Confessions of a Clumsy Scot

So we can all get affected by seasonal depression but for the most part, I actually don’t mind winter. I adore snow! I act like a toddler in a sledge whenever it snows and I refuse to admit I’m cold.

We are now approaching the spring and as much as I’m still hoping for a dusting of snow, I’m really looking forward to the temperature rising just a few degrees.

Here’s the thing. I hate jackets.

I very rarely wear a jacket, only if its absolutely chucking it down with rain. And then the conversation usually goes, ‘I’m cold,’ ‘Well Put a jacket on!’ But it’s not my core that’s cold, its my hands! A jacket won’t warm my hands.

I’ve definitely felt the cold this past winter more. Maybe its part of getting a little older but the circulation in my hands has been awful and they’re just always cold.

But I can’t just warm up when I go home.

I actually don’t have heating at home.

Well I have an oil boiler, but I just don’t have oil. And haven’t done for almost two years now and truthfully I don’t miss it. We ran out and at the time it was the middle of summer and we just decided to not spend the money at the time to get more and we realised how little we use the heating because we just never topped it up.

I love having the stove. In an ideal world it could be bigger but it’s ideal for heating the lounge. It’s where we spend most of our time anyway, the kitchen has the back door open most of the time for the dogs to come and go and we had the radiator off in the bedroom because who likes a hot bedroom anyway?

Even when I’ve been out on the boat, Ill come home and change out of wet clothes and immediately light the stove. I’ll sit with my book in front of it and it feels so much nicer to warm up that way too!

I do have a dyson air purifier which also works as a heater so if its particularly cold, Ill leave that on low for a few hours to heat the rest of the house up but also since we’ve started mainly using the stove, we’ve both had an improved immune system as well as surprisingly saving money. I only really buy coal to keep it going. I get loads of wood from jobs I do and my granny has a whole shed full of peat which Ill take a bag of from time to time, but next year I plan to go and cut my own!