I wonder if you've ever seen the animated movie The Lorax (based on a Dr. Seuss book), but your comment reminded me the place where much of the movie is set. Everyone's shrubbery was inflatable because real plants could no longer grow there.
I was thinking the same about the inflatable palm tree. There does also appear to be a dead body rolled up in a blanket too. But fair enough, nothing too weird.
Couple of things, washer dryers are pants, if you get a stand alone dryer you will find it to be just as good as your mum's back in Canadia. For your front door you need a door curtain because that overlaps your door cut out and reaches the floor, it makes the world of difference.
You should get a dehumidifier. The UK weather, particularly in the winter but not only is humid AF. If you stick your wet clothes next to a dehumidifier it will use less electricity than the heated rack, and you won't get mold growing all over the rest of the house. We got a relatively cheap one in Lidl (it was about £120), and it's been fantastic. It's not FAST, but everything gets bone dry and all the windows in the house no longer mist up nearly so badly.
Alana just to let you know that in Canada the sun is not strong enough to create vitamin D during the winter months, Agree that doing the laundry in North America is so easy, in our house we had almost industrial size washing machine and dryer. No wonder the average American use 2.7 timres more electricity than us Brits. For me clothes always smell freshher if dried on the line.
Yes, having lived in Texas and Edmonton, Alberta for four year, I can confirm North Americans use an incredible amount of electricity, oil and gas compared to the UK. This is partly explained by the low energy taxes, higher incomes, long travel distances, and continental hot summers and freezing winters which require boilers and air-con systems that would power multiple properties in Britain. They also use a lot more insulation and draught-proofing, for sensible reasons, and have monster-sized fridges and tumble-driers. So, yes, Canadian tumble-driers do the job much quicker, but at what cost? If they paid UK electricity prices, which are tied to those of gas, they would soon be crying!
Fun fact (or so I've heard) the reason dryers are more common in North America is because it was at some point (maybe still is?) considered unsightly to hang your washing to dry outside, made the white picket fence neighbourhood look untidy, so a lot more people bought dryers over there. But this idea was never really a thing in the UK though so people just continued drying their washing outside when the weather was good and didn't see much point in buying a dryer just for the days when they couldn't dry them outside.
I have a great tumble dryer, it dries in a very short time 20 to 30 minutes and it would totally dry. I also have a washing line in the garden so that is used through the summer but our winters can be too wet so the dryer is handy. Love the line best as it comes in smelling lovely and fresh, luckily no bugs!😊
I'll be honest, for the vast majority of summers I've had in the UK (I turn 33 this year), an AC unit was never something that was needed. The last few summers however have been a different story. Historically we never needed ACs because our summers were mild to fine, and if it was a heatwave, being inside and having a cool drink was pretty much all you needed to do. That has changed in recent years.
Ha ha, millennials. Just imagine you were time-transported back to the 1970's. OMG, how would you cope? On two occasions in the early to mid 1970's I was at Blackpool for the day and the mercury touched 100 degrees F. Blackpool as you know is in the dreary and damp North West. Not Kent or Cornwall but Lancashire. 100 degrees. But you need to have lived in England in 1976 for the full summer experience. What a summer that was, never been repeated. We even had a plague of ladybirds that eventually became deemed so serious they were even debated in Parliament. In September though, about a week before the weather broke and the rain eventually arrived and all the ladybirds died. Ha ha, typical bumbling government.
Also, until the last few decades, British houses were built so you just opened windows on each side of the building and got a through draft for cooling. Modern houses have ignored centuries of engineering and instead swaddle houses to make them as warm as possible.
@pere4836 Overall AC would reduce energy usage, given that AC is three times more energy efficient at heating homes that central heating is. Besides, a major volcanic eruption (which could happen anytime), would eject enough aerosol in the atmosphere to cool the planet for years.
@@jgharston From I gather, the idea of thick insulation is to keep to homes at a more steady temperature; in other words to block out excess warmth, as much as excess cold.
I love my heated tower airer from Lakeland…there I’ve said it I am now officially middle-aged! 🤣(plus it keeps my flat fairly warm, which means I don’t have to put the heating on too. Tune in for more money saving tips! Oh god I really am old….) ❤
Summer visitors to my old house used to comment on the hooks above and around the front door. That’s where we hung curtains in the winter to keep the cold out.
A very British thing happened to me last week. On the night of the heavy snow the electricity went off and I thought about how I should buy a Coleman lantern and a wind up radio and a little camping stove but forgot about those things immediately when the power came back on 20 minutes later. 🤷♂️
I've got wall mounted oil lamps all around the house but after buying two cans of Paraffin last November may have to change, €20 per can was three times previous years price and the can has shrunk from 5 to 4 ltr. One good thing is they give out heat as well as light very handy when the heating needs power and gas and can't be bothered to light a wood fire. So far only used twice this winter. One a planned maintenance outage that overran by 3 hours, the other the transformer at the end of the road went bang and fell off the pole.
Delightful. Bloody-lovely stuff. My Gran's house was full of the kind of stuff that reminds me of your home. Her Singer Sewing Machine doubled as a table, to display the flowers she picked. A full Brass Coal Scuttle and all the accoutrements sat proudly next to the Gas Fire. Sausage Dog shaped draught excluders were behind every door. By Law, her mantlepieces had to include a model of the Blackpool Tower. Chair Arms had those white doilies, always crocheted. Tea cosies, Tea Towels, Table covers, children and pets: all were crocheted.
If you have started crochet then there is no hope - you will soon have a large box (or two or three) of yarn and you just can't walk past a yarn shop without buying more. I love the way you say "Yorkshire", it makes me smile every time.
@@kw8757 As a rugby-mad Welsh teenager, I went on a schools' rugby tour of the Netherlands. On a "non-playing day" we went on a coach-trip to the famous Dutch tulip fields, only to be disappointed to find that the tulips weren't yet in bloom. Instead, all we saw was field after field of daffodils... as if we didn't have plenty of those at home :)
It all depends on the type of dryer you have Alanna, ours takes 9KG of clothes and dries clothes in 10-15 minutes, or if you opt for the 20-25 minute setting, 3/4 of the clothes don’t need ironing.
You’re lucky to have driers, pull-cord lights and radiators. Living in Wales we still inhabit castles without electricity (but we do have plenty of daffodils).
Your kitchen brickwork shows you're in a historic property, it's been thrown up (typical of the time), it's a lot better elsewhere though! You could put a telescopic curtain rail (wont damage the paint) & curtain behind the front door, will make a world of difference, or the landlord could put draught strips in. My old house had 77 square feet of glass that froze up every day in winter! Thanks Alanna!, stay warm! 🙏🙏
The French too use wire clothes driers. Years ago I spotted one branded Pont de Tanquerville, named after the suspension bridge! Cut draughts with bathroom sealant… rub Vaseline around the door or window and then apply sealant (acetic acid smelling stuff) around door/window frame and close for 2 hours. The Vaseline should allow the door window to release freely but you will have a draughts proof opening.
Great video, Alanna. For your next crochet project you could make a tea cosy to keep your teapot warm. There are loads of amazing patterns on the internet. Also, you missed a trick by not getting a draught excluder in the traditional shape of a sausage dog - maybe you could get one to put on top of the first one? Anyway, thanks for keeping us entertained!
