Grandma Day and British climate

From Mary Jo:

Happy Grandma's Day indeed!  Having met all three of Edith's children, I can say with conviction that this is genetic stock that the world needs more of.  Welcome to the world, little Hugo Norbert!  You are bringing much happiness, and I'm sure this is just the beginning.

On another topic--our private wenchly discussion led to Susan Sarah's post combining comments, plus more private comments on food storage.  Which reminded me of how the northern marine climate of the British Isles has served the country well.  It's usually not cold enough to kill you, so more passengers could ride on the outside of carriages. 

When I lived in England, central heating was still not the norm, because it wasn't usually cold enough to kill you.  <g>  A lot of older houses got by with itty bitty electric space heaters and things like night storage heaters, where you had to guess how much heat you'd need the next day.  I knew a Czech-born graduate student in Oxford, and she said quite firmly that central heating was the norm in her native country, where it got a lot colder.

The British Isles also usually don't get too hot, though global warming may be changing this.  The generally cool, moderate temperatures also made refrigerators less than essential.  When I lived there, it was common to have very small, office size fridges, and some houses didn't need them at all.  This is related to those clever dairies that Loretta and Agtigress described: by placing rooms away from direct sun and using cool materials like marble and slate, food is easier to preserve.   (A social custom of shopping frequently and buying fresh meat and produce also helped.) 

Hmmm, I'll have to talk more about this some day!

Mary Jo, sending virtual champagne to Hugo, his proud mom, Susie, and proud grandmother, Edith.  And definitely to his dad!

Comments

[Val Jones]

I never lived in the UK, but spent three weeks in Wales and noticed that in every B&B that I stayed in, they turned off the heat at night. I like the cold, so it really didn't bother me but had the friend that was traveling with me sleeping in everything she owned (including gloves - we're from Florida).

Another thing that I noticed in '97, was that the neighborhood grocery store was still doing strong. People would often stop in on the way back from work to buy dinner fixings. So why have a huge fridge?