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My old-aunt (not sure if that is something in English but she was an aunt of my father) and her husband ate only expired food until they died (both over 95, aun
by tluyben2 6y ago
My old-aunt (not sure if that is something in English but she was an aunt of my father) and her husband ate only expired food until they died (both over 95, aunt over 100); I was, as a kid, always disgusted as everything you got there was rotten (fruit etc) and/or had mold (bread) ; they just cut it off or even just ate it. Because they had a house close to my uni, I lived with them for a while as a student and it was horrible; I eventually got a little fridge in my room as simply everything was expired, and then some. They survived 2 wars and, although they had plenty of money, they knew (and wanted to??) how to live of nothing. So they bought or got (for free) only expired food. They also were very religious and that helped with the money thing; they both washed with cold water their whole life and the heating in the house (in the netherlands!) was generally off; there was ice inside my room as a student. I knew more (as in; yes they were weird to me but not so much for the generation) people who survived the 2 wars who could not shake this kind of thing even though after those events they made a good to great living.
- cgriswald 6y agoI can’t speak for all English speakers, but we would call that a great-aunt. Basically any time you go up a generation, you add “great-“ so my grandmother’s grandmother is my great-great-grandmother.
- tluyben2 6y agoAh yes ofcourse, thank you, I should've known that.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoOr 'grand-' as in 'grand-aunt', 'grand-mother' etc. Which sounds better, more 'grand' :)
- PopeDotNinja 6y agoI like saying up 3, down 1 :)
- richardfey 6y agoFascinating story! Thanks for sharing it. Where would the ice form in your room?
- throwaway_pdp09 6y agoI recognise this behaviour. It's common when people go through extreme hardship, they naturally understand that their world is not secure[0] so they try to buffer against it. Money and food typically. [0] something who've had it easy don't learn, so they assume that everything will be alright, always. It won't.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoHey me too! Used to have ice on the inside of my windows every morning in the winter, in my corner bedroom in our Iowa farmhouse. Before remodelling to a ranch-style, it was 2-story with no heat whatsoever in the upstairs where the kids' bedrooms were. We slept 3 to a bed with huge comforters. Even after the remodel, still ice on the windows. No heat got to my corner of the house. And cold water - got a water heater (I don't remember when) but not enough capacity for 8 people. As a child I resisted bathing as long as I could get away with it. As a youngest, I was last in line for the hot water. But not so much with the food. Iowa farm - always good fresh food available. So that was fine.
- snazz 6y agoIce still forms on the inside of my well-insulated, double-paned windows most nights during the (Minnesota) winter with the thermostat set for 66 or 67 degrees Fahrenheit. I've always thought it was the condensation freezing from humid air hitting the freezing-cold window. I'm sure that extremely cold inside temperatures would exacerbate the problem, though.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoToday we should expect double-glazed windows. The inner pane is supposed to be near room temperature. So ice inside means something is not quite right!
- snazz 6y agoThe inside is near room temperature most of the year, but not when it gets down to -20 degrees Fahrenheit (or about -30 Celsius) regularly here. Some amount of ice seems to form on the bottom of the bedroom window any time that the temperature is below around 0 deg F outside. I did a little research and this seems common in the Upper Midwest climate. R3-rated double-paned windows (which is what I have, I'm pretty sure) can still get pretty cold on the inside when the outside temperature is sub-zero. My heavy blackout shade usage probably further decreases the temperature at the window, since there's no warm airflow across the glass.