When cold was cold

11:32am Saturday 20th October 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter

What an incredibly soft lot people in Britain have become.

Your correspondent, Ken Holmes (Letters, October 18), will shortly be making the decision as to whether “to keep warm” or “to eat”.

Apparently he won’t be able to do both because of fuel costs.

I am of the age group who used to have a candle in the middle of the room for heating purposes – when it was really cold, we’d light it. I joke, of course.

It isn’t so very long ago, however, most people would have only one gas fire (in the kitchen) and one coal fire in the “front room”. Hot water from the back boiler in the coal fire was not available until the fire was lit.

Keeping warm in the bitterly cold winter of 1947 was an incredibly tough experience.

I well remember going to bed and barely being able to breathe, such was the weight of bedclothes and my dad’s old Army great-coat on top of me.

My brother and I would press our hands against the bedroom window to leave hand-prints in the ice on the inside of the glass.

Yet my parents never had to make the decision of whether to eat or keep warm.

Philip Roe, Roman Avenue South, Stamford Bridge.

Comments(22)

sheps lad says...
11:58am Sat 20 Oct 12

Remember going to the loo down the back yard when a single candle was the light and anti freeze option?

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ColdAsChristmas says...
1:55pm Sat 20 Oct 12

I expect you can remember the winter of 62/3 and the record cold December of 2010 also Philip.
Back in the old days when coal and wood fires were the standard heating with the occasional paraffin heater during bath time, they did a splendid job keeping us warm at an affordable price. No Tariffs or carbon taxing in those days, they'd never get away with it.
Apart from the 3 day week back in 73, I don't recall a warning over energy shortages until 2010 when thrice we almost ran out of gas.
Just for the record, 1976 remains the UK's hottest Summer while 2012 was the coolest and wettest Summer since 1912. Better keep your Dad's Army greatcoat handy, you may need it!

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fulfordphilosopher says...
7:58pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Ah yes the good old days when life expectancy was short, thousands died from cold every winter, yes those were the days.

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ColdAsChristmas says...
9:37pm Sat 20 Oct 12

fulford, the reason I suggested Philip got hold of his Dad's old gratecoat is because even this year (2012) Europe has seen some of its coldest weather recorded for 100 years. Take a look at this link for exampe or others related to the same:
http://www.google.co
.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q
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e=web&cd=3&cad=rja&s
qi=2&ved=0CCsQFjAC&u
rl=http%3A%2F%2Fen.w
ikipedia.org%2Fwiki%
2F2012_European_cold
_wave&ei=6QaDUMmKB8f
L0QWnvoDABQ&usg=AFQj
CNHjJ8uBcxe7ZV5neRPZ
R90tGDTO3w
Or on the other hand consider hypothermia related deaths doubling over the last 5 years:
http://www.google.co
.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q
=&esrc=s&frm=1&sourc
e=web&cd=5&cad=rja&s
qi=2&ved=0CDcQFjAE&u
rl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.
telegraph.co.uk%2Fhe
alth%2Fhealthnews%2F
9078273%2FHypothermi
a-deaths-double-over
-five-years.html&ei=
6QaDUMmKB8fL0QWnvoDA
BQ&usg=AFQjCNFYT-HHH
ZmYqVHijHHk-u9X37eoI
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Meanwhile the Government has already subsidised electric cars to the tune of £12.7Million and have put asside £300Million for this pointless ideological nonsense. All a part of the £18.3 Billion a year to combat global Warming while people freeze. This is as unbelievable as the York Council wind Turbine mystry!

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Magicman! says...
3:47am Sun 21 Oct 12

yes.... our government has been well and truly caught hook line and sinker by the american-led global scam. Once china and russia realise what is really causing the changes to weather patterns then there might be some serious repercussions.

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George Appleby says...
1:53pm Sun 21 Oct 12

During the war, we used to go on saturdays to the gasworks, where Sainsburys are now at Monk Bridge, with a deep wooden barrow with iron wheels for three pennyworth of coke to make the coal last longer. We also picked up coal from the Derwent Valley Railway at the bottom of our garden and gathered wood for the open fire. This was the main source of heat in our 3 bedroom house with a coal oven at the side and it heated the water too. There was an electric copper in the kitchen for washing day and bath night in the bathroom next door. Five of us kids kept each other warm in bed.
We had a big back garden which kept food on the table and our mother cooked marvelous meals out of very little sometimes.

I enlisted for national service Jan 1st 1947 and was sent home on leave in march because the fuel ran out at RAF Warton near Preston. Happy days!

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Friedrich Hayek says...
9:56pm Sun 21 Oct 12

The British are whiny ****. So what else is new?

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Mister Sheen says...
9:41am Mon 22 Oct 12

All this talk about not having hot water until the fire is lit............!!

That reminds me - must go and light the fire!

Anyone got any old pallets they don't need?

