MONDAY October 1. One of the most important days of the year. The date the heating is allowed to go on. Who exactly ‘allows’ it, I’m not sure…

I remember my first teaching practice in the 70s in a small village school in deepest, darkest Norfolk. On October 1 (regardless of the temperature outside) we were compelled to light the classroom stove. The class was one end of a Victorian school hall partitioned down the middle. Infants one end; juniors the other; each has an enormous, ancient cast-iron, coal fired stove. This was lit on October 1 and I was told that whatever else happened in the classroom while I was in charge, my first duty was to ensure that the stove did not go out (education of children came second). One pupil was appointed ‘coal monitor’ each day, their duties to ensure that there was coal in the scuttle and periodically (when he or she felt bored with school work) to shoot more coal into the hot stove (so much for health and safety!).

Just across the channel, tenants benefit from a domestic equivalent of this tradition. Over the winter months, rented properties in Germany have what's known as a 'Heizperiode' (heating period) which usually begins on October 1. During the 'Heizperiode', the landlord must set the heating so that the minimum temperature in the flat reaches between 20-22C during the day and around 18C at night (11pm to 6am).

My Teutonic genes clearly assert themselves; a similar system operates at home. Except that, irrespective of weather, October 1 is the earliest date that the heating goes on; 20 is the maximum (unless the sun lends a hand). And it goes off at night, regardless. I remain immune to my son’s entreaties, the cat’s protestations and the dog’s disgruntled exhalations. We are old school. A cold snap in September means an extra jumper or a hot water bottle in bed.

There is of course a serious side to all this. As the body’s temperature lowers, blood is diverted away from the extremities to essential organs, making head, hands and feet feel chillier; Oestrogen makes the vessels that shut down blood flow to the skin more sensitive, so while a woman’s body temperature may be the same as a man’s her skin is likely to feel cooler; the reason why women will feel the cold more keenly.

Ill health and old age further compound circulation problems. This year at least 3,000 people in the UK will die of cold completely unnecessarily mostly because they cannot afford to keep warm. We are the country with the second worst record of deaths through cold in Europe.

Meanhile, Centrica (the company that owns British Gas) made £1.25 bn profit in what they called a ‘difficult year’ last year. Can’t help wondering when their directors and shareholders turned on their heating…