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Post by onlyMark on Dec 16, 2014 8:18:09 GMT
lizzy, have you ever thought of a very simple solar panel/battery and convertor? Mainly just to recharge stuff and have a light or two?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2014 8:48:11 GMT
Oh yes, Mark, that's all coming down the road for us, just a matter of time and energy. We're only out there on weekends, so it's no great hardship. And last week was one of the worst storms Whidbey Island has seen in decades and everyone's power was out for days. We were snug as bugs and far better off than some.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2014 14:42:47 GMT
One of the things that drives me crazy at the nursing home is to see at least half of the people sitting in the dark in their rooms. Of course some of them are such zombies that it makes no difference to them, but some of them are still living their extremely frugal lives of "I have to use as little electricity as possible because it's expensive and what if I burn out a light bulb?" The withered old woman next to my mother's room has all of her intellect, and she sits in her doorway to use the electricity from the hallway to do her crossword puzzles or else during the brightest part of the day (which isn't very bright right now), she sits by her window to use the daylight. If anybody offers to turn on the light in her room, she adamantly refuses.
I keep all of the lights on in my mother's room, and the staff turn on her lights when I am not there. Nevertheless, she seems to have gone into semi-hibernation for the past week or so.
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Post by htmb on Dec 16, 2014 14:51:04 GMT
The lights......a manifestation of that generation? I remember my parents going on and on about the lights, seemingly to the extreme.
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Post by rikita on Dec 16, 2014 23:47:33 GMT
i wonder if it is the darkness that is messing with a's ability to fall asleep - she suddenly needs ages, and is so restless. maybe it is because when she goes to bed it has already been dark for three hours, so her body is confused? or because it stays dark so long in the morning she sleeps in longer, and that's why she can't fall asleep in the evening? i would of course just suggest to her to sleep more altogether, but she doesn't seem to see that option ...
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Post by lagatta on Dec 17, 2014 0:46:45 GMT
lizzy, well you're with your luv, so "go to bed" can have many meanings...
As for elderly beings, Renzo seems to want to be fed ridiculously early... And yes, of course people of a certain generation think of electricity as something to be used with great parcimony. Their parents scarcely had it, if they did. Rural electrification took a long time in many countries and continents.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 22, 2015 19:36:31 GMT
Ah, the timely winter blues thread, a year later! I've been crying my eyes out for two hours... Going out for a bicycle ride (not far, a few errands) mostly just to "changer le mal de place"... By the way, the above seems to be a Québec expression. Didn't know that; thought it was standard French: forum.wordreference.com/threads/changer-le-mal-de-place.1463414/?hl=fr
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Post by htmb on Dec 22, 2015 20:36:12 GMT
Getting in the fresh air and whatever sunlight is around is probably the best thing to do, don't you think?
I hate these short days (even Florida short days), but am happy knowing daylight hours will slowly increase from here on out.
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Post by rikita on Dec 23, 2015 8:45:00 GMT
here it's so little wintery i do not even feel like winter. and strangely even though the days of course are short as is normal this time of year, i have not really noticed that yet either.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 23, 2015 14:48:46 GMT
My cure for winter blues: holiday lights. Strings of them, inside and out. I leave them up till Epiphany, by which time the days are getting noticeably longer.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2015 6:27:52 GMT
Since Paris is beautiful after dark, I would suspect that the short days have less effect on Parisians than people in many other places.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 24, 2015 8:35:24 GMT
I am very lucky that it doesn't affect me but my mother was dreadful to the point of suicidal.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 24, 2015 9:40:28 GMT
Although you are in the south, you do realise that you are considerably north of Montréal. Herts: 51.9°N 0.2°W
Montréal: Les coordonnées géographiques de Montréal, Canada Latitude : 45°30′31″ Nord Longitude : 73°35′16″ Ouest L’altitude par rapport au niveau de la mer : 216 m Les coordonnées de Montréal en degrés décimaux Latitude : 45.5088400 Longitude : -73.5878100 Les coordonnées de Montréal en degrés et minutes décimales Latitude : 45°30.5304′ Nord Longitude : 73°35.2686′ Ouest
We are quite a bit south of Paris, you know, though usually our winters are infinitely worse. I have worked in the far north of Québec, though. The sun doesn't disappear as in the high Arctic farther north, but the days are very short there now.
Other than my Arctic Québec (Nunavik - not Nunavut) stint, I've never spent a long time anywhere farther north than Amsterdam.
