Spring is over and winter is back
 

Our bedroom is 11.5 degrees, the cars have a covering of snow, the sky has turned black and it is snowing again.
Spring did not last long and I missed Summer and Autumn :)

At this rate we will need to turn the heating back on. Was hoping the coal would last to end of January, made that so hoped for end of February, made that and now it has lasted to the end of March. We just heated one room in the evenings and another room when it was used and our bedroom just to try and keep the chill off. Last couple of weeks our electric has been quite reasonable, well under a fiver a day. that is going to be tough now with the 50 odd percent increase.

macafee2

11.5 degrees! I would be long dead before reaching that low.

Certainly after attending a theme park last week in tee shirt and shorts, this, although forecast, is still a shock.

southern softie :)

We have now turned the heating on but it will be an hour or so before we get and heat that is noticeable

macafee2

The trouble is when heating a house, they have a "time constant" (or delay) of heating up the structure mass, can be 1 or 2 days before you have a steady temperature to then maintain, the air warms up and then the walls!

I also was shocked by the sudden winter coming back. Now it is warmer but it rains every day. I miss those wonderful sunny warm days...

A Tip.
 

I went to pick up two bags of coal yesterday to tide me over the next week or two, I mentioned that I was thinking of buying now for next winter as prices are bound to rise. I was told that coal prices are rising fast and to jump now, they're putting up prices on 1st May and there's another rise forecast for September. I am having 50 bags of coal delivered next week to stash away for next winter, I'm also doing a welding job for the coal yard owner soon and he can pay me with more coal, if I end up with around 70 or 80 bags of coal I'll be warm all winter without worries about cost.
The point being made is that if you buy coal or use coal and can afford to spend the money, do what I've done and buy it now, if it goes up £1 a bag I've just saved £50 and that's five bags more than I wouldn't be getting for the same money next winter, five bags can be four weeks warmth at the start or end of winter.

Coal is not cheap and there are different grades of coal and so the price can vary for the grades. Coal lasts longer but is dirty, it also has to be purchased, not any free stuff about I dont think. An alternative for some is wood. Cleaner, cheaper but does not last as long.
We are hoping to pick up enough free wood this year to see us through winter 2023/4, we think we have enough free and purchased wood for 2022/23. Our son in law seems to meet people and get offered trees so they have wood for a few years and he is going to give us a load each time and our daughter seems to get tree wood from Freecycle and she splits her booty with us.
Free pallets do for kindling if not painted or treated we found a place that is grateful if we take their broken pallets away. The compressed blocks from pallets we dont use.
We have thought about planting trees so we could cut them down but they will take 20 or more years to grow to a decent size and we could be dead by then.

Free wood is very sort after. I need to befriend some tree surgeons:D

Oil was very cheap I think last year or the year before for a period, not cheap now

macafee2