heat

So the boiler was off over Christmas. It could have been worse, as there's a gas stove in the sitting room. But leaving that room was well chilly - Bodhi's just had his first bath in weeks. And the sick kids, etc...

It made me think though, about how dependent we are on central heat and hot water and light etc. The people who sold this house unfortunately took out the fire place and replaced it with the gas stove, which tends to get too hot and makes the tiny room airless and gobbles money, as we have (sigh) bottled gas. I think they did it to sell the house. I'd love to put it back in. Partly because I like a fire, party because I feel that if the fuel ever runs out, at least we can burn the furniture.

Remember life before conveniences? I read a book as a kid, I think by Robert Westall, about a brother and sister in some sort of post apocalyptic Britain which had gone Luddite and rejected technology and returned to the soil. There's a line in it about the girl remembering being able to get dressed outside the covers in winter, and warm Christmas mornings. They go to London, which is deserted, and rediscover a train. But the concept stuck with me. We lived without central heating in both the houses I grew up in, for a long time. The only way the upstairs was heated was by bringing a hot water bottle up to warm the bed. We had an open fire, and a storage heater in the hall, and an Aga. It was a big old, cold house, you could see your breath in the air in the bedrooms. I'd sit reading by the storage heater in winter, shifting about as it got to burny on one patch, sitting on it, then leaning against it, it was nice, though full of asbestos, apparently. Still, it was never the same when my parents got an upright stove afterwards.

I would like to have a heating system that won't fail and plunge us into crisis. I wish they'd get it together and build something that works, properly, with a clean, sustainable fuel source. I read about one person who built a wooden house and has a stove that puts 20% out of it and the rest into the underfloor heat system. That sounds more like it. But also to be a bit more sensible. I like a hot water bottle at night, but I rarely need one. Axel has a tendency to go round in a t shirt in the mid winter. My daughter won't wear anything on her feet or more than a long sleeved top. As Lottie said, there's a lot to be said for putting on a jumper rather than turning up the thermostat. But it's hard when your daughter has nudist tendencies.

Sorry, this is boring! But it's been playing on my mind for a while, and I'm going to be lazy and leave it at this. I have filth to write for Maxi, you know.