Save Coal and Dress for Winter

The winter solstice has passed, so we are now definitely in the throes of winter (or should that be throws – preferably woolly ones), and here at Sustainability House we’re working out how to keep warm. We’ve been shutting the thermal curtains at night since we moved in, but this house is COLD, and in a frost, the heat pump has to work overtime when we turn it on in the mornings.

Fortunately, we’ve worked out how to use the timer, so now instead of shutting it down at night, we simply set it to come on at a lower temperature around 6am, just as the coldest hour before dawn begins so that when we get here we don’t have to crank it up to full. So far, so good.

The other thing we do (call us crazy) is dress for winter. So often around uni you walk into sweltering (not to mention a bit whiffy) teaching and office spaces and see people wearing pretty much what they wear in summer with maybe a cotton hoodie thrown over the top (note: cotton has little warmth value). Then, those of us who like to dress seasonally find that we have to delayer. Fortunately, that’s what layers are for.

Of course keeping your body toasty and your environment warm (rather than the other way around) will depend on whether you’re someone who feels the cold or not. Here, Matt and Sharon are at extremes. The former can be sitting blissfully in a long-sleeved cotton shirt and lightweight woollen trou, whilst the latter is wearing merino tights and socks, leather boots, woollen skirt, merino singlet, merino top, merino cardie, knitted arm-warmers and a scarf, and when Matt gets too hot and has to turn the heating down she has occasionally resorted to wearing her Swanndri jacket over her knees. On the upside, she will never suffer from high blood pressure.

Wearing that many layers of wool, and not looking like a teletubby takes some doing, but fortunately the second hand shops are heaving with quality merino in every shade and shape possible and it’s a source of pride for Shaz that she could probably wear a different woollen outfit everyday to work for at least two weeks, with a matching coat for each.

Add hats and gloves, and you’re sorted for anything, especially waiting in the post-quake open-air bus exchange in a freezing Southerly complete with rain. It’s at times like that, that warm actually looks cool, and ‘cool’ just looks miserable.