My first few trips to England were during the summer; we somehow generally had sunny skies and relative warmth throughout our visits. But, in 2007, during the miserable are-we-or-aren't-we of the aftermath of my Parisian relationship, I stayed with Harry in Yorkshire for ten days over Christmas. Emotional entanglement aside, I had a wonderful time - we went to Ripon Cathedral for Christmas Eve Mass, took Brontë-esque rambles on the moors with the dogs, explored York for an afternoon, and even drove north to celebrate New Year's Eve in Edinburgh.
We didn't have any snow while I was there, but the temperatures hovered just above freezing the whole time. That wasn't a problem in and of itself since I knew that sort of cold from winters in DC and New York. What I wasn't used to was the pervasive damp and gloom. In England, the rain seeps through your pores, the wind whistles into every cranny between your bones, and the winter huddles around your soul to soak up any warmth you have left. Add to that less than eight hours of sunlight a day - if, in fact, there is sun at all - and those Tuesdays in January can pass excruciatingly slowly.
So the thing I remember most about that trip was how the British approach to cold is completely different to any I'd experienced before. In America, we attack winter individually; we turn up the heat and run from house to car to office with barely a pause between. You don't have to be near anyone else to be warm, you just have to adjust your thermostat and watch a YouTube video of wood burning in a fireplace. Don't get me wrong, I love how we immediately go to technology to make our lives more comfortable. Turning up the heat should always be the first option if you can afford the bill! But I found that while keeping warm in England is much more old fashioned, it's also much more communal.
In England during the winter, there are a few steps you have to get through before you can even think about adjusting the thermostat - if the house even has central heat in the first place!
1. PUT ON THE KETTLE
The British are famously obsessed with tea. Okay, obsessed might be a strong word. But tea is an integral part of their culture, and a Brit's first instinct in almost any situation is to put on the kettle. (William Gladstone, a 19th century Prime Minister, said, "If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are excited, it will calm you.”) If I had a pound for every time Jon's mother asked if we wanted tea while staying with them, we could probably pay for our whole wedding in one weekend's visit. They almost never put away the milk jug in the winter, first because it's probably just as cold on the counter as it is in the fridge and second because it gets used every five minutes!
2. FIND A JUMPER
In England, a pull-over sweater is a jumper. Got it? Good. Now, woe betide you if you moan about being cold in an English house while wearing only a layer or two. You have to be wearing at least three layers before you have the right to whinge - and even then, someone will suggest you find a duvet to wrap around yourself.
3. LIGHT THE FIRE
I've been to Jon's parents' house at least once in every month during the year, and the only times we didn't have a fire going in the sitting room were in July and August. After tea and jumpers, lighting the fire is the next instinctive thing the English (those who are lucky enough to have working fireplaces, that is) do when they're cold. And this is where the communal aspect of staying warm comes in - there are only so many fires to be lit and duvets to go around, so everyone generally congregates in the sitting room when it's cold. We close the door to the rest of the house and create an oven of a room, venturing out only to get more tea. We might all be doing our own thing, but we're doing it together.
4. HEAD TO THE KITCHEN
Speaking of ovens, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the kitchen as another key room in the battle against the cold. When Jon's mother is cooking dinner, it's the second-warmest place in the house, and we all find excuses to meander in; we stretch out our hands towards the oven and soak up the radiating heat. Harry's parents had an Aga - read Gesci's great post about the cult of the Aga in England! - and we'd actually fight with their dogs and cats for a spot in front of it in the mornings as we slowly woke up. Anyway, the kitchen is where the kettle lives, and you're almost always in need of more tea!
my back garden, London; December 2011
So there you have it, dear readers: how to keep warm during an English winter - the insider's guide. I hope it helps if you plan to visit any time between September and April! (Winter is a state of mind, you know, not tied to dates on the calendar.) British friends, have I forgotten any other tips? Do share!