Tea Cossie very popular and fun 😀 my mother in law has one which looks like a woman breast 😂 and pulling on the nipple to remove it from the tea pot 🤣. I mentioned dread to think what you use for the milk jug 😂🤣
Yes there's some fab knitting patterns for tea cosies which look like crowns - I'm a knitter and I've made Queen Elizabeth ll King Charles lll a Beefeater and a Kings Guard all ready for the Coronation 👑🇬🇧
I remember decades ago that we had a white goods dryer that was an open topped metal box. You would hang clothes over wooden dowels that were then placed into recesses at the top of the box in rows. At the base was a low power heating element.
Put a velvet or other thick material curtain up over the front door and just buy or make another draft excluder (you can make one really quickly with a pair or old tights stuffed with other old tights or old socks etc. Stuff the one leg as long as the door is wide then roll the other leg over the top. Maybe even kids tights)
Lovely reminders of why I’m glad I left England, and why I never wanted to live on Vancouver Island ….which after 40 years we moved too…I’d forgotten about the awful drab winters, I’m sorry to say. BUT Next year it will be my Golden Year of being in Canada and now a Canadian. I’m still coffee in the morning tea in the afternoon 😊 although I have odd days when I change it up. Hope you get to remain in England they need your Sunny attitude and the good thing about VI I can grow my own DAFFODILS again ..whooo 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Love my Daffs 💖
What I find strange is that all tea brands are infusions, but despite the marketing, not all infusions are tea. They aren't from the tea bush. Yorkshire is a decent brand but I often wonder how they managed to get such a large part of the market given other counties also have brands named after them. Not that I can bother to try them all. Presently, for me, it's tea first in the morning, coffee afterwards, (unless one fancies a change and has another tea for the heck of it). It got that way after I treated myself to a bean to cup coffee maker. Prior to that it was tea most of the day, coffee granules maybe at 11 am.
The reason we don't have power switches/sockets in the bathroom is because we are running at 240V which can kill you a lot easier than 110V. Also, dedicated dryers do the job well, it's all I use all the time.
But most other countries also use 240vAC and still manage switches in bathrooms. Possibly not technically necessary now with modern circuit breakers, but getting regs changed to increase risk, however slight, is probably impossible.
It is permissible to have a light switch or power socket in a bathroom BUT it must be located at least 3M from the bath or shower which rules out most UK bathrooms.
True story: I used to work in factory that made Tumble Dryers, we made them for several European countries as well as a couple of Asia ones. All but one of the top well known brands were made by us. The same people, the same parts, the same set up inside. Only the visual aspects on the control panel were different. So when I was in electrical stores hearing people say "x brand is better" and watching them pay £150 more for a bit of ink and a name difference I couldn't help but laugh.
A friend of mine worked in a bakery. Exactly the same bread would be put in different wrappers for different outlets, both the "posh " shops and the cheaper supermarkets. 🤣😊😁😄
@@leefitzpeter4287 Back in the 60s my dad used to work for ASDA, he once found a tin of baked beans on the shelf with three different brand labels on it. 😅
Its all about adding value make the masses believe the hype & the CEO's, sales managers & shareholdes can buy that 3rd home, Range Rover & yacht etc Waitrose & Aldi have the same supplies most of the time @@SnabbKassa
Spring begins either on 20th or 21st March ,I'm looking forward to that, BST begins 26 th March clocks put forward then ,lighter evenings you'll be pleased to hear ,What you call a drying rack I call and this is going to make smile A Clothes Horse , probably only by older people now though, enjoyed the vlog ❤️.
Thank you Alanna for the tour of your beautiful home 🙂. Clothes horse you can plug in that was Sci-Fi back in the day 🤣. Put up clothes line in the kitchen to hang and dry clothes was popular. Looking forward to next video Alanna all the best 👍
Another top tea tip - if you have a ring on your cooker that's usually unoccupied, why not get a stovetop kettle to live there and so free up some counter space. There's no rush. Just wait a couple of years until you have to throw out the electric kettle thanks to built in obsolescence, and replace it with a nice whistling kettle - A good one should last a lifetime and nothing announces a cup of tea better than a whistling kettle - it's a Pavlov thing!
So many of your videos bring a smile - this one’s no exception! Especially the, ‘I’m sure everyone’s clicked away by now,' moment 😊 or the, ‘I really hope I actually took a photo of the daffodils'
The clothes drier, when heated, works much better with the cover, it reduces the time by about half, thus also reduces the running cost. You can get (or make) thicker door draught excluders.
@@0utcastAussie Cover or draught excluder? My understanding of crochet, is tying holes together, wont that mean the result will have lots of holes, might work for the drier cover. 😊😊
I think you need a bigger draft excluder or need to ask your landlord if he can replace the door. If not, you can buy rubber seals or furry seals that fit on the outer side of the door itself to cover gaps
Agree with you that combined washer-driers are useless. My mum bought one and honestly we thought it was broken because it took forever to dry the clothes! Nice observations are always 🙂
When I got married 37 years this week 💞, I asked my Uncle Malcolm what washing machine to buy or avoid. He repaired them for a living and I the only thing I remember him saying is do NOT buy a combo machine. In fact, even when someone gave us a tumble DRYER, it sat unused in the garage for years. But we do have the exact same Lakeland heated airer! We turn it on overnight because we're on Economy 7. We have a cover for ours though. Love Wilma xx
I had a nice AEG one which worked really well until it gave up the ghost (after 16 years so not bad). I could stuff it pretty full, set the timer and my stuff would be dry when I woke up. My mum has a Zanussi which is useless at drying for anything more than 2 pairs ok knickers.
Some of the expensive washer-driers (Miele, Bosch, some of the LGs and Samsungs) are very good, but they cost a fortune. We had a reasonably good Hotpoint one, and even that was £700. You can get the big toploading US-style washers and driers in the UK, but they're very expensive, you need a big utility room with a gas hookup for the drier, and the washers use a lot more water than a typical frontloader.
OMG a heated drying rack??? I didn't know these existed! Thank you - I'm off to Amazon :-) I am in the US and do have a tumble dryer, but I hang dry many of my own blouses and more delicate things, and in the wintertime there's always a lovely display of clothes draped and hanging around the house in stages of drying.
@@AdventuresAndNaps They're one of those things that seem like a good idea, but in the long run you realize they aren't. The problem with them is that the moisture has to go somewhere, and it typically recondenses inside the house. If you do use one, you have to open the window or otherwise ventilate really well otherwise or you'll get mold everywhere.
@@BooBaddyBigRunning a dehumidifier alongside, or instead of, a heated dryer solves any condensation or mould issues. Dehumidifiers are wondrous things!
We must be weird!!! We spent a small fortune on a top of the range tumble dryer two years ago and we hardly use it. In winter the clothes horse and radiators do the job. In summer the hot weather. Only really use it if we need things dried really quickly which is rare.
5:22 Cut the bottom of the stem on an angle. Place your daffodils in warm water with floral preservative. Move them to a cool dark location for 12 hours or overnight. Arrange daffodils in their own vase to avoid damaging other cut flowers with the gooey sap they exude.
@@hilary4576 I think the term 'maiden' dates back to non-PC ancient times when a women or 'maiden' would do the laundry. Now of course, it's most likely the bullied and domestically abused male of the household, who does all the laundry!
