Well spotted. As I said before, nearly all the pictures I have seen of people said to be freezing  are a joke, not least due to the wholly inadequate clothing they are wearing and the inclusion of a stupid blanket. But the text in that article is similar to that in Government publications, based in turn on academic studies. Who am I to say the studies are misguided? But it leads to almost all guidelines saying you must heat your house to at least 18C. I say it's nonsense and think I am living proof.

Social considerations may be the least of my worries, if warnings in articles such as the following are accepted, e.g, raised blood pressure and the risk of heart attacks below 13C:

https://www.cse.org.uk/advice/advice-and-support/heat-and-health

I reject these points because I'm fairly sure they are not allowing for the amount of clothing, for a start. What do you think? I am still alive and kicking, ten years after starting this.

Have I lost the plot? I don't think so. In most regards, I live well. For example, the money saved by not heating the house, is about the same as I enjoy spending on a ski holiday each year, at least before Covid came along.

Quote from: livo on December 01, 2021, 07:29 PM
Can I ask you, do you not heat even a single room for some comfort?

I suspect that's what a lot of people do. I tried it for one or two years about 12 years ago but decided it's a bad idea. I heated the room to perhaps 18 or 20C after adding as much insulation as I could to the room. My energy costs were not high and, at those 'normal' temperatures, I was wearing 'normal' clothes. But you can't stay in the heated room all the time. Quick visits to a freezing cold toilet are OK but going down to the kitchen to make a coffee, lunch or evening meal was very uncomfortable or at the least, inconvenient if you need to put on extra clothes simply to leave the heated room, then take them off again.  So I much prefer my current approach of not heating any room, whilst wearing enough clothes to be fully comfortable at any temperature down to almost freezing. As I said before, the coldest it's been inside my house is around 1C or 2C.

A problem with jokes is that a remark regarded as light-hearted by the person writing or saying something may be regarded as closer to an insult by the person on the receiving end. Onions knows I didn't like the comment and has now modified his previous post by placing a thin line through the offending word. It wouldn't be good enough if someone put a thin line through a racial slur and it's not good enough here. What it also suggests is that Onions isn't interested in these subjects and probably finds my growing chamber a bit odd. So he insulted me by implying I am growing illegal plants. Why?

Then it makes it worse by implying I am involved with illegal growing. As I said, shame on Onions. He should stand down as moderator.

Onions - Thank you for separating out the heating related posts but why have you been so rude about my attempt to grow curry plants? Do you think photos published earlier are of weeds? Maybe garden-related subjects don't interest you in which case you could refrain from making such comments. Shame on you. I was going to reply to Phil's most recent post about heating but, instead, will now go on strike until the weed comment is removed.

A thread about curry leaves is probably not the best place to discuss how to stay warm but Secret Santa's image says it all. He won't stay warm. Most discussions are not taken seriously. I assume all the other members here have so much money it really doesn't matter how much they spend for heating their homes, even if it's something like £2000 per year. I certainly have better ways of spending money than burning any of it to fuel a heater.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on November 30, 2021, 08:57 AMIs it possible that as well as not being able to afford to heat their homes they are also unable to afford the necessary and sufficient clothing, do you think George ?

You are absolutely correct, and so is livo, in that I survive quite comfortably at and around fridge temperatures. Last winter, temperatures dropped as low as 1C in my house but thermometers vary so I put out ramekin dishes with water at various spots to see if any would freeze over. None ever have, yet. Maybe this winter. I think the reason I find it easy, is that in relative terms, it's not actually very cold. Eskimos, polar scientists, some mountain climbers and explorers all experience much colder temperatures. I can't be alone. There must be thousands of people in the UK, doing what I am doing but you don't hear or read much about it - only silly articles like where a family see how long they can survive without heating. A newspaper take some photos of people huddled together on a sofa with a blanket and they don't last long but it makes a good story from the newspaper's point of view. Blankets are no good. I use garments with wool, down or Thinsulate, primarily. None of the clothing was very expensive - some garments were bought pre-owned on eBay. The colder it gets, the more I wear - layering as they say.

Here's the most recent article I've seen on the subject. The author is clueless like I was at his age:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/im-shivering-cant-feel-toes-25553609

Phil - as it is, nobody in authority seems interested, either in the energy saving potential or in how I have survived about 10 winters now and remain perfectly comfortable through knowing what I need to wear. I did question why Councils, charities and similar organisations stress the importance of heating homes to at least 18C, when some people clearly cannot afford to do so. And  a significant number of people will die. If only they knew how easy it is to compensate by wearing enough clothes.

Quote from: Bengali Bob on November 29, 2021, 01:24 PM
Also interesting is his preference of a stainless steel pan over aluminium. 

I think Chef Din is a mine of information but I will not be taking his advice on pans. I am quite sure stainless steel is the worst possible material for a frying pan. It has too many hot spots, rather than the good conduction of aluminium or carbon steel. Tri-ply pans are also good with layering between stainless, aluminium and sometimes copper.