Insurance

In the last two years in the UK, we have witnessed what appears to be a return to normalwinters. By that I mean cold temperatures and snow. We have even seen these features occurring as early as November. Those of us old enough to remember some of those harsh winters in the 1960s will also recall the chaos that such conditions can wreak for our normal day-to-day activities, like going to work, school and shopping. Because we were used to such conditions in those times, we were more adaptable and tended to be able to fix up alternative ways of getting to work, school or the shops. There was also a community spirit that meant that we actually did help our neighbours and vice verse.

Old timers like me tend to go on about how wonderful were the good old days, but the harsh truth would tell a different story. It would tell one of people dying through cold weather and lack of attention to the vulnerable. We should be careful how we portray our history and be thankful for some of the advances we have made to look after ourselves and other people. One of the most significant of those advances is the advent of specialised insurance cover. One of those advances being home emergency cover. How many people would have survived those winters of old if only there had been this type of cover available then?

One of the abiding memories I have of that era was the harsh winters we endured. Memories of ice on the inside of our bedroom windows; having to rush downstairs where there was the only fire in the house in the kitchen; having a bath on a Sunday night before we went to work or school the next day, often having to wait until my brothers had been first!

In those days there were very few houses with central heating. It was available, but it was very new and expensive. The usual way to heat the water was to have what was known as a back boiler behind the main fire in either the kitchen or more often the main living room. This was because that was where the main coal fire would be alight most of the time. The other way was with an immersion heater, but that could prove to be very expensive, racking up large electricity bills! Should anything go wrong with either, and they did, there would likely be very severe hardship whilst it was repaired.

So, let us not be too critical of our modern lifestyles. Yes, we may have gone a little soft, but that is merely the result of making advances in looking after ourselves by looking at what was wrong historically. That is how we advance as a species.

To leave ourselves and our families, but more importantly, our most vulnerable people, without proper and adequate protection, is considered a crime these days. We have the technology to deal with nearly everything that the weather can throw at us and we also have the infrastructure to deal with it when it goes wrong.

Whilst we respect our environment, we also realise the need to protect ourselves from it which is why we take out things like home emergency cover for when our technology breaks down and we are suddenly left vulnerable, just like our forefathers.