I bought a portable air con unit for the first time last year as well. Can confirm - loudest thing ever!, but turn it on for an hour or so before bed and oh what a difference! A nice cool bedroom in the middle of summer. You can't leave it running - its just too loud, but the coolness lasts long enough to allow you to get to sleep! To be fair - everyone I know has a tumble dryer in the kitchen. I think they're pretty standard these days. Unless you live in a very small old Flat. ;) And you cannot compare a washer/dryer combo with a proper dryer - totally different. The combo ones are rubbish. Wouldn't say Vitamin d3 is a particularly britsh though. ;) We probably should take it, but we don't. The way you say Yorkshire - makes me laugh everytime. :)
In the UK we have pull-cords in bathrooms as a safety feature, as it is possible to get an electric shock of a light switch if your hands are wet. That is also why you will not find a mains plug socket in a bathroom. And, I would call your drying rack a clothes horse - seriously.
Go to a DIY store, ask them for draught excluder tape...comes in a roll & is, usually pliable sticky tape with sponge on the non-sticky side . You stick it all-round the door frame & it sorts your draughts out perfectly 🎉
I have a tumble dryer in the garage but don't use it unless it's very wet outside. They're expensive to run and not environmentally friendly. Mine works ok but so does my washing line on a dry breezy day. Good video. x
I'm sure that you know a lot of this already, and are hamming it up for the video. But just in-case..... Tumble dryers are pretty normal here in the UK, but you have to have space for one. Not so common in smaller houses, smaller flats, or listed buildings. A lot of Daffs (Daffodils) are grown here in Cornwall. This time of year our Cornish hedgerows are awash in various shades of daffodil yellow. There are so many acres of fields where the daffs are grown for commercial retail, the fields are all in different phases of growth.. It can be quite the sight. Spring equinox is Monday the 20th of March, after which the day will be longer than the night; until autumn equinox. Kettles are awesome for boiling water to cook pasta or other dishes that require hot/boiling water. It's quicker and more energy efficient to boil the water in the kettle, then pour it into a sauce pan to cook the pasta. Your door is badly fitted. There are "draught excluder "brushes" that you can screw onto the door to help deal with draughts. They are cheap to buy, like, £3 for a length that you cut to size with suitable junior hacksaw, or similar, the screw them to the bottom of the door. Try ebay or Amazon to see what I mean, then ask your land lord to install some for you.
I love nosing around homes, so thank you Alanna for showing us around yours x Why not crochet your very own draught excluder, now there's an idea....or maybe not!! 😉
The clothing dryer is traditionally called an Airing Horse. I still use one in my Flat as a) there isn't room for an electric dryer and b) Electric dryers are not efficient. You get used to things taking two days to dry in winter and only a couple of hours in the summer :P
2:03 it’s not about electrical capabilities. It is a UK building regulation that they are installed. You are at a higher risk of electrical shock in bathrooms for obvious reasons, so the fewer things you touch which conduct electric the better. Having a pull cord distances your finger/hand from the switch itself making you safer.
Hi Alanna from Spain. Hang a thick curtain at the front door, keeps ot the cold in winter and keeps out the heat in summer. That's what we do here,. We have one of those heated drying racks (from Lakeland!) and we put pieces of old towelling on the bars to stop them from marking the clothes.
I used to live in a flat with a big gap under to door. I used the door mat as my draft excluder., jammed to the door with the hoover. It worked really well. We are currently using a folded bath towel for our back patio doors. We also have a make shift curtain made out of a duvet cover and drawing pins at the bottom of the stairs to keep the heat down in the living room. We the open the 'curtain' so the hot air rises with us when we go up to bed x
"There's nothing weird in the office" *the giant inflatable palm tree says "hi"* Thanks for the vid; it'sinteresting to get an insight into how UK homes might be perceived abroad.
I love everything british. My grandmother was born in Hastings UK. And if I could move to the u k I would in a heart feet. The British people are awesome.
Your microwave won't last long if any of that stuff on top is blocking vents, make sure the vents/fan at the back are dust free and has room to breath, or it will go pop quickly. Put some shelves up lol.
Temps in Denver are similar to London, and people told us we wouldn't need a/c when we moved here. We didn't waste any time buying central a/c, but the upstairs is still warm at night so we got a unit that looks much like yours for our bedroom. Love it!
3:32 I have one of these as well, and you're right: it's a thing worth having, especially as our driers are indeed not very effective.(When I was little we had an old tumble drier machine but they seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur...) Mine has a zippable sheet that goes over it, which makes things dry quicker and better. It's also good for proving bread dough prior to baking, believe it or not!
I don't recall how my mom did it during the colder months, but I do remember having clotheslines outside, letting the wind dry the clothes of course. At least back then, you didn't need scented detergents.
To dry clothes, it is the humidity that matters more than the temperature. The temperature can be below freezing and clothes will still dry if the humidity is low enough.
Up until a few years ago we also had and used a clothes line for drying, along with a dryer in the garage. It works so much better for airing bed sheets out.
@@grahvis I hadn't thought of that, but it definitely makes sense. Maybe my mom did still use the clotheslines in colder weather and I just don't remember it.
What TF is so weird about radiators and pull-cords ? Tumble driers are readily available in UK, and they take about the same time as you quoted (20 mins) provided you keep the drier filter clean, and do a proper spin cycle in the washing machine.
''Even if i put a non-electrical drying rack by the radiator, it doesn't dry much faster''. Alanna, you may not know, but you can put wet clothes actually ON the radiator and the house won't blow up. That's a lot of stuff on the microwave. Not dangerous, but over time weight can warp the frame & the door won't close.
My school dorm in England had a clothes horse (yes, that's what it was called), similar to yours. After clothes and sports kit was just a little damp, it would be moved to the house airing cupboard. My roomie's family home (where I often spent shorter hols and exeats) had one too. The house's hot water heater was there too, and so clean togs were always warm to put on on chilly mornings. Bliss!! Btw, Allana, the annual number of hours of sunshine in Toronto is 2066. In Canterbury, Kent it is 1560. The difference isn't as great as you suggest.
Love these type of videos as your not just sitting down in one place like all those boring American React youtubers (which seem to be a growing trend lately). You give us both a great smile every time your on. Love your content. I was going to say get a Tea Cosy, but many in the comments beat me to it.
Or, to save having to do any "building work", resign yourself to the fact that the front door and hall will be draughty and cold, but use the draught excluder on the first inner door, tip courtesy of the Grandparent Network TM, "Bringing knowledge of the past, to the future"
You can get a stick on foam or brush style draft excluder that will do the same job and be easily removable and should be more landlord friendly too although a strip of wood would be more durable yeah.
12:20 that's not stopping the draught, it's just spreading it around so you can't feel it. The cold air is still getting in. You can get one that attaches to the door for about £10 that will stop 95% of it.
Daffodils were my grandmothers favourite flower. She grew them in masses in the garden and would always cut some each week to put in a a vase in the house.
Having married a girl from California and lived with her in the UK so much of this was familiar (though you didn't mention 'mixer taps', I had to buy and fit those, or top-loading washing machines). Two things though, draught excluding curtains work very well and if you are replacing a hot water tank with a combi-boiler get them to add a radiator in the base of the now empty cupboard and add some rails (surprisingly effective). It helps if you add a vent at the top and bottom of the door to get a through-flow of air.