Yes, Paris is lovely after dark. That must use quite a bit of energy, though.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2015 10:49:47 GMT
Actually most public lighting has been converted to LEDs, so energy use for that is down 70%.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 24, 2015 13:58:34 GMT
And worth every penny!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 3, 2018 18:05:06 GMT
The past couple of years I've found winter really hard going, I've always hated February for some reason...and bereavement hasn't helped. My family noticed that I wasn't firing on all cylinders recently even tho it's not winter yet...so I've got me a S.A.D. light. I've only used it for 30 minutes per day so far and I don't know if it's all hogwash...anything that helps prevent me sinking into a winter torpor is worth a go...last two years have been horrid.
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Post by mich64 on Oct 3, 2018 18:44:34 GMT
Cheery I have a few friends who have used it and felt a marked improvement, keep with it. Do you take a Vitamin D supplement? I found that very helpful as well.
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Post by onlyMark on Oct 3, 2018 19:51:50 GMT
I suffered badly from this, though it probably didn't have a name all those years ago. A S.A.D. light wasn't something known of either so I wonder if it might have helped. In any case, I found leaving the country to be a solution. Unfortunately that option isn't available to everyone.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 3, 2018 21:10:25 GMT
The past couple of years I've found winter really hard going, I've always hated February for some reason...and bereavement hasn't helped. My family noticed that I wasn't firing on all cylinders recently even tho it's not winter yet...so I've got me a S.A.D. light. I've only used it for 30 minutes per day so far and I don't know if it's all hogwash...anything that helps prevent me sinking into a winter torpor is worth a go...last two years have been horrid. I know someplace nice and warm and always sunny in the wintertime where you are always, always welcome.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 4, 2018 6:54:49 GMT
Eldest grandson, the cricketer, suffers with it as well.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 7, 2018 19:01:46 GMT
Oh Bixa my dear....one day....
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Post by Kimby on Oct 7, 2018 19:30:45 GMT
Seasons are going round and round so fast these days, my head is spinning! Seems summer just began a few weeks ago and now leaves are dropping! Can I hope that winter will come and go as fast as summer did?
I’m not a fan of winter though I do ski, both downhill and cross country. I hate the dark and cold. By February, the longer days and occasional winter thaws help a lot, but really, the best cure is to escape to Florida for a few weeks of summer in the middle of winter.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 14, 2018 4:01:33 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Oct 14, 2018 15:31:08 GMT
Fascinating. It is not restricted to people from "the South" (This "South" includes Oslo, Ottawa and Moscow) and certainly occurs among Indigenous peoples of the Far North, though I imagine their cultures have designed coping mechanisms - damn, another thing I'll have to look up.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 15, 2018 4:53:28 GMT
I'm looking forward to the end of summer time on October 28th, because it is staying dark too long in the morning. However, this might be the last year for changing the clocks in Europe, because the EU has voted to abandon the system. If I have understood them correctly, though, the plan is for most of the continent to stay on GMT+2 year round instead of GMT+1 which is considered to be "standard" time -- so the clocks would move forward again next spring and stay that way.
I think I read that Spain is considering changing time zone, because they are too far west. They would join the time zone of Portugal and the British Isles.
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Post by onlyMark on Oct 15, 2018 11:22:56 GMT
The idea has been mooted for several years, but has never come to fruition. I won't hold my breath.
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Post by bjd on Oct 17, 2018 5:17:24 GMT
Apparently this time it is going to happen, but I would prefer them to go to "winter time" GMT+1. I don't care if it stays light until 10 pm in summer, but really dislike these dark mornings.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 14, 2019 20:00:03 GMT
I'm reporting back on the S.A.D. light Usually by mid February I'm pretty glum (to put it lightly - excuse the pun). I have been using the light for one or two hours most days and have been fine. Black Dog free.
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 12, 2019 9:22:44 GMT
Mid November and all those rotten winter months to look forward to. At least the sun is out today.
Not sure I could cope with Lagatta's and Mitch's winters.
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Post by questa on Nov 12, 2019 12:06:48 GMT
Even in sunny Australia SAD syndrome is common. I have had it since before it had a name and was accepted as a genuine condition. I found that the lights in my bathroom helped. They were just a pair of bright lights meant to warm the air in the room. I would take a book and pillow, strip off and lie or sit in the glare and read. I'm sure I was meant to be a hibernating critter though.
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