As An Infant of the 1970's (Energy Crisis)
Remember, and not to fondly being made to wear sweaters indoors, socks with slippers, and wrapping up in a blanket to watch television. All this in aid of my parents trying to keep a lid on the winter heating bill by keeping the thermostat turned down.
Perhaps the worst offender IMHO at this was dear Grand-Mama, who kept her boiler off at night, this meant no heat or hot water. Indeed it was all we cousins could do to get that woman to put the heat on during the day. Finally when we all started returning home from visits with colds, our mothers intervened, but with limited sucess.
Quite honestly today rather prefer a colder home during winter. Like Queen Victoria some would say my home is down right cold during winter! At night would rather have the heat off and sleep under eiderdown, that is what they are for!
My friends from the UK/EU consider American homes vastly over heated in winter, and over cooled (via AC), during the summer for that matter. Again we on this side of the pond with (still) rather inexpensive energy costs compared to what one finds elsewhere, are rather used to keeping quite toasty.
Now if one ever watches British or EU sitcoms/televison shows, you will see it's quite common for all manner and sort of persons to wear sweaters indoors during colder months, even when the heating is going. Common sight is housewives with sweaters under and even over their aprons! *LOL* It's either that or thick knickers and vests. Should you really want to keep warm, there can still be found woolen undergarments as well.
There used to be an "inside joke" that if one was going to visit a UK country house in winter, to bring lots of warm underwear, woolens, sweaters, and perhaps call the hostess to see if bringing an electric blanket wouldn't be out of order. Yes, it is *that* cold!
Part of this has to do with the limited fuels for heating, and what there is can be dear. While many parts of the UK and EU do have large supplies of coal, there are restrictions in many areas about burning it (IIRC, in the UK it must be smoke-less).
Historical note:
During the early 1900's there was a wave of wealthy American heiresses shipped off to the UK and lesser extent what was left of the royal/noble houses of Europe to marry. The often hard-up royal/nobel families got nice fat doweries and incomes that the girls brought with them, and the brides got titles, rank and so forth.
Most American girls however were appalled at the stately homes, castles and estates that were to be their new homes. Back in the USA they grew up in homes with every mod con money could by, ranging from central heating to extravangant indoor plumbing and so forth. It's not easy to update a three hundred year or more castle to have central heating/plumbing, and in most cases the family couldn't afford it. Or, they simply got on as they and everyone else had for ages.
One newly married heiress wrote home to her mother saying the only time she took off her furs was to get into bed. Another complained she stopped attending dinner parties/balls because everyplace was so damned cold she couldn't bear spending hours there in nothing but an evening or ball gown.