Hi Alanna. I was about to take you to task about the environmental unfriendlyness of tumble dryers but then you said Yorkshire in the way you say Yorkshire and you're so forgiven x
The strangest things that were in my over 100 year old British House was Wall paper 4 layers they just pasted over the old wall paper. I hate wall paper, its used to cover over bad plastering and cracks. Next, carpets, 4 layers with newspaper as underlay, paper dating back to 70s, and the bottom layer was disintegrated rubber dust. Now have walls painted brilliant white and flooring of laminated Bamboo. No carpets, only a few rugs for computer chairs.
Love the Palm tree. I see someone has at least a modicom of musical talant. Draughty front door. Yep all seems quite normal for a British home, including the laundry rack; which we Brits tend to call a Clothes Horse. So glad to see you're so happy with it all.
I confess I'm a tea addict, preferably Earl Grey but I also like coffee but only tend to have that in the mornings. I have the same kettle as you. It's still going after 2 years of very heavy use boiling lots water for my tea. It'll maybe pack up tomorrow now that I mentioned that. Air conditioning would be brilliant but again in the UK with our houses these have to be an extra and that's OK if you like the aircraft sounds bellowing when you're trying to get to sleep. ear plugs don't work well for catching the morning alarm though. People don't always appreciate what us regular brits put up with. Any way thanks for sharing Alanna.
Crotchet and draught excluders? Send help indeed! 😄 Seriously thank you reassuring me I'm not the only one who piles up things to stop draughts from doors and windows
We have inverted light switches attached to the ceiling for one very important reason. It reduces the risk of steam condensing in the light switch. The pull cord stops you getting an electric shock if it does. FYI we used to have decent driers back in the day till appliances had to be energy efficient.
12:10 use two draught excluders, one on top of the other with the bottom one slightly out from the doorso that the top one drops down slightly and you have an angle at the face of the excluders.
There was a heated clothes rack (actually looked like a radiator but was specifically labeled otherwise) in a hotel where I stayed once in Bradford. Came in very handy when the airline didn't deliver my suitcase until the evening before my flight home! I haven't tried Marmite, but I have had Vegemite (almost, but not quite, the same thing). I actually like it, at least once I learned to spread it thinly!
We've got a wet room with a heated towel rail, but at my Mum's house, we either put our clothes to dry on a washing line or a clothes horse, but it was not plugged in. So we put it in front of a radiator or a fire in the fireplace.
Hi Alanna 👋 the daffodils grow wild around here, they bloom almost everywhere, save yourself a WHOLE pound ! 😂🎉 Even our roundabouts have them, or snowdrops growing, on and on the verges of our roads. I do live on the edge of Banbury in North Oxfordshire, but Kent isn't that weird that the flowers don't grow. As long as they aren't some of the rarer or endangered species then you're fine to help yourself !!
I think you are GREAT!! So natural and your delivery is charming, I can't help but smile warmly. Why am I not seeing you on the TV? Perhaps the rest of your 151k subscribers could inundate the BBC & ITV with requests to get your youtubes converted into sets of 30-45 minute programmes! On a different note we used to have widows like the ones you showed at the beginning of the video, sash windows , some older houses may still have them. Pre double glazing era.. Two framed affairs with pulleys and counterbalance weights . Sometimes the ropes would perish and the weights plummet with a crash! Ill fitting and draughty , they had character, yes, but not too thermally efficient.
I think you'll find that the reason we have pull cords in the bathroom or shower room is precisely because our safety standards are higher than those in the USA and Canada. Normal 2 way switches can be used in a bathroom but not if they are within a certain distance of the bath or shower cubicle. This is to prevent someone from using the switch while drenched in water. Because most British bathroom/shower rooms are quite small, this means that a pull switch is used instead. In kitchens or a separate WC, where your hands may be wet but you will not be submerged, then a standard 2 way switch is fine. Also, the voltage in the UK is far higher. I can't comment on Canada but I have been to the USA several times and the electric sockets and plugs there scare the crap out of me.
HI Alanna, love you and your videos, I'm just a little concerned about all the stuff on top of your microwave, you should not block the vents on top as it will get to hot. just some friendly advise.
Nothing too weird in the living room, all of us staring at the inflatable palm tree 😂
😂 🌴
I wonder if you've ever seen the animated movie The Lorax (based on a Dr. Seuss book), but your comment reminded me the place where much of the movie is set. Everyone's shrubbery was inflatable because real plants could no longer grow there.
I was thinking the same about the inflatable palm tree. There does also appear to be a dead body rolled up in a blanket too. But fair enough, nothing too weird.
LOL exactly!
I am with you there, and rather fancy one myself......😀
Couple of things, washer dryers are pants, if you get a stand alone dryer you will find it to be just as good as your mum's back in Canadia.
For your front door you need a door curtain because that overlaps your door cut out and reaches the floor, it makes the world of difference.
You should get a dehumidifier. The UK weather, particularly in the winter but not only is humid AF. If you stick your wet clothes next to a dehumidifier it will use less electricity than the heated rack, and you won't get mold growing all over the rest of the house. We got a relatively cheap one in Lidl (it was about £120), and it's been fantastic. It's not FAST, but everything gets bone dry and all the windows in the house no longer mist up nearly so badly.
Alana just to let you know that in Canada the sun is not strong enough to create vitamin D during the winter months,
Agree that doing the laundry in North America is so easy, in our house we had almost industrial size washing machine and dryer. No wonder the average American use 2.7 timres more electricity than us Brits. For me clothes always smell freshher if dried on the line.
Yes, having lived in Texas and Edmonton, Alberta for four year, I can confirm North Americans use an incredible amount of electricity, oil and gas compared to the UK. This is partly explained by the low energy taxes, higher incomes, long travel distances, and continental hot summers and freezing winters which require boilers and air-con systems that would power multiple properties in Britain. They also use a lot more insulation and draught-proofing, for sensible reasons, and have monster-sized fridges and tumble-driers.
So, yes, Canadian tumble-driers do the job much quicker, but at what cost? If they paid UK electricity prices, which are tied to those of gas, they would soon be crying!
Just thinking about the huge contribution to global warming by the North Americans.
I also appreciate the value flowers can add to a room. It's why I keep two vases on my table, one for wholemeal, the other for self-raising.
Fun fact (or so I've heard) the reason dryers are more common in North America is because it was at some point (maybe still is?) considered unsightly to hang your washing to dry outside, made the white picket fence neighbourhood look untidy, so a lot more people bought dryers over there. But this idea was never really a thing in the UK though so people just continued drying their washing outside when the weather was good and didn't see much point in buying a dryer just for the days when they couldn't dry them outside.
I have the American style washer & dryer, so you van get them, if you have the space
Sounds about right to me.
I have a great tumble dryer, it dries in a very short time 20 to 30 minutes and it would totally dry. I also have a washing line in the garden so that is used through the summer but our winters can be too wet so the dryer is handy. Love the line best as it comes in smelling lovely and fresh, luckily no bugs!😊
I'll be honest, for the vast majority of summers I've had in the UK (I turn 33 this year), an AC unit was never something that was needed. The last few summers however have been a different story. Historically we never needed ACs because our summers were mild to fine, and if it was a heatwave, being inside and having a cool drink was pretty much all you needed to do. That has changed in recent years.
Ha ha, millennials. Just imagine you were time-transported back to the 1970's. OMG, how would you cope?
On two occasions in the early to mid 1970's I was at Blackpool for the day and the mercury touched 100 degrees F. Blackpool as you know is in the dreary and damp North West. Not Kent or Cornwall but Lancashire. 100 degrees. But you need to have lived in England in 1976 for the full summer experience. What a summer that was, never been repeated. We even had a plague of ladybirds that eventually became deemed so serious they were even debated in Parliament. In September though, about a week before the weather broke and the rain eventually arrived and all the ladybirds died. Ha ha, typical bumbling government.
