'We Don't Have The Heating On When We're Asleep.'

Last year when I went to Great Yarmouth for a holiday with my friend, they had wind farms along the coast, Scratby Sands is a famous Wind Farm, and yet I wonder how is that filtering through to help our utility bills? Do we see any reduction in cost? Wind farms are a great idea, so much better than nuclear power stations and those awful smoke towers, sure they are eco friendly.

We're not embracing them properly. We see a few of them on our way to Mum's in Blackpool and there is a massive one Garstang Road way (on a road off the motorway) that I love..but so many people hate the darned things. The NIMBYS. I can't understand this obsession with 'views' as there's photoshop to get rid of windmills anyway, on photos and the like. 'Escape to the Country' has a lot to answer for. I bet a lot of those places by the river have got flooded out since they were filmed. That's another place I would not live..by a river. We're surrounded in Carlisle by rivers (but we don't live next to one) and we all know what happened here in 2005! At least Prescott pushed for our wonderful defences to be built ASAP..the only good thing he did when Labour were in power!

I'm a bit dismayed at the coal fired stations all being closed down at once..and nothing 'renewable' has been built in their place. Denmark has the right idea..wind farms cover that country. Over here we sold our gas to the likes of Norway and ended up with no reserves of our own..just to make money. We should be self-sufficient with our energy but we're a long way off that. My Dad worked in a coal mine (his first job) so I guess I have a soft spot for miners. Australia is rich due to coal mining (for the Chinese) but, even there, the bubble will burst eventually. I guess they're making the most of their wealth whilst it lasts. Same with Brazil and the like.

We have a heated mattress pad on our bed with dual controls. I get into a warm bed then turn my side down or off. That drop in temperature brings on good sleep they say.

Apparently, the health experts say that we're supposed to do exactly what you are advocating and I, too, cannot sleep when I'm too warm. However, I hate it when my feet are cold so I wear bedsocks to warm them up. Mind you, when I wake up they're a bit on the hot side, which is my point. If I can leave the socks off (like the last two nights) I will.

Yes, I've heard that too. I bet some people have the thing on red hot all night, it's a wonder they don't spontaneously combust lol.

When we were kids, we slept in an unheated second floor. The roof wasn't that great, either, and I remember waking up with snow on the quilts. I was younger then, though, and could stand to spend the night curled up in a fetal position to stay warm. If I did that now, I couldn't get out of bed! But you're right; most of us are wimpy now. We used to heat with wood and the house was cold (well 60 F anyway) until we got up and built up the fire. Now, I stay warm and cozy in bed until the furnace kicks on. I don't like it, but I have no choice right now. It has to do with what we are used to.

Oh yes, I remember feathery frost patterns on the INSIDE of the living room windows when I was growing up. Single pane glass of course. As you say Janey, we weren't soft in those days.

The heating goes off about an hour and a half before I go to bed anyway (and we all know heat rises) so my bedroom hardly ever gets too cold for me to be uncomfortable. I remember at Mum's (when I was small) we didn't even have double glazing or heating upstairs and my window used to freeze up. We weren't soft in those days but now people complain if it's 10°C at night.

My cats do a splendid job of keeping me warm. Now that our oldest cat is going to be 11 the first of April.

Awww, putting the cats first, that's so sweeeet!

Forgive me for being too lazy to type out FirePlace...

Oh right, it's obvious now I think about it lol.

Forgive me, but what's FP?

We've been told that, if we have another severe winter next year (this one actually hasn't been too bad, not here in the North West of England anyway) we may have to start importing more of our fuel as we're about to shut our last remaining coal fired power stations. Nothing has been sorted out (in advance) to replace them. It's an EU thing (who else) but, due to ineptitude by the previous government and now this one..nothing is being built.

I usually have 2 or 3 cats on the bed which can get awkward when I have to get up in the middle of the night. However, they are used to it and move out of the way so that I can get out and then back into place after I get back in

Marvellous! My cat won't go in the bed. I've tried coaxing her in but she's not interested. There's nothing like a warm, fuzzy cat (or cats) to send us off to sleep, is there?

Why is that? Do they need replacing? We did have a leaking water pipe (since repaired and lagged) up in the attic some years ago and that was bad enough.

no,it just gets that cold here. nights with a minus 20 you could wake up to a 20 degree home. anything below freezing,older pipes are in danger.

I don't know if it's actual wood burners or the 'copies' that can have problems with carbon monoxide coming into the room without people knowing. This is why I don't fancy one, to be honest..but there again, lots of fires, potentially have this problem so it's not exclusive.

Sure he does!!! He gets cold too!!! Dog and cat both. Dog doesn't take up much room. They get along really well. They're usually huddled up together. I'm incidental to them and tolerated.

Oh right, so THEY allow YOU in THEIR bed? I like that concept a lot!

Oh my, does the dog go under the cover as well? Awesome!

I hope that doesn't happen very often because 2°C sounds pretty cold to me, my friend!

Oh right, thanks for that!

That's what I would do if I got really cold in bed..just wrap up in the duvet cover. Years ago blankets were more popular than duvets and they ARE making a comeback..even duvets with wool fillings are too as they are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Not cheap though but there again, more natural fibres never are, strangely enough.

i would buy one and use it but it wont look good with one dog and 4 cats that sleep on the bed with me and doing the covers that you can buy I would have to take it to the laundry ever other day

I just shove my head under the duvet if I get cold..and curl up into a ball. That usually works!

I take it the apartment is well insulated? There is a problem with many homes in the UK not being properly insulated i.e. no loft insulation or cavity wall insulation (when required) and there is a debate raging as to how it all can be funded as not many people can afford it..all their money, ironically, is going on gas/electric bills!

Yes, our heating system is old so when it's on it's on. We can't turn it down. This is why we couldn't have it on 24/7 even if we wanted to as it would cost a fortune. In actual fact, the fire not working actually does us a favour as it costs more money to run a gas fire than radiators...especially ours, which isn't energy efficient at all.

At the other end of the spectrum, my Mum has her window open ALL YEAR ROUND. She will only close it if it's really, really cold..and her bedroom has an outside wall exposed to the elements, where her bed is situated. How she sleeps like that I have no idea. She gets a bit stressed when she can't open the window here as it opens INWARDS and is awkward to master. It does get annoying when she sighs if she's hot (which is all the time) whereas me and John are just right. We're used to it, you see.