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

I was thinking of writing a collaborative Entry on ideas for making cold mornings that little bit easier. Not world-changing ideas, like getting better insulation in your loft, but little ones.

An idea from me:

If you're not the sort of person to wear socks first thing in the morning, try carrying them in your pocket. That way when you come to put them on they're already warm.



Any takers?

If you have a compliant partner, then I really do not have to say anymore....

Put your dressing gown on the radiator.

RF

A warm towel when you get out of the shower/bath.

Cinnamon and warm milk on cereal or in tea/coffee

Coffee, just lots of hot coffee. and a hot shower... seriously you can take a shower quite seriously hot without any problem

"...dressing gown on the radiator."
Or your clothes, if you tend to cut out the dressing gown stage.

Actually, I do remember getting out of bed, dashing around my room collecting my clothes and then diving back into bed. I then dressed under the covers after a suitable period of warming-back-up time (for both me and my clothes).

I think my lodgers current plan for dealing with this is quite good... He keeps the book he's reading next the bed and so when he wakes if its as cold as it is,, err just like tthis morning in fact, he'll just remain in bed reading until such time as an urgency means he actually has* to get up damn wish I was in bed right now

Lie back and think of global warming

Underwear on the radiator. In fact, if you have room whatever you're wearing placed ready on the radiator the night before. The heating put on for up to an hour before you get up (depending on how good your heating is. Mine's not very efficient and needs a good hour).

Putting warm socks, pants and bra/vest on of a chilly morning is SO nice!

Dont put your warmer layers on until you're *just* about to leave the house and leave as soon as possible once you have the extra layers on and are all wrapped up.

Have the heating switch off within about five minutes of you getting out of the shower/bathroom... That way you wont stay too warm while you're getting ready which will make the shock of leaving the house a little less.

-I always end the shower with cold water. It not only has some healthy benefits, it also avoids the temperature contrast effect between the bathroom and the rest of the house.

-Many men here, those who get up very early to work outdoors,( yes, those machotes) have a sol y sombra or a carajillo

Sol y sombra: (sun and shade): a small glass of brandy with aguardiente (a kind of liquor similar to the French Ricard)
Carajillo (better not to translate it): a cup of coffee with a bit of brandy.

I think the best you can do when you are outside home in a cold morning is to have your feet and head covered. Breathe through your nose and think of the hot cup you´ll have when you get at work, or of how sweet was the bed that morning, or how cute that guy looks...

Everyone thinks that you lose most heat through your head, but that's not exactly true. You lose heat at the same rate through all areas of skin, it's just that the head is the largest part of your body which is likely to be uncovered. If your hands were the same size as your head and you weren't wearing gloves, you'd lose just as much heat through them. So, wear a hat, I suppose!

Wear slippers and keep them close to the bed for minimum feet-in-the-cold-air contact. This is especially important, I imagine, if you have a cold floor (people in hot countries often have tiles) rather than carpets.

Definitely towels and/or clothes on radiators!

Stay in bed till summer.

If you put clothes/towels on radiators, make sure you don't block the airflow behind the radiator, otherwise you'll disrupt the convection current in the room and you'll feel a lot colder as a result.

close your bedroom door and turn the heating up, set the heating to switch on an hour before yopu get up, get thicker curtains

We don't have radiators on in the bedroom, and there's not room on the bathroom radiator for everything. A short burst in the tumble dryer is one way of warming up clothes. My American cousin used to put all her kids' clothes in the dryer - she had six. I don't know if the clothes were still warm by the time they'd sorted them all out. This was back in the sixties. A tumble dryer was unheard of in British households, but quite the norm for the Americans on the base (where my cousin's husband was posted).

My ideas -

get up 10 minutes earlier and have a bath rather than a shower - the bathroom is warmer after a bath.

Make sure you're really warm when you get dressed, the heat seems to stay in the clothes. If you're shivering and your teeth are chattering while you get dressed, clothes aren't going to be much help.

Wear two of everything (I am already - it's cold on my bike in the mornings when it's hardly light. Not to mention the evenings)

Most controversially: I like all my breakfast warm (not hot). My kids are always complaining that the milk and the orange juice are not in the fridge, so I know this is a controversial point.

If you must have an ice-cold breakfast, clean your teeth with warm water afterwards.

I have those drying racks on the radiators so I put undewear directly on the radiator and the the layers coming out from there with trousers on the outside... It takes the chill of them.

When this fails, putting your clothes in bed with you for a few minutes takes the edge off as well. It was the only option I had a while ago when we had no heating for 6 months over winter...

I like Mr Bean´s idea of microwaving your underwear before putting it on.

But it would only work if the underwear was wet...

... and it assumes you actually are wearing underwear.



Erm, on topic, then.

Movement helps. If it does not disturb anyone else who might be occupying your bed, move your arms and legs. A lot. In some kind of gymnastics, early-morning excercises sort of way. If you do this while still under your blankets, you may have to rearrange them afterwards, though.

If you do not wish to disturb anyone sharing your bed (or your bedroom), get out of your bed rather quickly and then move about in your apartment / house.

I live in a rather old house where radiators or central heating are not unheard of. This is only the case because visitors mention those words sometimes. We have to rely solely on getting a fire started in the fireplace (or is it a kiln? Whatever you would call those things: http://www.antikeherde.ch/0800/html/jpgs/ofen_02.jpg Ours are nothing this spiffy, of course.) As the Lady of the Mice is by contract or custom not to be expected to be seen out of bed before temperatures have reached a certain level, part of my routine in the mornings is to make sure the fire is burning. So rushing about in the apartment to light the fire, to feed the cats, and to get the electric kettle going keeps me warm enough until the fire does its thing.

Apart from that, I second anyone who suggests seconds of every clothing item, preferrably put on in bed

Y.

It's a woodstove, and a very pretty one. I think it'd only be a kiln if it gets hot enough to fire pottery