Yeah, and everybody's getting hot in summer now, so more people go and buy an AC unit and plug it in to make the Earth 🔥HOTTER🔥
Also, until the last few decades, British houses were built so you just opened windows on each side of the building and got a through draft for cooling. Modern houses have ignored centuries of engineering and instead swaddle houses to make them as warm as possible.
@pere4836 Overall AC would reduce energy usage, given that AC is three times more energy efficient at heating homes that central heating is.
Besides, a major volcanic eruption (which could happen anytime), would eject enough aerosol in the atmosphere to cool the planet for years.
@@jgharston From I gather, the idea of thick insulation is to keep to homes at a more steady temperature; in other words to block out excess warmth, as much as excess cold.
I love my heated tower airer from Lakeland…there I’ve said it I am now officially middle-aged! 🤣(plus it keeps my flat fairly warm, which means I don’t have to put the heating on too. Tune in for more money saving tips! Oh god I really am old….) ❤
Summer visitors to my old house used to comment on the hooks above and around the front door. That’s where we hung curtains in the winter to keep the cold out.
A very British thing happened to me last week. On the night of the heavy snow the electricity went off and I thought about how I should buy a Coleman lantern and a wind up radio and a little camping stove but forgot about those things immediately when the power came back on 20 minutes later. 🤷♂️
omggg 😂
Where do you live....the Outer Hebrides?
I've got wall mounted oil lamps all around the house but after buying two cans of Paraffin last November may have to change, €20 per can was three times previous years price and the can has shrunk from 5 to 4 ltr. One good thing is they give out heat as well as light very handy when the heating needs power and gas and can't be bothered to light a wood fire. So far only used twice this winter. One a planned maintenance outage that overran by 3 hours, the other the transformer at the end of the road went bang and fell off the pole.
@@tonys1636 What century do you live in....the 19th?
@@blackporscheroadster-yw8hb No but power outages are very common here in SW Ireland. Got better over the past few years.
A clothes rack? I've always known it as a clothes horse. Ours is currently next to our heater where it'll be until the heating gets turned off.
'Clothes maiden' where I come from. Don't ask me why, I don't know. We have 2. The old concertina, fold up type.
Maiden, airer, horse. Different dialects
@@baylessnow Which county says that? I've never heard it but I like it.
Mines currently in the stables eating hay
@@crose7412 yorkshire or Lancashire, was used in my house growing up, I'm a product of the two counties so could be either. Probably Lancashire tho.
Delightful. Bloody-lovely stuff. My Gran's house was full of the kind of stuff that reminds me of your home. Her Singer Sewing Machine doubled as a table, to display the flowers she picked. A full Brass Coal Scuttle and all the accoutrements sat proudly next to the Gas Fire. Sausage Dog shaped draught excluders were behind every door. By Law, her mantlepieces had to include a model of the Blackpool Tower. Chair Arms had those white doilies, always crocheted. Tea cosies, Tea Towels, Table covers, children and pets: all were crocheted.
If you have started crochet then there is no hope - you will soon have a large box (or two or three) of yarn and you just can't walk past a yarn shop without buying more. I love the way you say "Yorkshire", it makes me smile every time.
It gladdened my Welsh heart to see the daffodils! A sure sign that Spring is on its way - March 20th, officially - they brighten up any room :)
Totally agree!
I live in Wales and the grass verges by us have got literally thousands of daffs on them and they look fantastic.
@@kw8757 As a rugby-mad Welsh teenager, I went on a schools' rugby tour of the Netherlands. On a "non-playing day" we went on a coach-trip to the famous Dutch tulip fields, only to be disappointed to find that the tulips weren't yet in bloom. Instead, all we saw was field after field of daffodils... as if we didn't have plenty of those at home :)
I have wild daffodils in my front garden. I usually go over them with the lawn mower.
Met Office says March 1st - Equinox is March 20th this year BUT it's still more likely to have a white Easter than a white Christmas.
It all depends on the type of dryer you have Alanna, ours takes 9KG of clothes and dries clothes in 10-15 minutes, or if you opt for the 20-25 minute setting, 3/4 of the clothes don’t need ironing.
You’re lucky to have driers, pull-cord lights and radiators. Living in Wales we still inhabit castles without electricity (but we do have plenty of daffodils).
Your kitchen brickwork shows you're in a historic property, it's been thrown up (typical of the time), it's a lot better elsewhere though!
You could put a telescopic curtain rail (wont damage the paint) & curtain behind the front door, will make a world of difference, or the landlord could put draught strips in.
My old house had 77 square feet of glass that froze up every day in winter!
Thanks Alanna!, stay warm! 🙏🙏
Great idea, thank you!
@@AdventuresAndNaps 😊😊
The French too use wire clothes driers. Years ago I spotted one branded Pont de Tanquerville, named after the suspension bridge!
Cut draughts with bathroom sealant… rub Vaseline around the door or window and then apply sealant (acetic acid smelling stuff) around door/window frame and close for 2 hours. The Vaseline should allow the door window to release freely but you will have a draughts proof opening.
Great video, Alanna. For your next crochet project you could make a tea cosy to keep your teapot warm. There are loads of amazing patterns on the internet. Also, you missed a trick by not getting a draught excluder in the traditional shape of a sausage dog - maybe you could get one to put on top of the first one? Anyway, thanks for keeping us entertained!
Ooh I've been looking at tea cosies! Might try knitting one instead since that's so much easier than crocheting!
Tea Cossie very popular and fun 😀 my mother in law has one which looks like a woman breast 😂 and pulling on the nipple to remove it from the tea pot 🤣. I mentioned dread to think what you use for the milk jug 😂🤣
Yes there's some fab knitting patterns for tea cosies which look like crowns - I'm a knitter and I've made Queen Elizabeth ll King Charles lll a Beefeater and a Kings Guard all ready for the Coronation 👑🇬🇧
@@AdventuresAndNaps Why don't you knit a draft excluder, one that would big enough to cover the gap?
I thought the traditional draft excluder was a snake
In our old draughty Victorian house, we have draught excluders on several doors. We also have Tesco’s daffodils too. 😀
Strange place to put daffodils 😂
Thanks!
I remember decades ago that we had a white goods dryer that was an open topped metal box. You would hang clothes over wooden dowels that were then placed into recesses at the top of the box in rows. At the base was a low power heating element.
A lot of the older listed houses have a heavyweight curtain over the front door for cold weather use.
Yes! My mum did this year's ago for our backdoor before it was replaced by a double glazed one.
Your next crochet project should be a tea cozy. It's a little jacket for your tea pot to keep it warm.
What you need is a heavy door curtain, it knocks spots off a draught excluder!
#respect Learning to crochet isn't always easy! Well done and welcome to a wonderful community. Hope to see more crochet from you.
Put a velvet or other thick material curtain up over the front door and just buy or make another draft excluder (you can make one really quickly with a pair or old tights stuffed with other old tights or old socks etc. Stuff the one leg as long as the door is wide then roll the other leg over the top. Maybe even kids tights)
It’s so interesting seeing the UK from a different point of view! Didn’t know about the daffodils, and weirdly, bathroom light switches 😂
Lovely reminders of why I’m glad I left England, and why I never wanted to live on Vancouver Island ….which after 40 years we moved too…I’d forgotten about the awful drab winters, I’m sorry to say.
