tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post4821930380130157068..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: HOT NEWS: Penny DolanMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-77662694178329918402012-05-22T01:10:00.601+01:002012-05-22T01:10:00.601+01:00I do take heat for granted, Penny. I have a natura...I do take heat for granted, Penny. I have a natural gas furnace that heats my whole house, along with several gas fireplaces that I can turn on and off with the flip of a switch. But, I live in South Dakota, US, where the winters are VERY cold. The Native Americans used wood (which could be quite scarce) and buffalo chips to fuel their fires. And, pioneers really didn't settle here until the railroads were built and brought coal, only about 140 years ago. And during one of those early pioneer years, when constant blizzards stranded the trains, a famous pioneer, Laura Ingalls Wilder, spent much of the winter twisting handfulls of grass into little logs. I am indeed spoiled and blessed.Deborah Watleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-75355255143759356072012-05-17T18:31:33.425+01:002012-05-17T18:31:33.425+01:00Way to turn adversity into a fascinating post, Pen...Way to turn adversity into a fascinating post, Penny! That's what's so great about being a writer. Everything is grist to our mill! <br /><br />Unlike the rest of you, I grew up in Bakersfield California where the desert heat -- even in the shade -- often topped 100 degrees. My parents spent a few years in London and when they came home they used to sit in their car in the driveway, soaking up the oven-like heat. The neighbours thought they were barmy!Caroline Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07249424644829463560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-91723785826196117792012-05-17T18:01:58.315+01:002012-05-17T18:01:58.315+01:00sorry, seem to have commented twice and can't ...sorry, seem to have commented twice and can't delete it!Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-53725771602973400152012-05-17T18:00:15.846+01:002012-05-17T18:00:15.846+01:00I've loved this post and all the comments. Whe...I've loved this post and all the comments. When I was a kid we lived in the Lake District, and there was no central heating and the house was always damp - in the winter, a kind of South American continent of damp spread down the wall. I suffered from endless catarrh, which just melted away when we moved to a house with central heating. My mother was horrified at British cavalier attitudes to heating, coming as she did from a country where, if you didn't have winter heating, you froze to death.The tiled stoves of European alpine houses heated the entire premises - nobody there thought an unheated bedroom was virtuous. My ancestors ate polenta, rather than carrying it in their bras, though. Love that, Michele!Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-80370409606043811712012-05-17T18:00:11.704+01:002012-05-17T18:00:11.704+01:00I've loved this post and all the comments. Whe...I've loved this post and all the comments. When I was a kid we lived in the Lake District, and there was no central heating and the house was always damp - in the winter, a kind of South American continent of damp spread down the wall. I suffered from endless catarrh, which just melted away when we moved to a house with central heating. My mother was horrified at British cavalier attitudes to heating, coming as she did from a country where, if you didn't have winter heating, you froze to death.The tiled stoves of European alpine houses heated the entire premises - nobody there thought an unheated bedroom was virtuous. My ancestors ate polenta, rather than carrying it in their bras, though. Love that, Michele!Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-46221465557615367462012-05-17T14:28:06.686+01:002012-05-17T14:28:06.686+01:00Brilliant post Penny and I hope you're enjoyin...Brilliant post Penny and I hope you're enjoying your new boiler. Long life to it. I'm also of the generation which remembers no central heating and it was HORRIBLE! I am astonished that in only 10 comments we have two people who don't have central heating today. Do you think this is the percentage in the whole population? Inneresting....I think I'd economize on almost everything else before losing my heating!! :) And I love the thought of polenta between the breasts!adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-66682272770934795902012-05-17T12:28:26.869+01:002012-05-17T12:28:26.869+01:00Nice post, Penny. It made me smile - we don't ...Nice post, Penny. It made me smile - we don't have central heating and in winter everything does just concentrate down to just keeping warm. I do love the ice patterns on the windows but sometimes our towels freeze in the bathroom, icicles etc. We do a lot of huddling, and never seem to get visitors in winter, if you don't count mice, that is. (Warm polenta might be an interesting experiment.) I do like passing the winter like this, it feels kind of basic, the only downside is that everywhere else feels rather hot.