There are several cables laid under the north sea to Norway Emjay, and also to France and I think to the Netherlands too. Although, we have actually been selling electricity to France, Ireland and the Netherlands recently. The majority of your bill are green taxes and subsidies so they can finance wind turbines and arrays of solar panels.
This is where your electricity is coming from today.
If you were wondering, Ccgt = Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
We are still supplying France with 1% of our electricity generation. I think some of their nuclear stations have been offline for maintenance.
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It must be an older type of boiler Annie, do you have a hot water storage tank?
I shouldn’t mess with the domestic hot water timings as you certainly will have to experience a cold shower occasionally…
If you do have a hot water storage tank it’s like two tanks in one. The boiler heats up the water for the radiators and stores it in the tank until you turn the thermostat up. It also heats up the domestic hot water supply through heat transference in the tank. (your domestic hot supply never passes through the boiler) so one is dependent on the other. You should only control your radiators with the thermostat, which might not have an auto setting Annie.
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I have always said that this forum is educational. That is another bit of useful information that I have learnt.
Thank you OGF.
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I hope no one is planning to stop opening windows during the cold days of winter. Fresh air kills all sorts of ills, bugs, mites, viruses, pollution, etc.
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I’m going to be opening mine - or at least leaving the bedroom ones open overnight. I cannot sleep in a stuffy room.
I don’t think it was lousy.
I remember having a bath before a roaring fire and then going to my bed warmed by a hot water bottle or two that had been put in an hour before. Snuggling down under at least 4 blankets & a thick eiderdown.
Frost on the window frames but feeling all warm & snug…
Not lousy at all…
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I’m going to experiment with cooking pasta in the microwave. At first I found the idea quite off putting but it actually makes sense.
We have an OXO food mill arriving today and will be making a variety of tomato based sauces rather than buying those overpriced jars on sale in the shops.
I buy quick-cook pasta … into boiling salted water for a minute or two, strain, throw straight into bubbling sauce to finish cooking.
Is quick cook pasta more expensive though?
… used to, not any more. After getting washed & dresses for the day, I always let some air through before going out.
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For every day fare I’ll use the 36p budget pasta and for the nicer meals something a bit special cooked in the traditional manner.
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Speak for yourself Dachs. Coal fires were ‘State of the art’ in those days and we hadn’t been wrapped in cotton wool like the people nowadays. If all the microwaves suddenly broke, some people would never get a hot meal again, and God forbid if they had to fill a sink with hot soapy water and get their hands wet to do the washing up because the dishwasher packed up…
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I hope that’s not ‘Dried Pasta’ you’re using Chilliboot…Yuck!
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Right… I used to get up in the morning at night at half-past-ten at night, half an hour before I went to bed, Eat a lump of freezing cold poison, work 28 hours a day at mill, and pay da mill owner to let us work there. And when I went home our dad used to murder us in cold blood, each night, and dance about on our graves, singing hallelujah.
Yah, you try an tell the young people of today that, and they won’t believe you…
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They will soon… those days are coming back! 
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Well thank you Mr Carluccio! 
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Oooh I never open windows in winter and only rarely in summer.
Yikes, you are probably only joking but …
I can’t imagine the day when you can’t embrace the big outdoors in your own home. A change of air, a little oxygen, goodbye yesterday, hello today. Even if, especially if, you are infirmed and don’t get out for a good walk.
I open my windows and doors all year round, the timing just depends on the season.
In winter I open them during the day to warm up the house - Mr Rudd’s free roof insulation means the sun doesn’t warm up my house like it used to so the warmth has to come through the doors and windows. I do occasionally use a fan heater in the very middle of winter but probably only for a couple of hours on perhaps ten days altogether.
In summer the doors and windows are kept firmly shut during the day but as soon as the sun has gone down they are flung open to cool the house down. Any breeze is welcome cooling.
Obviously I don’t have air conditioning.
It was 21 deg this afternoon here in the SW France. So we opened the windows and doors. Sure, it wasn’t super warm. But the point was airing, not warming. By 6pm it was getting chilly so everything was shut and the wood-burner was lit. 3 hours later all is cosy. I’ll put a last, big log on in 20 min to warm the house through the night.