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Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by Simone
Right, now, Megs, about the heating: we have one gas heater in the Lounge room. It stinks of gas(like more than normal). We had someone come round and test it, and they said it was just old, , and to keep the room ventilated, and it wouldn't kill us.
So we use it sometimes, but most heat escapes via the ventilation and door opening anyway, and it really stinks, it makes all the other rooms stink too. :( Unflued Gas Heaters. |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by Megalania
I'm not so sure that unventilated gas heating is innocuous - a flued wood burner would be better. Get the LandLord off his fat, lazy keyster, early one frost morn and ask to have a flued heater put in. You could even suggest a model.
Unflued Gas Heaters. Well, a wood burner wouldn't fit (seriously, no room!!). After we got the heater checked out last year, and the guy who the rental company(investment management company; Key2, part of Wentworth Mutual) sent said it wasn't dangerous, we could use it, I didn't think we had a case for demanding a new one(and I don't think they obliged to put one in anyway). But maybe if I show them that info, and give them some idea's, they might. Ohhhh, I guess if there's a gas heater provided for the rent we pay, that gas heater must be working properly. And it isn't really..... mmmmmmm |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by janeyray
Buy a house in the UK and the chances are it will have central heating. Buy a house in OZ and the chances are it wont have any heating. Of course you can put heating in as ABC suggested :)
I think a lot of people from the UK go to OZ knowing the weather will be great for most of the time. Of course they know it gets cold over there (don't they? :confused: ) BUT I think what they 'dont' expect it to have to go back to the 1970's UK when we used hot water bottles, electric blankets, shut the curtains/blinds to keep the draughts out (no double glazing) and had to sleep in socks, jumpers and lots more extra clothing. Thats all, thats what they don't expect. To be perfectly honest (yes I'm stupid, nieve, whatever whatever...) we didn't expect to have to go to those extreames just to keep warm in the house. One expensive gas fire didn't heat up the whole house, especially as they are open plan. We didn't have enough money to have reversed cycle air con which seems only to be pre-installed in the new build houses. It's not really stupidity, its just not knowing because we've never experienced it. Not sure where I would go to get a hot water bottle from in the UK? lol :D Oh I think boots sell 'Pooh Bear' ones at Christmas. As you mention, most houses are open plan (nightmare to try and heat, even with heating) with mostly tiled living areas (freezing underfoot, so you put lots of rugs down = WHEE!! :eek: ) no double glazing (but lots of huge windows :( ) and often no insulation in paper thin walls and roofs. I hate having to walk around the house looking as though I am about to embark on an expedition to the North Pole, dreading peeling off my layers each morning and evening to have a shower (I used to relish my time in the shower, now it is done in the fastest time possible!) and diving under the duvet as fast as possible at night. Roll on Summertime when I can be hot and sticky again, pulling all the rugs up and throwing open the windows for the flies to find their way in through the flyscreens, and sweltering under 38 degree heat............ (yes, I remember it was that hot last year too! :rolleyes: ) |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by Megalania
Never seen even the most basic house in Aus without any heating - perhaps the landlords take it out specially for Pom tenants to try to make them feel at home?
Originally Posted by Badge
A top tip is to close curtains and blinds
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Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by Pollyana
You must be joking!! Taken me a year and a half to teach him how to open them :D
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Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by Pollyana
No heating in The Bloke's brothers house when they bought it - thats fairly new, 3 bedrooms. Our last unit had none (no surprises there) till The Bloke fitted an ineffective reverese cycle air con. New place has none either, and this is a 3 bed house, built for owner occupation. I grew up in big draughty houses though, and am just dressing how I did as a child, lots of layers. The cold is lovely, long may it last.
Unit had no heating - it did after the heat pump was installed. So maybe 1 out of your 2. Look - even this place had heating - have no idea why Poms would rather whinge about not having heating than to organize it: http://www.mernamora.com.au/images/pics/wirly.gif |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
I recall having the very same 1970s heating in bedrooms at home - yes it was cold - but I find that once under a doona that you are always warm - your body heat warms up the cavity under it. It could be 10 outside and I would be fine. Can never work out all the socks and gear.
I have woken up outside in a sleeping bag at sub zeros temps and felt cold of course. I'm trying to think of the times I have been so cold I want to die. Being cold is one thing, being cold and having to think is another. Reminds me of living outside for a week or two in winter. Coldest I have ever been in the UK is lying on the ground in snow in Hampshire at 4am..trying to stay awake - your body aches, or in the back of a speedboat roaring across a Scottish lake and remembering your warm kit is in your rucksack. gibber gibber. Or sleeping on the floor in the back of a truck down the M4 with the wind roaring through.. The other thing is getting in a plane bloody cold in the back - so wrapping up warm - then parachuting ending up bloody hot because you haven't got time to divest the clothes - finally stopping, then all the sweat freezes..lol. After a week of not eating much you get colder and colder, your feet get wetter and wetter, and it is very easy to go down unless you are scrupulous about hygiene, dry socks etc. Its the little things you have to manage even when you are knackered like brushing off as much snow as you can before you get in to a sleeping bag etc.Then you have to boil water to shave in if you have time - otherwise cold water etc. The plus side is if you strip off to wash - even in the snow - you feel warm when you put it all back on again lol. memories Badge |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
[QUOTE=Ladybird]
Originally Posted by baggie
but is moving to aus worth it just for the good weather?
