RANDOM JOTTINGS

A blog about music, sports, theatre and rants

Long time blogger just moved to wordpress. Love music, theatre, movies, sport (tennis and cricket) and cooking. Two great daughters, two great granddaughters.

Random Rant – How to keep warm and save on heating bills…

Time for a Random Rant. First of the year though I daresay more will come.

OvoThis morning Ovo Energy published advice on how to keep warm this winter and save on heating bills.

Among their suggestions were the following:

Cuddle your pet – ok perhaps if you have a dog or a cat that will deign to let you cuddle them, but as somebody pointed out on Twitter what if your pet is a hamster, or a gerbil or a goldfish?

Cuddle your children – yeh right. Grab your teenager son/daughter, if you have them and hug them and then wait for Oh Mum gerroff

Leave your oven door open after you have finished cooking and switched it off. They do say that if you have children you must be careful. Yes, all you need is the baby to crawl in…

Wear an extra jumper – now I agree that this is sensible advice. At the moment I am sitting with a pair of thick joggers on, thermal socks, thermal vest, a jumper and a scarf.  I do not need telling.

Do star jumps to warm yourself up – FFS. words fail. I, along with millions of other customers who have received this "advice" have arthritis in one of my knees, my hip and my spine. Star jumps? I wish

Hula Hoop -yes use a hula hoop. See star jumps response above for my answer to that.

Go to the gym.   Again, see my response re star jumps and hula hoop. Oh and by the way Ovo Energy gyms are expensive, yes expensive, and some of us cannot afford it because we have to pay our HEATING BILLS.

When I read things like this I despair. Last year Matt Hancock (remember him?) told us at Christmas we had to keep apart, sit at separate tables and sit Granny by an open window so she would not be infected with Covid from the no doubt rabid family sitting two feet away.  Ok that is fine, just let her die of cold or double pneumonia instead.

What these directives have in common is the bone headed utter stupidity of it all.  Was there not one person in the company, in the marketing department, in the PR department, all sitting no doubt in their beautifully heated offices, who thought "You know what I am not sure this is a good idea?"

There are people who are disabled, lonely, living on their own and worried sick about their heating bills and they are told to do fucking STAR JUMPS?

I apologise for my language.

Actually no I don't.

OK rant over. Ovo Energy have now deleted this from their website and apologised.  Words fail.

PS – I was with Ovo for a few years. They spent most of their time sending me emails telling me they were upping my direct debit as I was using too much electricity.   At the same time I logged onto their app and it told me I was well in credit and all was well.

When I complained, as you know I would, they said "oh it is the computer" so in the end I told them to stuff their computer and moved elsewhere.

Posted in

22 responses to “Random Rant – How to keep warm and save on heating bills…”

  1. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I find my hotwaterbottle invaluable. I have a heated mattress topper for my bed but sometimes if my back is aching I sit with it against my back in the armchair and the warmth relxaes the muscles beautifully. I just find them very comforting

    Reply
  2. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    Once, years ago a professor And his wife,originally from sub-tropical Central America, were heading to London in November for a professional meeting and then a theatre performances holiday, staying in a cheap hotel for the second half of this. He asked me if I had any advice. I told him to take hot water bottles (this was from Austin, Texas, which rarely goes below 45 F in Winter even at night)
    He thought I was hardly serious but they did so and on returning said that these had saved their lives in a dank, old hotel! with no central heat, just a feed-the-meter tiny gas fire in their room.
    Right now, my daughter who lives about 40 miles from Austin is enjoying day times in the 70s.

    Reply
  3. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    H W B Hot water bottle!
    I love my hot water bottle
    So glad you are enjoying the Slider books

    Reply
  4. Jacquie in RI Avatar
    Jacquie in RI

    OK. Help me out here. What is h.w.b. If I know what it is, I will tell you if this other nation uses them. I grew up in the state of Maine and when we finally got a heating system (post WWII) we had lovely radiators where things could get warmed up like mittens and socks and the cats could have a lovely warm nap.
    I just figured it out. Hot Water Bottle. Yes, many older folks use them. Younger folks don’t know what they are.
    Elaine. Look what a rant brings out in us. Thanks for putting me on to the Slider books.

    Reply
  5. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    Do other nations use h.w.bs as we do, I wonder? We’d not be without them. We’ve had two electric mattress covers in the past couple of years but both their controllers failed and so they were both returned to the supplier. Now we just have our hot water bottles and if we go to bed warm (I warm my nightie before putting it on) and sometimes have my bed jacket handy if it’s really cold, we are cosy. If the temp is really cold outside, we leave the heating on turned down low, say around 17C, and that keeps the house temp acceptable for when we are in bed.

    Reply
  6. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    Unfortunately I can’t wear wool, even over a cotton shirt the fibres manage to find their way to my skin and I start to itch unbearably, so only cotton or man-made fibre jumpers for me, but we can still keep warm warm with a few layers, and when I do sit down I have a h.w.b. on my knee or at my back, and a rug around my legs. Making sure you have warm drinks, helps, too, and when the light fades, drawing the curtains, and also putting one’s dressing gown over a jumper and trousers is really cosy.