BUT Next year it will be my Golden Year of being in Canada and now a Canadian. I’m still coffee in the morning tea in the afternoon 😊 although I have odd days when I change it up.
Hope you get to remain in England they need your Sunny attitude and the good thing about VI I can grow my own DAFFODILS again ..whooo 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Love my Daffs 💖
Now you have a teapot, the next thing you'll need is a Tea Cosy to cover the pot and keep it warm.
Next crochet project!
"Never trust a man, who left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on! B Connolly.
What I find strange is that all tea brands are infusions, but despite the marketing, not all infusions are tea. They aren't from the tea bush. Yorkshire is a decent brand but I often wonder how they managed to get such a large part of the market given other counties also have brands named after them. Not that I can bother to try them all. Presently, for me, it's tea first in the morning, coffee afterwards, (unless one fancies a change and has another tea for the heck of it). It got that way after I treated myself to a bean to cup coffee maker. Prior to that it was tea most of the day, coffee granules maybe at 11 am.
The reason we don't have power switches/sockets in the bathroom is because we are running at 240V which can kill you a lot easier than 110V.
Also, dedicated dryers do the job well, it's all I use all the time.
But most other countries also use 240vAC and still manage switches in bathrooms. Possibly not technically necessary now with modern circuit breakers, but getting regs changed to increase risk, however slight, is probably impossible.
It is permissible to have a light switch or power socket in a bathroom BUT it must be located at least 3M from the bath or shower which rules out most UK bathrooms.
It is not the voltage that kills you it is the amperage
@@Efferpheasants true. But a higher voltage usually permits a higher current.
The draught excluder clip was sooo funny!! 😁 We love your videos!
True story: I used to work in factory that made Tumble Dryers, we made them for several European countries as well as a couple of Asia ones. All but one of the top well known brands were made by us. The same people, the same parts, the same set up inside. Only the visual aspects on the control panel were different. So when I was in electrical stores hearing people say "x brand is better" and watching them pay £150 more for a bit of ink and a name difference I couldn't help but laugh.
A friend of mine worked in a bakery. Exactly the same bread would be put in different wrappers for different outlets, both the "posh " shops and the cheaper supermarkets. 🤣😊😁😄
@@leefitzpeter4287 Back in the 60s my dad used to work for ASDA, he once found a tin of baked beans on the shelf with three different brand labels on it. 😅
People are quite happy to pay for the name. Mondeos are better than BMWs but nobody wants them.
Its all about adding value make the masses believe the hype & the CEO's, sales managers & shareholdes can buy that 3rd home, Range Rover & yacht etc Waitrose & Aldi have the same supplies most of the time @@SnabbKassa
Spring begins either on 20th or 21st March ,I'm looking forward to that, BST begins 26 th March clocks put forward then ,lighter evenings you'll be pleased to hear ,What you call a drying rack I call and this is going to make smile A Clothes Horse , probably only by older people now though, enjoyed the vlog ❤️.
Yep, we had a clothes horse for winter use. Guess I must be old?
@@sarkybugger5009 not necessarily ❤️
I still call it a clothes horse too !
not silly or old..... a 3 kw tumble dryer costs about a pound an hour to run!!@@sarkybugger5009
Great video! "You know what I can't live without?" 1. large inflatable palm tree full of balloons. 2. Cat mask. 3. Traffic cone jumper.
😂 omg
Thank you Alanna for the tour of your beautiful home 🙂. Clothes horse you can plug in that was Sci-Fi back in the day 🤣. Put up clothes line in the kitchen to hang and dry clothes was popular. Looking forward to next video Alanna all the best 👍
Our draft door excluder is in the form of a (slightly longer) Dachshund, complete with little head and four very small legs 🐶🤣
The teapot coaster thing is called a Doily,and you must crochet yourself a tea cosy .....
Another top tea tip - if you have a ring on your cooker that's usually unoccupied, why not get a stovetop kettle to live there and so free up some counter space. There's no rush. Just wait a couple of years until you have to throw out the electric kettle thanks to built in obsolescence, and replace it with a nice whistling kettle - A good one should last a lifetime and nothing announces a cup of tea better than a whistling kettle - it's a Pavlov thing!
A drying rack is for your dishes and bowls. You have an AIRER that you hang your clothes on! And you're right about the tumble driers!
Or a clothes horse or maiden!
So many of your videos bring a smile - this one’s no exception! Especially the, ‘I’m sure everyone’s clicked away by now,' moment 😊 or the, ‘I really hope I actually took a photo of the daffodils'
Thanks pal, I really appreciate it ☺️
The clothes drier, when heated, works much better with the cover, it reduces the time by about half, thus also reduces the running cost.
You can get (or make) thicker door draught excluders.
She could crochet one... A BIG one !!
@@0utcastAussie Cover or draught excluder?
My understanding of crochet, is tying holes together, wont that mean the result will have lots of holes, might work for the drier cover. 😊😊
I think you need a bigger draft excluder or need to ask your landlord if he can replace the door. If not, you can buy rubber seals or furry seals that fit on the outer side of the door itself to cover gaps
Agree with you that combined washer-driers are useless. My mum bought one and honestly we thought it was broken because it took forever to dry the clothes!
Nice observations are always 🙂
Cheers Stuart! ☺️
When I got married 37 years this week 💞, I asked my Uncle Malcolm what washing machine to buy or avoid. He repaired them for a living and I the only thing I remember him saying is do NOT buy a combo machine. In fact, even when someone gave us a tumble DRYER, it sat unused in the garage for years. But we do have the exact same Lakeland heated airer! We turn it on overnight because we're on Economy 7. We have a cover for ours though. Love Wilma xx
I had a nice AEG one which worked really well until it gave up the ghost (after 16 years so not bad). I could stuff it pretty full, set the timer and my stuff would be dry when I woke up. My mum has a Zanussi which is useless at drying for anything more than 2 pairs ok knickers.
Some of the expensive washer-driers (Miele, Bosch, some of the LGs and Samsungs) are very good, but they cost a fortune. We had a reasonably good Hotpoint one, and even that was £700.
You can get the big toploading US-style washers and driers in the UK, but they're very expensive, you need a big utility room with a gas hookup for the drier, and the washers use a lot more water than a typical frontloader.
OMG a heated drying rack??? I didn't know these existed! Thank you - I'm off to Amazon :-) I am in the US and do have a tumble dryer, but I hang dry many of my own blouses and more delicate things, and in the wintertime there's always a lovely display of clothes draped and hanging around the house in stages of drying.
I love it!! You can also get a cover to put overtop and it heats up even quicker 🥳
@@AdventuresAndNaps They're one of those things that seem like a good idea, but in the long run you realize they aren't. The problem with them is that the moisture has to go somewhere, and it typically recondenses inside the house. If you do use one, you have to open the window or otherwise ventilate really well otherwise or you'll get mold everywhere.
@@BooBaddyBigRunning a dehumidifier alongside, or instead of, a heated dryer solves any condensation or mould issues. Dehumidifiers are wondrous things!
We must be weird!!! We spent a small fortune on a top of the range tumble dryer two years ago and we hardly use it. In winter the clothes horse and radiators do the job. In summer the hot weather. Only really use it if we need things dried really quickly which is rare.
