[Womble]

No way will that be upgraded by BT in the next 4 years, and even if - to what?

Interestingly, our landline used to be awful for calls. I used to call people back from my mobile so I could hear them, and don't even think about it for broadband. However, we now have a microwave link for broadband which is reliable enough that we switched our "landline" number over to an internet based "VOIP" provider instead. We now pay 1p/minute for calls but no line rental, saving us £15 a month.

To get back on topic though, it does of course die if the power or internet fails.

[chrismahon]

When we arrived in France our experience of paraffin burners was limited to greenhouse heaters. Things certainly have moved on. QLima appear to be the market leaders and a search on Google gets guidance videos in english, so presumably they now sell them in the UK. The paraffin here is sold in 20L bottles in several grades ranging from the stinky stuff we used in England to Zero Odour, which I can vouch for. There is another extremely clean version which is meant for wick lamps- far too expensive for heating.


My preference is for Tilly lamps, which give a lot of heat and reasonable light. For those who are not familiar with them they pre-heat the paraffin (using a small alcohol burner) which becomes vapour and which is then burned through a gas mantle. They will run for about 8 hours on one fill, but do need to be re-pressurised as the paraffin is depleted. In England we used smelly meths to start-up but here they do a odourless 95% alcohol cleaner sold in 1L bottles for a fraction of the price, so if you come to France buy some in the supermarket (and acetone as well, if you like).

[Anke]

And just to get back to power cuts... the problems we had with the recent storms would not have happened in Germany - overland electricity poles were phased out years ago... all done now via underground trunking/pipes. Only the really huge power lines are still overland. So it would be very rare to have fallen trees cutting the power to households.... or lightening strikes frazzling ancient transformers...

[Fleecewife]

And just to get back to power cuts... the problems we had with the recent storms would not have happened in Germany - overland electricity poles were phased out years ago... all done now via underground trunking/pipes. Only the really huge power lines are still overland. So it would be very rare to have fallen trees cutting the power to households.... or lightening strikes frazzling ancient transformers...

Seeing all those plantations of mature conifers so close to power lines made me sit up a bit.  Of course they got damaged in a storm.  Conifers are notoriously shallow rooted and the ones at the edge of a plantation, say along a road, where of course the power lines run too, those are the ones that blow down first. You have to wonder how Britain ever ran an empire     Also what happened to the planting of broad leaves along the edges of conifer plantations for amenity and wildlife?  I'm sure that plan came in long enough ago for trees which are now mature and ready to fall if not cropped to have been subject to the rule when they were planted.
There's an awful lot about the UK where we really need to pull our socks up.

[Glencairn]

That last named storm was a bad one, in that the wind came from the north and brought down many trees that had escaped being windblown for decades.

My relatives now are in the difficult position where they have approx seven acres of windblown sitka to have removed with some displaying the classic 'barber's chair' and many snapped off half way up the trunk.

On the upside I think they will at least have ample firewood should the power go off again!

I'm a annual user of winter tyres. Have been for about fifteen years.

Most of the time you don't know you need them, but there has been the worrying weather where it rains onto frozen roads quite often recently.

[william_wt]

BT have stopped my parents phone landline, and now their phone is plugged into the back of their modem.  It still goes down the BT phone cables, but now doesn't work without electricity.

[doganjo]

BT have stopped my parents phone landline, and now their phone is plugged into the back of their modem.  It still goes down the BT phone cables, but now doesn't work without electricity.

I'm about to move the fibre too, and BT advised me to make sure my mobile was always charged u[p and near to hand; or to buy one of the old fashioned plug in phones