Autumn 2023

[GloriaSmud]

As we're a few weeks away from the start of meteorological autumn (1st September), some early thoughts here.

As the cold front goes through central and southern England, including East Anglia, this afternoon/evening, it could get pretty lively. Some strong squally winds are likely to be associated with it and the small chance of a tornado or two across the region.

Hailing here on the London/Kent border. And quite nippy, too!

At last it feels like Autumn should feel, here in the NE. And a perfect sunny day

Been quite nice in west Oxfordshire today, with sun and a few clouds. I had two loads of washing on the line, which was almost dry, but then sky suddenly turned dark so I brought it in, just in time.

Just cycled round Greenham Common. Lovely in the sunshine but that breeze is definitely from the north. Rode home and warmed up on coffee & toast 😊

Well played @Tricyrtis2022

Is the art of line-drying dying out? My theory is that for this to be viable nation-wide, you need someone at home during the day, to keep an eye on the British weather, and thus to keep taking the washing in and hanging it out again if necessary. Maybe the spread of home working will break our over-dependence on tumble driers and the like.

Is the art of line-drying dying out?

You'd certainly hope not. I think you're right about working from home making it more popular, that and rising prices. I'm the proud tender of three washing lines and appreciate them enormously.

Frost this morning, glad I brought in my coriander seedlings yesterday

Heavy frost here too. It actually feels colder this morning than it did during the night. Hopefully the sun will warm things up a little.

I forgot to bring my tomatoes in.

I've created a new thread for the end of the week for Scotland. It's an important one if people live in the area. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weather/4920504-met-office-warnings-for-possible-extreme-rainfall-in-scotland-1910-2110

We dried 5 loads on the line over the weekend - DH got 2 out on Friday which needed until late Saturday to only need 10 mins in the dryer but the other loads did better. (We don't care about it getting darked on).

Much cooler here over the weekend, only 7 degrees this morning which was warmer than yesterday. First leaves finally turning yellow!

It was a good weekend to get things done. Make the most of the respite in the first part of this week, it looks to get much more unsettled and very wet for many from mid week onwards.

This weeks storm has now been named as Storm Babet.

Any signs of an unseasonably warm spell for the next couple of weeks? Just until the heating is fixed (again).

A little warmer later this week Rafa but then back to cold I think.

I filled up all the hot water bottle because the bedroom felt really cold and now I’m too hot 😂

Hopefully by the end of the week I can sort whatever the builders did to the upstairs radiators. I hate this house. 😂

Have you tried bleeding all the radiators with a key? @RafaistheKingofClay

I have and re pressurised the system. They took them off to plaster the walls. I think I’m probably missing something obvious but since they are still going to be here (for about another decade) I’ll ask them if there’s anything I’ve missed. I’ve reached the end of my central heating knowledge.

I don't have the radiator on in my bedroom ever. But I do have two proper, heavy, wool blankets which I can add to my bedding to keep me warm, as needed. I bought them about 8 years ago, new, and as I expected, they cost quite a lot, but they have been worth it. I knew they would be, as no-one even knew what a duvet was when I was little, although we did have eiderdowns. And can you believe we had coal fires in London up to about 1963 - most people did.

My bedding these days normally consists of a duvet, with my weighted blanket on top. In the coldest parts of Winter, I take a hot water bottle to bed, and add blankets as required.

If it is really cold, adding an underblanket, under the bottom sheet, can also make quite a difference - it stops the cold striking you from below the bed.

If you read up about how to get good sleep, a cool bedroom is recommended.

@RafaistheKingofClay
obviously you don't live where I do, I suspect you may be further North (I am in NE England). Just saying what I do, not criticising

No I’m very far south and usually prefer to be colder rather than hotter at night. But it was freezing on Sunday evening. Which may have had quite a lot to do with having had all the windows open to let the air flow and prevent condensation on the windows.

I most likely wouldn’t have turned the heating on this evening if I hadn’t been trying to fix it.

The sad fact is that our older housing stock was designed for coal fires, which heat the fabric of the walls, and must have ventilation to draw properly. Add climate change, increased insulation, an emphasis on keeping the heat in at the expense of good ventilation, a reduction in line-drying outside, and an increase in drying inside, and you have the recipe for a huge problem with black mould, even in newer houses

Edited to add: people expecting to shower every day, instead of a bath once or twice a week, plus washing properly on the other days, and people who think clothes must be washed after a single wearing. This life-style is unsustainable in the medium and long term.

It was 0° at the bus stop yesterday morning - I feel like we missed autumn and went straight to winter. No hail yesterday, though!

The wind this morning has caused some damage to the neighbours roof

And yet we don't have a weather warning. So nobody knew it was coming

There are trees down too. Debris all over the place.

I recommend thermal paint. It warms up the walls and stops condensation forming reducing humidity and mould. We got ours £22 off Amazon a few weeks ago! It's thick. But it dries well and Dulux covers it beautifully.

That sounds rough Stormzy. I've sent you a dm, I hope that's ok.

I tend to sleep with our bedroom window open and then shut it in the morning. Otherwise I feel all stuffed up. I wish that I could have automated window closers that gently closed them when the heating comes on an hour before we wake up.

No heating yet. Miraculously our house is still staying warm enough. Going to make the most of lunchtime dry to get out into the garden to tidy up, before it turns into a swamp.

Your thermostat maybe threw a hissy fit, battery. Or the boiler there's muck in the system now. It's my dread every autumn after one occasion when we put the heating on. One radiator was spraying dirty water all over a new carpet.

One friend the builders left something in that was metal it danced in the pipeline making an irritating plinking sound for weeks.