From earlier in the season:
After a lovely warm fall, winter is finally here with it's chilly, damp weather. Although our flat is newly insulated, we are scrooges with our electricity and haven't turned on our heat pump, which can make for some pretty chilly mornings typing away at the computer. I should mention at this point that although I am Canadian, I am definitely the biggest wimp in the flat when it comes to the cold. Show me a still, -30°C morning, and I'll tell you I want to go cross country skiing across a frozen lake, but sit me down on the couch inside, and I turn into a shivering wimp. I can only guess that it came from growing up in houses that are centrally heated, automatically ventillated, and very well insulated, so the entire house is kept at a comfortable 19°C. Even in student housing we were warm – the arrangement in Canada is that your landlord pays for your heating so that low income households don't go without heat in the winter. It's taken me a while to get used to the housing and heating here (where you won't die if your heating gets turned off), and after five years of living in (and loving) NZ, I still haven't quite gotten the hang of not feeling the cold like my Kiwi flatmates. So for everyone else who feels the cold, I dedicate this blog to you.
As you might imagine, not turning on the heat pump when things are frozen outside is a little chilly, so here is my “how to deal with the cold” checklist, inspired by Bugs Bunny cartoons and the ways Canadians deal with the cold. If I get through this checklist and still feel chilly, then I'll stage a revolution and reach for the heat pump remote.
Layer up right away. Don't wait until you're already cold to put on more clothes, put them on first thing in the morning. Warming your body back up takes far more energy than keeping it warm.
Break out those long undies. Do you remember watching Bugs Bunny cartoons as a kid? Remember when the characters lost their clothes how they would have long underwear underneath? You should too! You never know when a cross-dressing rabbit is going to trick you out of your clothing... If it's really cold I wear two pairs of long johns, a wool singlet and a long-sleeved wool top.
Liner socks, wooly socks AND slippers. Ning measured the air temperature of his bedroom at floor and desk level. Floor level was a full two degrees colder than desk height. Blood flows from your feet back through the rest of your body. If your tootsies are chilly, the rest of you will be too.
Fleecy goodness. I have a few pairs of fleece pants scored from an op-shop. Layered on top of long johns, they are so cosy and warm! Fleece sweaters are great too. Pick a large one with a hood) so you can fit a light woolen sweater underneat (two layers of fleece together will bunch), then put up that hood. Don't worry about looking like a hooligan in your own home.
Accessorise. You might be surprised at how much warmer you'll feel with fingerless gloves, a neck warmer and a touque (a beanie to the Kiwis). Fingerless gloves don't hamper your typing or your grip, so they're handy to wear around the house. If you can crochet, make a circle to fit loosely around your lower arm, and continue until you have a tube going up to your thumb. Drop sections of stitches so your tube gets narrower and you leave holes for your thumb and fingers to poke out. I'm sorry I can't explain better – I can bring my gloves to the prize-giving to show anyone who is interested. A neck warmer is a tube usually made of wool or fleece that you wear like a scarf. It's handy because it doesn't come undone and there are no floppy ends to dip in your tea. If you're like me and get a stiff neck and shoulders from the cold a neck warmer can really help relieve the tension. Even though you're wearing the hood from your sweater, adding a touque underneath can make a world of difference. Most of the heat lost from your body comes out from the top of your head, so put a lid on it.
A housecoat. My thanks to Elmer Fudd for the inspiration for this one. When he comes home from a busy day of wabbit hunting he doffs his jacket and puts on a housecoat. It occurred to me that I can do this too! So I went and bought a lovely, long, soft, snuggly housecoat. It's so big it fits over all my other layers and hangs down to my knees, so it covers my entire torsoe and makes me feel oh so snuggly.
If you're still chilly it's time to add some heat. Grab a hot water bottle or (better yet), a hard plastic drink bottle. This is a great use for that old Nalgene that leaks BPAs into the water because the cylinder shape makes it release the heat more slowly (and therefore longer) than a hot water bottle, they fit inside an old holey rugby sock, and you're not going to drink the BPAs. If you don't have a Nalgene, you can get a similar effect from a hot water bottle with a cosy. Fill the bottle with boiling water and sit on it. Dave worked out that it costs about 4 cents to boil a kettle, and the heat from the bottle will last for a couple hours, compared to about 60 cents to run a heat pump for two hours. The heat from the bottle is trasferred direclty to your skin and blood stream, making it a far more efficient use of energy.
Another great heat source is hot drinks. The chilly air can be hard on your immune system so Natalie and I make drinks high in vitamin C with dried mandarin peel, lemon peel, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and dried rose hips (now is the perfect time of year to cut, seed and dry them). Sage and oil of oregano are also good additions for fighting colds or nipping them in the bud. Add a little honey for sweetness and extra cold-fighting power.
Cuddle under a blanket. And if you're STILL cold, grab a blanket and a cat/flatmate/boyfriend/dog for a good warm cuddle.
Now you can turn on the heating.
My list might seem a bit excessive, and people with a less Scottish background might wonder why I haven't just turned on the heat pump, but I abhore waste in all its forms, including wasted energy and money. It is currently 7° outside and has been cloudy and rainy all day, so there was no sun to warm the house. It's probably about 10° in here. I am sitting on the couch typing away with everything on my list up to item 8 except the extra long john, gloves and neck warmer (because I got too warm). I am not the least bit tempted to turn on the heat pump.
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