brrrr....

[rabidsamfan]

Okay. I have a dilemma.

It is going to be the coldest day in five years tomorrow. The high will be something ridiculous F, and it's about 2 degrees above now. This would not be a problem if the heater in my apartment understood the "heater" principle. At the moment my thermostat is telling me that it is all of 54 degrees Farenheit in here.

So. Do I drink hot tea, or not?

On the plus side, hot tea will heat me up.

On the minus side, the tea will eventually wish to depart. And that seat is COLD!

Soooo, just how did our ancestors ever manage to keep from becoming permanent fixtures in those unheated privies each winter?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Comments

[belleferret.livejournal.com]

The length of time that the tea will warm you is longer than the time your bum will be chilled by sitting on the toilet!

Our ancestors just squatted.

*sips tea and then squats*

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I'd put in something about "if you sprinkle instead of tinkle" here, but I'm trying very hard not to imagine what ice-build up might add to the perils of the little brown shacks out back.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

They survived by wearing several layers of wool and keeping their hats on indoors. :D Drink hot fluids, use a hot water bottle or a heated gel pack, and have a hot bath if you start to feel really cold. For several years I lived in a flat with single-paned windows, no insulation, and no central heating. Cold doesn't even begin to describe it.

[elendiari22.livejournal.com]

I vote for hot tea and a hot water bottle, and a space heater if you don't already have one. Good luck with the cold. I seriously don't know how people survived before central heating.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Drink a lot of hot tea, then take a hot bath. Then, when the tea has to depart, the seat won't feel quite so cold. My apartment is usually around 60F, so I know the feeling.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I think I would get under a bunch of blankets and never get out!

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, Los Angeles tends toward the mild, but we just had a cold snap (over now) that had my unheated apartment wavering between the high 40s and low 60s for a couple of weeks. I blew a gift card on a space heater *for* the bathroom, and turned it on, shut the door, and left it to keep that *one* room a good 20+ degrees warmer than everywhere else.

After all, anywhere else you can just add more layers.

Of course I haven't got the electric bill for that period yet. But the bathroom is small enough that a space heater really will warm the space, not just whatever is directly in front of it.

[katakanadian.livejournal.com]

In Japan I had a fuzzy toilet seat cover which turned my porcelain visits from blistering cold to wonderfully neutral. I HATE heated toilet seats because the warmth seems like someone else just got up which is a little icky to me.

Layer, layer, layer, especially head and feet. Get up and move around more to keep burning calories.

Keep fighting climate change and demand more renewable energy.

*hugs*

[tempest-415.livejournal.com]

sorry-that anon is me---didn't realize I wasn't signed in.

[illyria-novia.livejournal.com]

Maybe they did their business indoors when it was too cold, and went out to dump the result when weather conditions improved.

[shirebound]

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I always bought a furry toilet-seat cover so it didn't feel cold. They're wondrous.

[catyah.livejournal.com]

I've actually gone on winter retreats where outhouses were the only accomodation. (There were showers & sinks in the lodge, but no toilets.) I was expecting the seat to be really cold (like the rest of the outhouse), but it was made of a styrofoam material that didn't feel cold at all!

As far as keeping warm in your indoor bathroom, do you have a hair dryer? If it's just the seat you're concerned about, you could blow the hair dryer at it for a few moments, just long enough to warm it up. The rest of the time, wear lots of layers, eat and drink hot foods, and move around a lot.

BTW, 2 degrees might be our high here today if we're lucky! Right now it's 20 below!

[dreamflower]

They probably used the chamberpots that were kept under the bed. My paternal granny resisted getting an indoor toilet for years. I can remember usising a chamberpot at her house when we visited and I was little. They were also cold.

(And imagine a *stainless steel* toilet seat. Someone had the bright idea of using stainless steel for the public toilets at the beach in Gulfport. I sat down on one one desperate January day, and very quickly forgot all about *why* I had needed to sit down so badly!)

Bundle up good, and drink your hot tea!

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

I vote for hot tea, luv, and a good ol' bubble bath. And the seat... know that from my own toilet. It's only the first few seconds. *grins*

And 54 °F - that's 12 °C. For Goodness Sake, contact the manager about the heater. It can't be in his interest to see you freeze.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I can't say it's not working -- it is. It's only about 12 degrees F outside (minus 11 C) so the heater's working like crazy. It's just poor design, and insufficient insulation, I think, and there's not much can be done about that in the short term.

I'm bundled up, and I've got a book to hide in bed with, so I'll manage.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well, this turns out to be my own fault, because I didn't change the filter. Which I have now. The floor is still ridiculous, but my head is warm!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I have solved the problem! (Mostly.) I replaced the filter. Operator maintenance DOES count...

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Mine's actually warmer now, but that's because I finally thought of replacing the filter. *headdesk* The floor is still cold, but it's always cold.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

That's what I did this morning!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I finally figured out that I should replace the filter, which is helping immensely. But even with a space heater, the bathroom was pretty cold.

Ah, well... say la gayr and all that.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Heated toilet seats are very icky. Fuzzy ones... well... hmm. Never tried that. Sounds like a solo seat to me, though.

Changing the air filter helped. And will no doubt cut my heating bill a lot! Wish I'd thought of it sooner, but apparently my brains were frozen too.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Wooden seats in outhouses can be exciting though, if you come across a splinter.

I've been wrapped up most of the day, but I finally thought of the filter, and changed it, and wow, what a difference!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, but not always, if my mother's tales are true.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Ah, but how do you keep them clean?

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

We'll get below zero tonight, if the predictions are right. Fortunately, I have finally thought of changing the filter, so I won't turn into an icicle. My apartment is in the sixties now! (Except for the floor, which remains stubbornly at 48.)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Stainless steel toilet seats are a menace. Even in midsummer. Yick!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Replaced the filter, since I'd thought of maintenance that I should probably do before shouting to the landlady and it's made a big difference. Thanks for the nudge!

[shirebound]

I think I used to throw them in the washing machine on 'delicate'. They might be sturdier these days (I'm going back 25 years).