Since arriving at university, my favourite topic of discussion from January to March has consistently revolved around how freezing I am. Initially, I simply embraced this perpetual chill as part of the student experience, but as I gear up for my third Glasgow winter of routinely wearing a hat to bed, I can’t help but wonder- Does it have to be this way?
Now I’m not taking a moral stance against cautiously heating your home. Amid a cost of living crisis, a lot of people simply can’t afford to heat their flats at currently extortionate prices. Add Glasgow tenement flats penchant for single glazing, high ceilings and poor insulation and you’ve got a match made in hell. My own bedroom- the converted living room of a tenement house- is several degrees colder than the rest of my flat, a noticeable difference felt by everyone as soon as they walk in. The result; my number one goal is to spend as little time in there as physically possible until the temperature hits above fifteen degrees. Which begs the question, what am I even paying rent for?
However, demonising heating appears to be an inexplicably British cultural phenomenon. Similarly to how many shots we can stomach, how little sleep we can survive off and how good our grades are, it’s taken on a competitive aspect, where our capacity for being able to endure adulthood seems to be measured by how little we turn our radiators on. A few weeks ago, over pints at Inn Deep a group of my friends proudly declared they’d only used their heating twice this winter – during the week it repeatedly hit minus eight degrees here. That same week, another friend told me that she’d woken up to find that some of her skincare products had frozen over. Almost everybody I know has bonded over camping out at their preferred uni building to leach off the heating, yet the notion of turning it on is completely inconceivable to many. My point is that there seems to a a perverse glory in suffering through winter which, to be honest, I’m getting pretty sick of hearing about.
For one, keeping your house warm prevents the spread of mould, another chronic problem in virtually every student flat I’ve ever stepped foot in. So the good news is that running up your heating bill may just help you avoid black mould poisoning! This combined with not being affronted by the sight of your breath misting in front of your face whilst indoors will probably help you avoid illness, and spend less time being miserable. A win-win situation.
So how to combat this warmth-adverse university culture? My top tip is to live with people who are either similarly able to endure the cold or willing to splash the cash on the Sisyphean task of heating a Glasgow tenement flat. That way minimal casualties arise. A few additional tips to survive these bitter months include acquiring any of the following; a heated blanket, a hot water bottle, thermals, warm socks, and thermos flasks. As well as subsisting mainly off soup and any warm beverage of choice. Camping out at uni or your friends who put their heating on houses is always a solid option. If you have a gym membership, spend some quality time in the Stevie sauna and, if you’re fortunate enough to have a bath my envy is palpable.
So hopefully, this month’s column has convinced some of you that it’s not a sign of moral weakness to turn you’re heating on every once in a while. Possibly even to forgive your flatmate who sneakily puts the heating on when everyone else is out (I believe they’re the ones who are preventing us all from dying of pneumonia). Perhaps I’ll even hear someone being praised for their toasty flat. Until then, you can find me burrowed under blankets or hunched over a soup at the union. Desperately trying to make it till spring.
By Severine Bernard
@eviebernard
(In Celebration Of is a monthly column by Severine Bernard, exclusive to qmunicatemagazine.co.uk. Stay tuned for more installments!)
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