instead of wrapping the kids in woolys and coats they get covered in sun cream every couple of hours.. No. Its not worth it just for the weather. People kept saying that to me and it made me really cross. Weather should be very low down on your list of reasons for moving to Oz. And yes having to put suncream on two kids everytime you so much as put a toe outside the door is a pain in the bum, and even after 9 months my youngest still kicks up one hell of a fuss! Just wanted to let you know that we have a brilliant sunscreen in the UK called P20 (available in Boots, Superbrug, Asda, Waitrose etc) in case you can get that in OZ - or ask someone to send you some. You can find out about it on the internet. It is SPF20 and only needs to be applied once a day. It binds into the skin, but needs to be applied 90mins before sun exposure, which I know may not be practical, and if you have very fair skinned children SPF20 may not be enough. But it blocks out all the bad sun rays but lets through the good ones with the SFP20. Desert marathon runners and photographers/journalists working in extreme conditions use it. I will never look at other sunscreens again since I hate re-applying. It also remains 90% effective after swimming etc. Can't recommend it enough. :) |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by baggie
makes me laugh here people already moaning about how hot it is and muggy,then they moan when it goes cold,
seems the majority of people in uk could moaning as their main hobby :D with regards the missus missing weekends away thats another reason,she is really scared of the whole friend network thing and i have to admit i see where she is coming from when she says at the start she would have no one to talk to most of the day but a 4 and 2 year old,which can be fun but not the most sane of conversations. Good luck with whatever you decide. I totally agree with your comments when the UK weather makes it so beautiful and enjoyable. Which basically comes down to the lifestyle and attitude that good weather offers. However you also need to bear in mind the variable and extreme conditions that some of Oz has. I for example could not live in Brisbane. It is just too humid. But you do get used to it, as a child I lived in Saudi Arabia and would wear jeans and sweaters in the 32 degree 'winters'!! |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
[QUOTE=uk+kiwi]
Originally Posted by Ladybird
Hi Ladybird - Just wanted to let you know that we have a brilliant sunscreen in the UK called P20 (available in Boots, Superbrug, Asda, Waitrose etc) in case you can get that in OZ - or ask someone to send you some. You can find out about it on the internet. It is SPF20 and only needs to be applied once a day. It binds into the skin, but needs to be applied 90mins before sun exposure, which I know may not be practical, and if you have very fair skinned children SPF20 may not be enough. But it blocks out all the bad sun rays but lets through the good ones with the SFP20. Desert marathon runners and photographers/journalists working in extreme conditions use it. I will never look at other sunscreens again since I hate re-applying. It also remains 90% effective after swimming etc. Can't recommend it enough. :) badge |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by uk+kiwi
Just wanted to let you know that we have a brilliant sunscreen in the UK called P20 (available in Boots, Superbrug, Asda, Waitrose etc) in case you can get that in OZ - or ask someone to send you some. You can find out about it on the internet.
It wasn't available here at that time, not sure if anything has changed. |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
Originally Posted by Megalania
The correct way of remembering it is not "kilo-Watts hour" but as "kilo-Watt Hours" meaning power multiplied by time.
kW is demand. How much your appliances are demanding from your electricity supplier. A 100 Watt bulb demands 100 Watts from your supplier. kWh is consumption. How much you consume from your supplier over time. So if you leave the bulb on for 1/2 an hour, thats 50 Wh you've consumed. |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
[QUOTE=uk+kiwi]
Originally Posted by Ladybird
Hi Ladybird - Just wanted to let you know that we have a brilliant sunscreen in the UK called P20 (available in Boots, Superbrug, Asda, Waitrose etc) in case you can get that in OZ - or ask someone to send you some. You can find out about it on the internet. It is SPF20 and only needs to be applied once a day. It binds into the skin, but needs to be applied 90mins before sun exposure, which I know may not be practical, and if you have very fair skinned children SPF20 may not be enough. But it blocks out all the bad sun rays but lets through the good ones with the SFP20. Desert marathon runners and photographers/journalists working in extreme conditions use it. I will never look at other sunscreens again since I hate re-applying. It also remains 90% effective after swimming etc. Can't recommend it enough. :) P20 - your questions answered It is definitely not a "unique product" - the active ingredient PABA: http://www.chemicalland21.com/arokor...m/150-13-0.gif has been used in sunscreens for decades and is being phased out. Sunscreens and Immune Response Sunscreen should be used by untanned people to give them some propection until they slowly acquire a self protective tan and by outdoor workers who can not use other protective means. Overselling of sunscreen benefits is likely to cause people to take inadequate alternative measures of sun protection. |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
[QUOTE=Megalania][QUOTE=uk+kiwi]
. Sunscreens and Immune Response QUOTE] Great article. Not sure of its date... Is it obvious in Australia, which creams are cinnamate based and not PABA based? |
Re: see'ing the uk in a different light
[QUOTE=NKSK][QUOTE=Megalania]
Originally Posted by uk+kiwi
.
Sunscreens and Immune Response QUOTE] Great article. Not sure of its date... Is it obvious in Australia, which creams are cinnamate based and not PABA based? |
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