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George Appleby says...
10:28am Mon 22 Oct 12

I'm proud of our past and achievements. The start we have given our descendants too, also achieving. 3 children, 6 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and hopefully another in May. I would be really interested in hearing about yours and what makes you proud. Without carping please!?*

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PinzaC55 says...
10:30am Mon 22 Oct 12

"I am of the age group who used to have a candle in the middle of the room for heating purposes – when it was really cold, we’d light it. I joke, of course."

We used to live in a hole in t't ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin.
You try and tell the young folk today that and they won't believe you! 8-)

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George Appleby says...
1:01pm Mon 22 Oct 12

They will when they have to and it's going that way8-) Will you still be joking or will you help them?

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33amanda33 says...
1:33pm Mon 22 Oct 12

we were brought up with a coal fire there was no heating upstairs and times were bad for us in the 80's i remember having the sofa pulled up to the fire and us sat with blankets to keep warm my parents have only just replaced there coal fire for central heating ppl moan to much if we could manage then we can manage now i only put my heating on when i have to and it never goes above 20c

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YSTClinguist says...
1:37pm Mon 22 Oct 12

It's estimated that upto 200 pensioners die every day due to cold during winter in England and Wales. They have little voice to speak for them.

This winter, if you have neighbours in need, please find time to call in and check on their welfare. Help them draught proof their homes and bring them hot meals and drinks if they are struggling. Move their beds down to the one room they can manage/choose to heat. Help them with bureaucratic paperwork and phonecalls by ensuring they claim what they are entitled to.

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Yorkie41 says...
1:40pm Mon 22 Oct 12

George Appleby wrote:
During the war, we used to go on saturdays to the gasworks, where Sainsburys are now at Monk Bridge, with a deep wooden barrow with iron wheels for three pennyworth of coke to make the coal last longer. We also picked up coal from the Derwent Valley Railway at the bottom of our garden and gathered wood for the open fire. This was the main source of heat in our 3 bedroom house with a coal oven at the side and it heated the water too. There was an electric copper in the kitchen for washing day and bath night in the bathroom next door. Five of us kids kept each other warm in bed. We had a big back garden which kept food on the table and our mother cooked marvelous meals out of very little sometimes. I enlisted for national service Jan 1st 1947 and was sent home on leave in march because the fuel ran out at RAF Warton near Preston. Happy days!
I did that and also went to the market and collected old orange boxes, chopped them up and made them into little bundles of sticks and sold them at 2d a bundle, and collected peoples jam jars and took them back to the shops and recieved a penny a jar ha ha. such fond memories.I also followed the horse and carts round with a bucket and shovel, and you could get good money for it.

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lezyork1966 says...
1:46pm Mon 22 Oct 12

wind energy is a waste of money, collected figures show its 15% active year round, solar is still a gimmick, coal fired is old and messy, nuclear is totally unsafe, and the uranium is rarer than any precious metal/diamonds. Thorium... now theres a word for you all to google, ditched in the 60's after a test reactor was built and worked great. oh and thorium reactors are not like conventional nuclear, when they break down they grind to a halt, not explode, are >90% efficient unlike

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lezyork1966 says...
1:48pm Mon 22 Oct 12

90% efficient unlike

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lezyork1966 says...
1:49pm Mon 22 Oct 12

90% efficient unlike less than 1% of what we have now (yes thats right) and the 'waste' is useful! wonder why we dont have them...china is building them, as is india...

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George Appleby says...
2:38pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Our first house in 1951 was a 2 bedroom terrace house in Townend St. where we shared a yard with outside toilets, coalhouses with 2 good neighbors. 7s/1d a week to Omans at a tiny office in Petergate. (5/- rent and 2s/1d rates). 1 electric light and a reconditioned gas cooker on a meter. We put a tiled fireplace in 'the front room', given to us by an uncle, and had an open coal fire with a boiler at one side and oven at the other, in the back room. A tiny scullery had a flat sink with cold water and wall shelves. An orange box on end at the side of the bed with a nice little curtain round the top was our bedside cabinet. Most of our furniture came from the sale-room in Peaseholme Green. Our first baby girl was born there and sometimes think how we loved it. Nothing special! all our friends and siblings started that way and if they weren't married by 21 they were considered 'on the shelf'. All went on to do well. Times change and it's when you get to 83 that you see just how much. Each generation faces new challenges.

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ColdAsChristmas says...
5:04pm Mon 22 Oct 12

We are forecast an Arctic blast at the end of the week. With the current price of energy this will cause casualties. Where is the warming?

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PinzaC55 says...
7:21pm Mon 22 Oct 12

George Appleby wrote:
They will when they have to and it's going that way8-) Will you still be joking or will you help them?
They may or may not be. If they are not, will anybody admit they were wrong?

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ColdAsChristmas says...
7:29pm Mon 22 Oct 12

The politicians will say they were acting on the best scientific advice available and claim not their fault for bankrupting us. Trouble is there is better advice that says it's all a big scam! U turn?

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PinzaC55 says...
10:39pm Mon 22 Oct 12

We used to DREAM of living in a corridor!

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