    Reply
  7. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I love a hot water bottle!

    Reply
  8. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    when writing this rant I was wearing thick joggers, thermal socks, thermal vest and jumper and a scarf fround my neck. I was warm and did not need the heating on. I tend to do this during the day and then put the heating on late afternoon for the evening so I can relax in my pjs.

    Reply
  9. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I think the logic behind that is if you are jumping up when the lift hits the floor you might stand a chance!!

    Reply
  10. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I wish I could jump up and down margaret!!
    Blister packs – I think these are quite dangerous as the packaging is so sharp if you do not open it properly you are likely to slice your finger oof.

    Reply
  11. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Frosty and cold here and only 1 centigrade in London. The sun is shining today though.
    So glad to hear you are enjoying the Bill Slider. A new one has just been published so have been reading that one
    Novak – if he does not wish to get vaccinated that is his personal choice. His beliefs, though we may found them wachky, again his choice and he is entitled to them. But at the end of the day he did not have the integrity to say I am not jabbed and therefore am not coming, but instead lied and obfuscated and then tried to put the blame on his “agent” which is pretty despicable/

    Reply
  12. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    well yes I agree that there are sensible ideas there. I leave my oven open after i have used it and drape tea towels around to dry off (carefully) and I also put another junper on instead of the heating, but it was the patronisig tone that got up most noses. And hug your pets and do star jumps. Honestly

    Reply
  13. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    time and time again I wonder at this and it is unfathomable

    Reply
  14. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Always good to have a rant. Makes me feel better!

    Reply
  15. Susan D Avatar
    Susan D

    Ah, nothing like the old reliable hot water bottle in the bed (or hugged like a pet) to keep me feeling cosy.

    Reply
  16. Sarah Browne Avatar
    Sarah Browne

    I’m sure the intention was good but delivery flawed. Most people over 60 are well aware how to keep themselves warm without central heating but a younger generation see to think that living in shorts and bare feet all year round is their right. As one of the many single pensioners on asingle state pension I keep warm by doing a good brisk walk, every day, wear proper wool jumpers which can be
    bought cheaply from CS, thick socks and warm drinks and keep moving otherwise your circulation will stagnate. Sarah Browne.

    Reply
  17. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    Lovely January rant–a good way to warm up; make your blood boil over such idiocy.
    Reminds me of the advice given to me in a group of librarians when a cranky old elevator was mended. Asked what if it failed again and raced to the bottom with someone actually in it. This was “Jump up and down”. The rest of the man’s comments were drowned by laughter. Me, I always took the stairs from then on.

    Reply
  18. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    Debbie has said it all: The Age of Stupidity. But oh, how I love a good rant. Today I’ve had one myself. Things I cannot open. Things that I try and open and then cut my finger in doing so, either on a knife or the metal top to whatever it is I’m trying to open. Things that fall apart without any help from me and then I can’t put them back together again – such as tonight, the long rod to the Venetian blind that turns the slats. And have you tried to get into a blister pack of anything without a Stanley knife to hand? Husband bought a gadget to help me open jars, but what he (and the manufacturer) hadn’t taken into consideration is that you need to use both hands to use it, and both my hands are equally weak. A rubbish device, as was the electric can opener that doesn’t cut open modern cans that have a very shallow rim. As for jumping up and down to keep warm … the mind boggles!

    Reply
  19. Jacquie in RI Avatar
    Jacquie in RI

    Thanks Elaine. I needed a good rant. Thanks for providing one for me! I didn’t realize you folks were also having a spell of freezing weather. We are as well. Coldest weather in three years the experts say. It is currently 16 degrees F. at 3:00 PM. Luckily the sun is out and I have a good spot in the living room to sit and read. I’m on the 3rd book in the Bill Slider series. Enjoying them very much and have about 20 to go. A reader’s dream……
    At the risk of bringing forth another rant from you, I’ve been following the tennis action in Australia. Couldn’t Novak just get his vax like the rest of us? Always puts himself in the center of attention. I am looking forward to the Open though.

    Reply
  20. Sue Cuthbert Avatar
    Sue Cuthbert

    I heard they just linked to this list somewhere – and no one thought to read them all before the link went public! Some are good ideas – the sort of things frugal people who like to spend their money on things more interesting than energy have been doing forever. Although Not the star jumps!

    Reply
  21. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    ‘Was there not one person…..who thought ”You know what, I’m not sure this is a good idea?”
    HOW many times have I said this?????????? last time was when a friend told me that her son’s primary class decided to name the ability groups after animals, including, wait for it,..monkeys. And this in an area where there were many black children. Presumably the Head was asleep that day….

    Reply
  22. Debbie Avatar
    Debbie

    Welcome to the Age of Stupidity.
    (Nice rant by the way)

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Sue CuthbertCancel reply

Discover more from RANDOM JOTTINGS

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading