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Letting the cold out!


Chancer

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This is a regular occurrence for us when we first arrive after a long winter absence to our residence secondaire. We have to sit outside to eat for the first few days in temperatures that must make our neighbours think we are mad but it is preferable to being indoors!
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We have a neighbour who opens up and turns on the water and electricity for us so at least we have hot water on arrival - it used to be horrible arriving, often late at night, to a freezing house AND cold water. The stone walls mean the house takes several days to warm up even once we start heating it. Heating is from a rather old and inefficient solid fuel boiler that needs feeding hourly so is not an option for a neighbour to see to. Even leaving windows open is a bit risky as the neighbour can not see our house that well from theirs.
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If I visit my place in the UK at this time of year its particularly grim, it is a wooden garden building that has been winterised and left unheated, I can only afford the midnight boats so usually arrive at 4am and have to get into a damp bed at sub zero temperature, I actually have to wear my survival gear and use my goretex bivvi bag [:(]

I can get some heat into the place relatively quickly but even then it takes a few days to properly warm through and dry out.

The worst thing is that I cannot afford to heat the place here in Picardie while I am away so have to return to exactly the same experience in the early hours of the morning, this place takes even longer to warm through being solid brick walls although if its a short trip it will have retained some heat, the hot water is still warm after a week.

2 years ago was the worst, I arrived in Sussex to a freezing bed and then had to spend the next few days ripping the place apart repairing burst pipes.

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Electric blanket is definitely a good idea Idun. We bought one a few years ago and even though the bedding was never damp it seemed to take ages for the mattress to warm up. We had  4 hot water bottles which we put in the bed from mid afternoon onwards changing them every few hours, even then they still left cold spots. Now at least even if the room is chilly the bed is toasty to get into.

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