Comment: On interest rates and freezing feet

After much speculation, interest rates went up last week for the first time in more than 10 years.

The 0.25 per cent rise spells good news for savers and those already locked in to fixed-rate mortgages but it’s less of a source of joy for anyone with a variable rate loan – especially as experts are predicting further increases over the next few years.

I’m risk averse, so have always gone down the fixed-rate route – a source of some regret at various points in the past. and one of mild relief in these more uncertain times.

In other less headline-grabbing news, it’s now November and it’s suddenly freezing. Have you turned the heating on yet? I have, finally. I always put it off for as long as possible out of some ingrained northern aversion to being comfortable or ‘wasting’ money.

I grew up in a very cold house where the central heating was reserved for Arctic conditions only. Wearing multiple jumpers usually saw us through until at least Christmas.

This has stayed with me, and now I don’t like to turn the heating on until November at the very earliest.

My coping mechanisms include wearing a Snuggie (a nylon blanket with sleeves, designed to keep the heating as low as my sense of style) and comedy slippers. (Non-comedy ones are nowhere near as effective.)

An open fire also helps take the edge off, and brings back memories of my grandpa lugging the coal bucket across the lounge – if only nostalgia alone could warm my freezing extremities...