Equalising temperatures

stickywicket

Yesterday we were out most of the day with a friend plus his rellies from Australia. When we got home for fish and chips we put the thermostat right up for them as they do feel the cold over here. Mr SW and I haven't had the central heating on at all since last winter but we spent the evening with the two Aussies swaddled in sweaters and outdoor coats while we three English ones melted in just thin, cotton, short-sleeved shirts. I do resent having to get sweaty for the sake of those who feel the cold but go about in thin, man-made fibres but these two were doing all they could to stay warm.

Aren't bodies weird? We do the same in th USA when visiting our son who once coped matter-of-factly with the rigours of near-Siberian winters here in Yorkshire but now thinks it's cold if the temperature drops below 20c. Over there Mr SW and I sit under the air con when indoors.

I guess we adapt to our environment. One of the 'Aussies' spent her first 30 years in Yorkshire but you'd never think so now.

theresak

I suppose, as you say, that we adapt to our environment, which is a good thing. Air-con is a bit of a thorny topic here - if we go somewhere really hot I would have it on through the night, but hubby says it gives him a sore throat. That being the case I wake several times as I'm too hot, and give the air-con a short burst each time while he snores away in oblivion.

Airwave!

If we could inure ourselves against the cold we could save a fortune in heating and be more comfortable. I find the colder I get the more uncomfortable my joints are.

LignumVitae

I expected this when Mr LV arrived to live here in December. We met when he visited in the Autumn and as luck would have it he experienced a fabulous indian summer so never felt cold. Once he arrived to live I was all ready with blankets and what not but whether he is a bit insensitive :roll: or whether it was the excitement of real snow, he never complained and did and still does spend the winters bizarrely walking about in the snow in flip flops.
His dog arrived in the June with a hairless belly and within two months had a hairy belly for the first time in her life. The vet explained (and I assume it's similar for all us mammals) that it takes the body and the blood (or something regulating the blood) 18 months to fully acclimatise to a change in temperature. The idea of sweating for 18 months whilst I got used to Australian climate is yet another item on the long list of reasons we shall not be moving there.

barbara12

Our neighbours have friends from Aussie and they have the same prob when they visit ..not just the heat but the price of it.. she say they have been back here 6 years now and still feel the cold..but yet they say they adapted to the heat very quickly.. :?