Cold

[jacey]

No, I don't have a cold. I am cold. Bloody cold. Frigging freezing, in fact. I sit at my desk and my feet are like two little ice blocks. I have a centrally heated house and an office with a big radiator in it. I know the office is not all that cold, but my legs and feet still get icy when I'm sitting. I've got a big wool scarf which I either double up and lay across my knee or which I wrap round and tuck into my trousers to make a makeshift extra skirt... but still I'm cold.

What do you consider to be a comfortable working temperature for static desk-bound writing?

I'm not sure whether it's the air temperature of the office that counts, but under my feet there's a layer of fitted carpet, a layer of underlay, a layer of concrete skim and a layer of 200 year old flaggstones on top of a vaulted callar which has no window in the window opening and therefore is open to the elements. The carpet doesn't feel cold to the touch, but I'm sure there's some loss of heat through direct contact. The hallway is also cooled down because the cellar entrance is under the stairs and the side wall is wood-panelled, i.e. with no insulkation between the cellar-cool air and the wood panel.

This evening I've been snuggled in front of the TV watching Heroes and as well as the rug around my knees (granny-style) I resorted to a mini (half-pint) hot water bottle in my lap.

I think tomorrow I might resort to the fleece topper I made last winter. It's long sleeved, calf-length (with side slits) and has full length sleeves and is designed to go on top of jumper and trousers. It looks a bugger if anyone comes to the door, but I don't care.

I think two jobs on the 'round tuit' list for Best Beloved are to block the cellar window and to insulate the backside of the under-stairs wall.

Comments

[ferlonda.livejournal.com]

Pooooooooor you. I hate having cold feet.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

You'be been in our house over the winter... even when the ambient temperature doesn't feel cold I can get really icy. I'm not sure whether it's just the fact that the house is old and that there are sneaky drafts and cold spots even in a well heated room, or whether it's just me.

[ferlonda.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I well remember the chilliness of Yorkshire in winter! I'd suggest a little extra oil in your diet, like butter or coconut oil but you already eat a pretty good diet so... BB had better get the insulation thing going. Not a bad idea anyway.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

My desk has a woolen blanket under it. Unless it's high summer.

It has taken me a while to realise that with weight loss comes being colder.

Brr. Not looking forward to winter.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Bummer I was hoping that weight loss would mean less surface area to lose heat.

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

While you're waiting, you can get thermals (including socks) from Matalan for a few quid. I try to heat myself rather than the house, though it doesn't always work. 'Start warm to stay warm' as they used to say in...whatever it was.

Have you noticed how many shops are selling fleece blankets? And dressing gowns and slippers. All the old people who are getting hypothermia because they daren't turn up the heating are an insufficiently exploited market, obviously.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Yup Start warm and stay war,. Well I'm just out of bed and warm at the moment so I'll be trying the stay warm bit next. I'm wearing: usual undies which include both a vest and a camisole; trousers, ankle-warmers, thin polo sweater with 3/4 sleeves, thicker crew-neck sweater with long sleeves and over the top of that. And on top of that a black fleece 'jumper' - sleeveless, knee-length with side slits. When I'm sitting it covers my thights completely.

This is not a fashion statement, you understand.

Even so, the minute I sit down the heat starts to leech out of the top of my thighs.

OK so I've already given in and layer the wool scarf across my lap. Lest you think this inconsequential it's about 6 ft long by about 2 ft wide amd one of those loose-knit things in real wool. I can't wear wool close to my skin because it makes me itch, but it's great as an outer as long as I've got plenty of layers between me and it.

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

Sounds eminently practical :D

I think you need a snuggle sack (it's basically a sleeping bag, but for sitting in). Apparently they are toasty warm, but a bit of a nightmare if you have to answer the door or get to the bathroom quickly.

Thermal longjohns are much more practical but do add quite a bit to your silhouette. However, wearing them on the motorbike while travelling at 80mph or more in January, I found them invaluable.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I just thought about the snuggle sack and remembered Billy Connolly's hilarious routine about answering the door in one (or was it in one of those slipper-things where you put both feet into one furry padded thing?). I don't think that would work for me as I do tend to be 'keeper of the door' and we often get deliveries, collections, performers passing through and people in and out of the studio.

