h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey, I know that I hava a pretty high freeze-tolerence, but your instructions although useful, seemed pretty arctic to me. I live in the East of England, and hardly turned the central heating on this winter. Despite the massive frosts before christmas, I found three layers was always sufficient; silk-wool-leather, for outdoors, silk-wool-wool for indoors. Being female I also wore either two skirts, or a skirt over my jeans. I didn't shivver once. The only reason I put this message up is that wrapping up too warm is a bad thing; piling on the layers before freezing point means that one's tolerence to the cold decreases. This has three big disadvantages, firstly that you turn the heating on too high and too soon, which has been linked to the severity of coughs contracted over winter months (with the transition from the cold outdoor air to the stupidly hot indoors air), secondly, the environmental consideration of the above, which, at least in England could lead to the gulf stream going astray and us getting winters which are properly cold, and thirdly that if you then do get cold with a decreased tolerence you are more likely to get ill. Sorry for whining like this, but thought it should be said.

How I would have loved to have barely turned the heat on this winter. The electric bill I've just received for the month of February is the second highest bill I've had in nearly 10 years (granted, I've got some insulation problems at the moment...)

Many areas experience mild winters, but then there's the northern US and Canada to think of as well. The entry also states that tolerance to cold is entirely personal as well. Someone from mid-Canada (where the temps can reach 40 below) would probably not find my winter as cold as I did (where the coldest was somewhere around 0 F). A friend in Texas was very cold around 0 C, and people in northern Florida were digging for coats when temperatures got to around 40 F. It's all relative.

Yeah, I know. I just get worried when (as we have these last two weeks) there's a heat wave (we had temperatures of 15C) and I see people in jumpers, scarves and gloves. I mean, there's relative and there's stupid. Good article about staying warm though.

Oh, sorry if that came across as stressy, I always forget to use smileys.

I find that wrapping up warmly outside saves the heating bills, because I don't come in so cold that I want instant heat. I stay warm - sometimes too warm, so want the house cool. It means I'm happy to have the heating off while I'm out, instead of wanting a cool house to come back to. Then it only goes back on once I start to get cold, which I don't always. I live in the East of England too (Essex) and hardly had the heating on at all myself this winter. In fact it's been snowing today, and although the heating was on at that point, it's now off again - because I've been out, wrapped up warm and now I'm pretty flushed, actually! I've got two layers on the bottom half, and four on my top half. When I was out I had an extra two on the top half!

That's interesting, I mean, I live in a terrace, which will generally be warmer than a detached, but my way of dealing was to wear minimal layers to go out, so I was feeling chill upon returning, and the house would be warm by comparison... Of course, that only works if your happy to be jus a little chilly outside, and isn't so practical for longer journeys.

When I'm warm outside, I always strip off when I get back in. In this weather it's usually only about half an hour before I start dressing again! I guess I'm too old to want to be cold, just so the house seems warm. Especially as I sit around a lot indoors, which means I get colder.