5:22 Cut the bottom of the stem on an angle. Place your daffodils in warm water with floral preservative. Move them to a cool dark location for 12 hours or overnight. Arrange daffodils in their own vase to avoid damaging other cut flowers with the gooey sap they exude.
A indoor clothes rack is often referred to as a 'maiden' in parts of the UK. We also have a heated maiden, though we have it in the utility room.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Clothes 'maiden' is what I have always called them. Maybe a northern thing.
@@blackporscheroadster-yw8hb Never heard of that. Always been known as a Clothes Horse (perhaps a yorkshire thing) 🙂
My southern in-laws have no clue what I’m talking about when I say maiden 😂
@@hilary4576 I think the term 'maiden' dates back to non-PC ancient times when a women or 'maiden' would do the laundry. Now of course, it's most likely the bullied and domestically abused male of the household, who does all the laundry!
INCOMING ...DILKINGTON'S Run away run away...
you might think these vids are boring or whatever but they're relaxing and relatable so i like them.
Thank you!!
I bought a portable air con unit for the first time last year as well. Can confirm - loudest thing ever!, but turn it on for an hour or so before bed and oh what a difference! A nice cool bedroom in the middle of summer. You can't leave it running - its just too loud, but the coolness lasts long enough to allow you to get to sleep!
To be fair - everyone I know has a tumble dryer in the kitchen. I think they're pretty standard these days. Unless you live in a very small old Flat. ;) And you cannot compare a washer/dryer combo with a proper dryer - totally different. The combo ones are rubbish.
Wouldn't say Vitamin d3 is a particularly britsh though. ;) We probably should take it, but we don't.
The way you say Yorkshire - makes me laugh everytime. :)
In the UK we have pull-cords in bathrooms as a safety feature, as it is possible to get an electric shock of a light switch if your hands are wet. That is also why you will not find a mains plug socket in a bathroom. And, I would call your drying rack a clothes horse - seriously.
Go to a DIY store, ask them for draught excluder tape...comes in a roll & is, usually pliable sticky tape with sponge on the non-sticky side . You stick it all-round the door frame & it sorts your draughts out perfectly 🎉
I have a tumble dryer in the garage but don't use it unless it's very wet outside. They're expensive to run and not environmentally friendly. Mine works ok but so does my washing line on a dry breezy day. Good video. x
Your videos are always such high quality! Thank you, Alana! My house-built in early 1960s-has exactly one room that uses a pull cord!
I bet Brit flowers are from Holland so they cut less on account of less transport cost. Most Northamerican flowers come fro Colombia
I'm sure that you know a lot of this already, and are hamming it up for the video. But just in-case.....
Tumble dryers are pretty normal here in the UK, but you have to have space for one. Not so common in smaller houses, smaller flats, or listed buildings.
A lot of Daffs (Daffodils) are grown here in Cornwall. This time of year our Cornish hedgerows are awash in various shades of daffodil yellow. There are so many acres of fields where the daffs are grown for commercial retail, the fields are all in different phases of growth.. It can be quite the sight.
Spring equinox is Monday the 20th of March, after which the day will be longer than the night; until autumn equinox.
Kettles are awesome for boiling water to cook pasta or other dishes that require hot/boiling water. It's quicker and more energy efficient to boil the water in the kettle, then pour it into a sauce pan to cook the pasta.
Your door is badly fitted. There are "draught excluder "brushes" that you can screw onto the door to help deal with draughts. They are cheap to buy, like, £3 for a length that you cut to size with suitable junior hacksaw, or similar, the screw them to the bottom of the door. Try ebay or Amazon to see what I mean, then ask your land lord to install some for you.
I love nosing around homes, so thank you Alanna for showing us around yours x Why not crochet your very own draught excluder, now there's an idea....or maybe not!! 😉
That's a great idea!
The clothing dryer is traditionally called an Airing Horse. I still use one in my Flat as a) there isn't room for an electric dryer and b) Electric dryers are not efficient. You get used to things taking two days to dry in winter and only a couple of hours in the summer :P
2:03 it’s not about electrical capabilities. It is a UK building regulation that they are installed. You are at a higher risk of electrical shock in bathrooms for obvious reasons, so the fewer things you touch which conduct electric the better. Having a pull cord distances your finger/hand from the switch itself making you safer.
Hi Alanna from Spain. Hang a thick curtain at the front door, keeps ot the cold in winter and keeps out the heat in summer. That's what we do here,. We have one of those heated drying racks (from Lakeland!) and we put pieces of old towelling on the bars to stop them from marking the clothes.
I used to live in a flat with a big gap under to door. I used the door mat as my draft excluder., jammed to the door with the hoover. It worked really well. We are currently using a folded bath towel for our back patio doors. We also have a make shift curtain made out of a duvet cover and drawing pins at the bottom of the stairs to keep the heat down in the living room. We the open the 'curtain' so the hot air rises with us when we go up to bed x
"There's nothing weird in the office" *the giant inflatable palm tree says "hi"*
Thanks for the vid; it'sinteresting to get an insight into how UK homes might be perceived abroad.
😂 Cheers SJ!
I love everything british. My grandmother was born in Hastings UK. And if I could move to the u k I would in a heart feet. The British people are awesome.
I'm not to far from Hastings, I'm closer to France than I am London, down here on the south coast
Your microwave won't last long if any of that stuff on top is blocking vents, make sure the vents/fan at the back are dust free and has room to breath, or it will go pop quickly. Put some shelves up lol.
Temps in Denver are similar to London, and people told us we wouldn't need a/c when we moved here. We didn't waste any time buying central a/c, but the upstairs is still warm at night so we got a unit that looks much like yours for our bedroom. Love it!
3:32 I have one of these as well, and you're right: it's a thing worth having, especially as our driers are indeed not very effective.(When I was little we had an old tumble drier machine but they seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur...) Mine has a zippable sheet that goes over it, which makes things dry quicker and better. It's also good for proving bread dough prior to baking, believe it or not!
I don't recall how my mom did it during the colder months, but I do remember having clotheslines outside, letting the wind dry the clothes of course.
At least back then, you didn't need scented detergents.
To dry clothes, it is the humidity that matters more than the temperature. The temperature can be below freezing and clothes will still dry if the humidity is low enough.
Up until a few years ago we also had and used a clothes line for drying, along with a dryer in the garage. It works so much better for airing bed sheets out.
@@grahvis I hadn't thought of that, but it definitely makes sense. Maybe my mom did still use the clotheslines in colder weather and I just don't remember it.
What TF is so weird about radiators and pull-cords ?
Tumble driers are readily available in UK, and they take about the same time as you quoted (20 mins) provided you keep the drier filter clean, and do a proper spin cycle in the washing machine.
I've always found washer/dryer combos to never dry as fast as a standalone tumble dryer :)!
What most people don't know is that in combo models you are only meant to dry a half load at a time. If you do that they work a lot better.
Washer dryers are terrible. I would never buy one myself. The one in my rental property has decided the dryer function doesn't want to work at all now
''Even if i put a non-electrical drying rack by the radiator, it doesn't dry much faster''.
Alanna, you may not know, but you can put wet clothes actually ON the radiator and the house won't blow up.
That's a lot of stuff on the microwave. Not dangerous, but over time weight can warp the frame & the door won't close.
Great video Alanna! I'm glad the winter is nearly over. It's nice to go to work and come home in daylight instead of pitch black :-)
Yay me too!!