And getting to the bathroom... er... when I've got to go, I've got to go.

Thermal longjohns sounds goodish. Bugger the silhouette. It can't get much worse.

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

There you are then. Longjohns it is!

For some reason men's are always cheaper than women's. Bearing in mind that they're to be worn under trousers, I've never seen why. I don't need 'em to be pretty, just affordable. So I've usually worn men's.

[brownnicky.livejournal.com]

I just wear tights under trousers that usually works OK, though I think I had long johns when I lived up North : )
Mostly I just dress as if I were going to a rugby match - glamorous it isn't.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I love it. All these sensible people avoiding fashion in favour of practicality!

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

PS: I haven't forgotten your local history queries, but I have a bit of a panic on now. Things should quieten down soon and then I'll be back to you. I've raided the library :)

[brownnicky.livejournal.com]

My office is north facing and has an open chimney and is bloody freezing. I only heat the basement in the daytime - my kitchen has underfloor heating - and so when all else fails I use the lap top and work in there.(This happens when I start to shiver) I always have a couple of thick jumpers on and something warm on my feet. I think I may buy or borrow a fan heater for in here because I am nervous about losing work when I use the usb pen between computers. I have been known to save the wrong version and lose hours of work. Mine just is a draughty, cold house and as I can't afford to double glaze it and replace all the wonky doors and windows I just live with it.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Ours is a positively breezy, cold, old house, too. We did double glaze it about eight years ago but sadly there are some faults developing. My office window must have warped (well, old houses do 'move') and one side of the window lets in a howling gale. Then there's the cellar 'ventilation' as well. I don't have an open chimney flue in my office (though there is one in the living room) but I am over the top of the cold open cellar.

I figured I can live with it as is is... and it's kinda heartening to know it's not just me that's plain weird.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Have you thought about a hat? We lose a lot of heat through our heads, apparently. I know I was jolly glad that I'd got a hat last Sunday.

As long as you remember to whip if off when you answer the door. Or you could leave it on and use it as an excuse to repel unwanted callers. "Sorry, can't talk now. I was just putting my hat and coat on, I have to go out." :)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

It's very definitely the other end of my body that suffers... legs and feet (sometimes fingers, I admit). My core temperature doesn't seem too low. I don't thoink a had would work - besides I have my hair up in various different ways which would make a hat difficult. (Ponytail, twisted and looped ponytail, twisted in one of those bulldog grippy things etc.)

[tychist.livejournal.com]

Your fleece topper sounds great. Is it a tunic style or button-up-the-front? I've ended up in a padded shirt thing that makes me look like a cut-price lumberjack.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Cut-price lumberjack - I like that.
:-)
Best Beloved had a couple of padded shirts, so I know what you mean. The trouble was that when they were washed the two layers shrunk at different rates so after the first washing one layer pulled the other one out of shape and they looked doubly bulky.

My fleece thing is just a pull-over-the-head sleeveless long tunic, the kind of thing you don't need a pattern to make because you just sew it up the sides and turn the raw edges under and it's finished. I think it took me about half an hour to make. The one I have on now is knee length. I made another one from a mid-brown remnant in the local craft shop. It has sleeves, is calf length and looks like a monk's habit, but I Don't Care.

A full length one would be even warmer, of course.

I remember (at junior school) reading about some women from a tribe way up in the Andes who just added more and more layers of skirt to keep them warm, and it certainly works for me. Perhaps the next thing is a long fleece skirt.

[tychist.livejournal.com]

Sounds brilliant. I like tunic-style. Sigh. I am not a sewist. This is an understatement. It's one of those things that just don't work. My mother in law is always telling me how 'easy' it is and I don't doubt her, just that somehow thread in my vicinity knots, stitches catch or disappear or end up going through my jeans and the needles rust and then the thread breaks and the hems all come down and the seams part company faster than hollywood newlyweds.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Ah, I can appreciate that. I'm generally cackhanded, but I absorbed sewing while growing up and I've always been able to do it without thinking too much. These days I don't have the patience for complicated stuff but I can knock together simple things pretty quickly.

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