<br />PS. Would like to reassure Penny that children learn to light fires from scratch (with lint and strikes, not matches) if their primary does Forest School. Some old skills must NEVER die!Jane Borodalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04869783602793206715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-24167966115692959002012-05-17T12:13:19.630+01:002012-05-17T12:13:19.630+01:00When I was a little girl we rented a huge, tumble-...When I was a little girl we rented a huge, tumble-down farmhouse with rotting barns and holes in the ceilings. It was so cold in winter Jack Frost would leave his mark on the inside of all the windows. I kind of miss it... and the lighting of fires...Linda B-Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01599899073420595717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-90854604190550322362012-05-17T11:58:13.997+01:002012-05-17T11:58:13.997+01:00Like you, Penny, I lose the will to live (and writ...Like you, Penny, I lose the will to live (and write) when it is cold. In Venice, they used to walk around with little pots of smouldering coals to keep out the cold. This device was called a scaldino. There was another solution invented by Marina Quirini Benzona, a friend of Byron's and the eponymous blonde in the famous song La Biondina in Gondola. La Benzona was unwilling to sacrifice fashion for comfort even in Venice's venomous winter winds - she was famous for walking around in winter with slices of hot polenta between her breasts to keep her warm, by which means she acquired a nickname, ‘El Fumeto’, ‘The Steaming Lady’. Well, it's one solution if they dont fix your boiler?michelle lovrichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01026972300195225090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-54102672112315353242012-05-17T11:32:36.866+01:002012-05-17T11:32:36.866+01:00Great post. I can still feel exactly what it was l...Great post. I can still feel exactly what it was like to hug the fire with one's face and front over-heating and even burning but one's back icy cold. And when the door was opened--the shivers really started!<br /><br />We are all so very spoiled.Sally Zigmondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07520579251842006765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-58067574140412648002012-05-17T11:10:51.620+01:002012-05-17T11:10:51.620+01:00I too remember cold lino,icy windows and stone hot...I too remember cold lino,icy windows and stone hot water bottles. I'm always cold, and recently packed my hot water bottle and an assortment of vests and cardigans for a holiday in Venice. (And yes, I did use the hot water bottle a few times, but not in chilly London in the ridiculously over-heated airport hotel bedroom.)Ann Turnbullhttp://www.annturnbull.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-53311384716029262402012-05-17T10:18:53.467+01:002012-05-17T10:18:53.467+01:00I'm pretty close to the ancestors. We do have ...I'm pretty close to the ancestors. We do have central heating but it's on only in extremis, and sometimes not even then. I'd like to say I was trying to save the planet, which would be commendable, but in truth my paranoia about the bills just trumps my loathing of the cold. If you come to ours, bring two coats, hat and scarf. I supply hot water bottles and whisky.K. M. Granthttp://kmgrant.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-29441729996914837682012-05-17T10:06:48.194+01:002012-05-17T10:06:48.194+01:00Like Celia and Jo, I remember the single heated ro...Like Celia and Jo, I remember the single heated room, while the rest of the freezing house had icy windows. I love central heating! So glad to hear you can be warm again, Penny - but thank you for a wonderful post.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-29904005888082309612012-05-17T09:55:36.283+01:002012-05-17T09:55:36.283+01:00Fascinating post! When I was a child we didn't...Fascinating post! When I was a child we didn't have central heating and only a few rooms had heating. I remember frost inside the window of my bedroom and icy cold winter days when venturing out of the room where the fire was done with extreme reluctance. We were much closer to our ancestors then. Whole house heating is a recent phenomenon.Celia Reeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05059549379622664741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-84650538684833340492012-05-17T09:33:14.182+01:002012-05-17T09:33:14.182+01:00Yes, funny how we're having to insulate the th...Yes, funny how we're having to insulate the thin walls of modern houses, whereas our ancestors built thick stone walls with rubble cores which kept a house cool in summer and helped contain the heat in winter. the hot brick wrapped in a cloth which you took to bed to warm your toes became a ceramic bottle with a screw top (I remember using them at my grandma's house when I was a child) and kept its warmth a lot better than a rubber hot water bottle!Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-16661948896135679182012-05-17T08:16:53.227+01:002012-05-17T08:16:53.227+01:00It's interesting how we've come to take be...It's interesting how we've come to take being warm enough for granted.<br /><br />I'm not that ancient, but we only heated one room (with a fire) when I was a child, and we woke to ice on the inside of the windows in the winter. Expectations changed completely with modern central heating.<br /><br />And the same goes for keeping cool in hot countries. Designers of old forts and palaces in India knew how to organise walls and passageways to make the most of any breeze and so keep the huge walls cool. Now - the rich have air conditioning.JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.com