My school dorm in England had a clothes horse (yes, that's what it was called), similar to yours. After clothes and sports kit was just a little damp, it would be moved to the house airing cupboard. My roomie's family home (where I often spent shorter hols and exeats) had one too. The house's hot water heater was there too, and so clean togs were always warm to put on on chilly mornings. Bliss!! Btw, Allana, the annual number of hours of sunshine in Toronto is 2066. In Canterbury, Kent it is 1560. The difference isn't as great as you suggest.
but that works out as 305 days in toronto vs 130 days in canturbury
Love these type of videos as your not just sitting down in one place like all those boring American React youtubers (which seem to be a growing trend lately). You give us both a great smile every time your on. Love your content. I was going to say get a Tea Cosy, but many in the comments beat me to it.
Thanks Ray, I really appreciate the support ☺️
@@AdventuresAndNaps Your the best, thank you.
For your draughts, get "The Butler" to attach a strip of wood to the bottom so that your draught excluder IS big enough to cover the gap 👍
Will do!
Or, to save having to do any "building work", resign yourself to the fact that the front door and hall will be draughty and cold, but use the draught excluder on the first inner door, tip courtesy of the Grandparent Network TM, "Bringing knowledge of the past, to the future"
You can get a stick on foam or brush style draft excluder that will do the same job and be easily removable and should be more landlord friendly too although a strip of wood would be more durable yeah.
Or just get a door that fits.
@@blackporscheroadster-yw8hb Not always possible in rented accommodation if the landlord refuses...
Crochet yourself a blanket. My gran used to make them with wool from old jumpers. Lovely and warm when you wrap yourself up in them.
12:20 that's not stopping the draught, it's just spreading it around so you can't feel it. The cold air is still getting in. You can get one that attaches to the door for about £10 that will stop 95% of it.
In older buildings you can hang a heavy curtain near the front door
Daffodils were my grandmothers favourite flower. She grew them in masses in the garden and would always cut some each week to put in a a vase in the house.
Door curtain. Couple of Command hooks, curtain pole, job done.
Having married a girl from California and lived with her in the UK so much of this was familiar (though you didn't mention 'mixer taps', I had to buy and fit those, or top-loading washing machines). Two things though, draught excluding curtains work very well and if you are replacing a hot water tank with a combi-boiler get them to add a radiator in the base of the now empty cupboard and add some rails (surprisingly effective). It helps if you add a vent at the top and bottom of the door to get a through-flow of air.
You know you are becoming British when you express surprise every year at how soon you notice the days are getting longer (or shorter)
😂
Or older!
@@laratheplanespotter BINGO!! At 55 I'm really feeling this comment.
Happens everywhere around the world every year but yeah uniquely british or whatever
Hi Alanna. I was about to take you to task about the environmental unfriendlyness of tumble dryers but then you said Yorkshire in the way you say Yorkshire and you're so forgiven x
The strangest things that were in my over 100 year old British House was Wall paper 4 layers they just pasted over the old wall paper. I hate wall paper, its used to cover over bad plastering and cracks. Next, carpets, 4 layers with newspaper as underlay, paper dating back to 70s, and the bottom layer was disintegrated rubber dust.
Now have walls painted brilliant white and flooring of laminated Bamboo.
No carpets, only a few rugs for computer chairs.
Love the Palm tree. I see someone has at least a modicom of musical talant. Draughty front door. Yep all seems quite normal for a British home, including the laundry rack; which we Brits tend to call a Clothes Horse. So glad to see you're so happy with it all.
I confess I'm a tea addict, preferably Earl Grey but I also like coffee but only tend to have that in the mornings. I have the same kettle as you. It's still going after 2 years of very heavy use boiling lots water for my tea. It'll maybe pack up tomorrow now that I mentioned that. Air conditioning would be brilliant but again in the UK with our houses these have to be an extra and that's OK if you like the aircraft sounds bellowing when you're trying to get to sleep. ear plugs don't work well for catching the morning alarm though. People don't always appreciate what us regular brits put up with. Any way thanks for sharing Alanna.
This video was the funniest thing I've seen all day! Thank you. And I watched all the way to the bitter end. I like the inflatable palm tree!
Brilliant video..Full of humour..Loved it Alana
Loved seeing a list of strange British things that didnt include me 😅😋 Cheers as always Alanna!
😂 Thanks so much for watching!
Crotchet and draught excluders?
Send help indeed! 😄
Seriously thank you reassuring me I'm not the only one who piles up things to stop draughts from doors and windows
Alanna I always enjoy our videos it’s fun.
We have inverted light switches attached to the ceiling for one very important reason. It reduces the risk of steam condensing in the light switch. The pull cord stops you getting an electric shock if it does. FYI we used to have decent driers back in the day till appliances had to be energy efficient.
12:10 use two draught excluders, one on top of the other with the bottom one slightly out from the doorso that the top one drops down slightly and you have an angle at the face of the excluders.
That drying rack thingy, is what we call a clothes horse, and those combi washer/driers make your clothes smell.
There was a heated clothes rack (actually looked like a radiator but was specifically labeled otherwise) in a hotel where I stayed once in Bradford. Came in very handy when the airline didn't deliver my suitcase until the evening before my flight home!
I haven't tried Marmite, but I have had Vegemite (almost, but not quite, the same thing). I actually like it, at least once I learned to spread it thinly!
We've got a wet room with a heated towel rail, but at my Mum's house, we either put our clothes to dry on a washing line or a clothes horse, but it was not plugged in. So we put it in front of a radiator or a fire in the fireplace.
Hi Alanna 👋 the daffodils grow wild around here, they bloom almost everywhere, save yourself a WHOLE pound ! 😂🎉
Even our roundabouts have them, or snowdrops growing, on and on the verges of our roads. I do live on the edge of Banbury in North Oxfordshire, but Kent isn't that weird that the flowers don't grow. As long as they aren't some of the rarer or endangered species then you're fine to help yourself !!
I think you are GREAT!! So natural and your delivery is charming, I can't help but smile warmly. Why am I not seeing you on the TV? Perhaps the rest of your 151k subscribers could inundate the BBC & ITV with requests to get your youtubes converted into sets of 30-45 minute programmes! On a different note we used to have widows like the ones you showed at the beginning of the video, sash windows , some older houses may still have them. Pre double glazing era.. Two framed affairs with pulleys and counterbalance weights . Sometimes the ropes would perish and the weights plummet with a crash! Ill fitting and draughty , they had character, yes, but not too thermally efficient.
I think you'll find that the reason we have pull cords in the bathroom or shower room is precisely because our safety standards are higher than those in the USA and Canada. Normal 2 way switches can be used in a bathroom but not if they are within a certain distance of the bath or shower cubicle. This is to prevent someone from using the switch while drenched in water. Because most British bathroom/shower rooms are quite small, this means that a pull switch is used instead. In kitchens or a separate WC, where your hands may be wet but you will not be submerged, then a standard 2 way switch is fine. Also, the voltage in the UK is far higher. I can't comment on Canada but I have been to the USA several times and the electric sockets and plugs there scare the crap out of me.
You can put a dehumidifier next to the clothes to dry them faster
HI Alanna, love you and your videos, I'm just a little concerned about all the stuff on top of your microwave, you should not block the vents on top as it will get to hot. just some friendly advise.
Agreed. You need to keep the vents free.
You missed telling us about the palm tree growing in whatever room you finished in.