WARM WELCOMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 63

WARM WELCOMES.

If your house does not offer the warmest of welcomes to friends during the coldest winter months you cannot blame them if they prefer your summer entertaining. But even if your friends love you enough to brave the elements in your house you do not want the very mixed pleasure of seeing them looking cold, and not too happy under your roof! Some houses are naturally cold and draughty, but many would be just as uncomfortable did their owners not coax them into being more cosy during the cold weather. One of the warmest and most comfortable houses I know stands in an exposed position which seems to attract

the coldest and roughest of weather. The owner of that house is prepared for cold and is armed against it. Keeping a house warm and comfortable is not necessarily a very expensive business. Cosiness by no means entails tremendous coal bills. It is largely a matter of common sense.

First of all, start the day cheerfully. So long as there is going to be someone in the house be sure to have a fire somewhere, and somewhere other than in the kitchen, so that there is always a place to sit in comfort and warmth. Remember that the sight of a fire on a winter’s morning is almost as warming as its heat. People who have to go out straight. away after their breakfast should indulge in gas or electric fires, or even an oilstove, rather than coal fires. It is as bad to start a cold day without warmth as it is to go out without breakfast. Dining rooms and breakfast rooms, particularly those used solely for meals, often lack comfort. If there is a fire in these rooms it is probably lighted only a few minutes before the meal begins. If there is a gas or electric fire the same rule applies. In each case one or two lucky people sit with their backs to the fire and the people sitting along the other side of the table feel like ice! ¥ ¥ -YA room to be used for a meal should be warmed up thoroughly beforehand. A meal eaten in a cold room is never enjoyed, and may even in extreme cases cause sickness and indigestion to those subject to such things. Light your fire or gas fire, at the very least, an hour before the meal.

With very large rooms it may be necessary in extremely cold weather to try to distribute the heat. Here again the oilstove is invaluable. Oilstoves are not things of beauty, but there is no reason why they should not be used before your guests arrive. If one end of a room is cold, an oilstove may be used to warm up this end. A room that •is only warm near the fire is never very comfortable.

Naturally few of us can afford fires in bedrooms as a general rule. Gas fires are nice where they can be afforded, but for perpetual use terribly expensive! Still, this is no reason why your guests should go cold. Warm their bed-room up thoroughly with an oilstove before they arrive. There is a new oilstove on the market with very satisfactory warming capacity which costs only fourpence a day in oil, even if it is burning all day. An oilstove needs attention, of course. It must be watched for a minute when it is first lighted, and an occasional eye should be kept on it to see that it is not smoking. But then the occasional eye has to be kept on fires! When weather is very rough and windows must be kept shut, take your fresh air in big doses. Open the windows very wide for a few minutes at a time! And if they are to be kept open, open them fairly wide —a tiny opening usually means draught rather than fresh air. Remember that some people are much more susceptible to draughts than others. It is all very well to be hardened to them, or to say you don’t mind them when you never suffer from rheumatism, stiff necks, earache, sudden cold, etc., but draughts to such sufferers always mean trouble!

Felt nailed round badly fitting doors will do much to remedy matters. This is particularly necessary in a room which is not very well carpeted. Main doors and main windows which let cold and draughts into the whole of the house should be kept closed as much as possible in the cold weather. Let each room’s ventilation be its own concern. The whole house will keep warmer that way and the passage to bed will not be such an icy one!

And do, if you love your friends, keep a few guests’ hot-water bottles in the house. Remember how small week-end eases are nowadays, and how cumbersome even the most graceful hot-water bottle may be! —Answers.