottles at bedtime and wore warm clothes. I can recall quickly going out of the warm front room and shutting the door behind me, if I wasn't quick enough there would be be the shout of ‘shut that door’
Nowadays I wear a tee shirt in winter and keep my house at 20c… I think I will be going back to my childhood ways this winter..

We had electric bar heaters. If you stood in front of then, the front of your legs got hot, but the rest of you body stayed cold

Yes! Student flats always had these. You’d sit there feeding 10ps into the meter so you could scorch one side of your face all evening. I used to set my alarm half an hour early, get out of bed to put the heater on then get back into bed until it was actually bearable to get up properly.

I repeat, these were not the good old days.

Erm the energy companies are making record breaking profits in all this. That wasn’t happening in your childhood in the 80s. No one was robbing you. That’s what’s happening now. That is why we will be cold.

big difference

I had no central heating for nearly a week when I first became a single parent in 2010, in the middle of the awful snow in December. It was the most miserable week I have ever spent, ds & I spent the week wrapped in duvets sat on top of the gas fire.

I had a house with no central heating in the 90s. I would sit with my coat in till the gas fire was warmed up and the heater in the bedroom wasn't very good I'd get dressed under my duvet and lay my clothes next to the bed the night before.

Ice on the bathroom window. Showers in winter were quick as once out of water it was cold.

My first home tho so I was very happy but it will be a shock to many to live like that after 30 years of plenty.

It's character building, discomfort and misery. Think of the stories you'll be able to tell your grandchildren.

Precisely. And this is not being mentioned by anyone, any time. Why is that ?

This was funny. Laughing, but it has a bitter edge to it

Agreed.

Too used to having enough food and healthcare too I expect?! Fucking ridiculous in 2022. We should demand better. There's nothing positive about accepting decline for our children and theirs. What the fuck is wrong with people?

well considering i have a chronic joint condition that worsens in cold weather yeah i probably am too used to central heating but i'd rather that than end up in a&e for multiple dislocated joints in my legs arms and wrists

WE SHOULD WANT BETTER FIR OUR CHILDREN THAN WE HAD FIR OURSELVES.

I grew up permanently fucking freezing. I don't want that for my kids. I'm astounded anyone thinks it's ok.

Yes…quite

No use if you live in a smoke-free zone.

It certainly wasn’t the good old days. I was born in the 1950’s and can still remember how miserable it was being cold indoors over the winter. I had dreadful chilblains, coughs , colds and can recall huddling around the one coal fire in the lounge. At bedtime it was a mad dash upstairs, undress under the covers and feet on a hot water bottle.
I can afford to heat my small modern mid terrace house this winter fortunately but I have adult children with young families who will struggle. Well they won’t as I can afford to help them but that’s obviously not the point.
My recently deceased elderly parents wouldn’t have wanted to go back to any sort of good old days either.

I think that depends on priorities though because many people will say that wanting better for our children involves cutting back on heating and cooling due to climate change.

There isnt a right or wrong approach.

Yes, let's forget about all the progress we've made and go back to being starving, cold and weak.
When you're fighting to survive, you'll forget about our hard won rights too.
Let's give up electricity and cars and go back to horse and cart. While we're at it, the women need to get back to the kitchen to cook that daily loaf, gruel and watery stew.

NHS: “Keep your home warm
if you're not very mobile, are 65 or over, or have a health condition, such as heart or lung disease, heat your home to at least 18C. keep your bedroom at 18C all night if you can – and keep bedroom window closed.”

I already did it last winter as I couldn't afford to put the heating on.
My tips
Get a draught excluder to put in front of the front door
Have a warm blanket for each person in the living room.
Wear slippers and your dressing gown over your clothes
Eat dinner close to the oven if you can
If you can afford a heated throw for your bed it will become you're favourite luxury!

No, sorry @bellac11 but children being cold in their own homes is fucking wrong. We need to be able to keep our kids warm. Yes, we absolutely should be looking for more sustainable fuels in order to do so, but in the meantime, let's keep them sodding well warm.

And how exactly.does the NHS/government propose we pay for that?

I remember staying at my grandmothers with no central heating. The blankets felt damp. It was really hard to get out of bed on winter mornings.

i prefer a cooler house, but I wouldn’t want to back to the days of damp, cold houses.

Some really silly responses on this thread. Why can't we have a reasonable discussion without the usual nonsense about shitting in buckets etc. Do posters think it makes them sound clever? It doesn't.
We have central heated homes now and no one would want to go back to unheated homes, but some of the nonsense spoken about 'hardship' on here and other social media is ridiculous. As late in the year as May/June, I was reading stories about people freezing and not being able to afford to turn the heating on. In June? I live in the frozen North and my heating is off late March/early April and has been for the past 25 years. I also also run my heat g for a couple of hours max in the morning and evening, and to be honest, thought that was pretty standard until I read some of the posts about the hardship of not running the heating 24/7.
There is a world of difference between bemoaning they cannot afford to use the heating and bemoaning they can't afford to overuse heating.

I have asthma and live in a coldish bit of the UK, and I've never heated my house to t-shirt temperature with central heating. Equally don't want to go back to the 80s/90s when I lived in a house that was mostly cold most of the time. There is a middle ground here.

Na. If I were running for Tory leader, I'd be advocating for anyone who can't afford to house, feed and heat themselves to do what the poorest and most desparate did in Victorian times. They ate gruel and lived in the workhouse. This would also solve the obesity crisis and the housing crisis.

I grew up in a very cold house. It was shit. I remember it being colder inside than outside. We also had a lot of damp.
Some kids had chilblains and chronic coughs were more common.