Hmm. A couple of weeks back, believing spring – if not summer – to be imminent, I miscalculated somewhat. Wanting to keep my carbon footprint down, and tread lightly on the earth and all that, we began the process of turning the Rayburn down, preparatory to turning it off for the summer. I had expected that it would take a few weeks at least for it to start to clog up and make that sputtering noise that signals its demise, and the plan was to let it do that, switch it off when it was spluttering its last and then get it serviced and relit when it started to grow cold again*
Readers, it took a week. We switched it off a couple of days ago and have been miserable ever since. The other half has retreated to his cave with the fan heater and I have been back in thermals, several layers and my fleece (except when I have to go outside where it is considerably warmer than indoors). It probably won’t even save us, and the planet, any oil, as we’ve just broken down and switched on the heating for the first time since February – which just goes to show how effective the Rayburn is, whatever certain Guardian Journalists Who Ought to Know Better might say. Meanwhile we now have a very large, very heavy, very cold, and rather sad looking tea-towel holder in our kitchen. And the weather has turned absolutely vile.
George M******, if you’re reading this, you win. You bastard …
*Sometime in July, if last year was anything to go by.
May 15, 2009 at 7:53 pm |
You should have known better! It’s wet, windy and none too warm here today.
May 15, 2009 at 9:02 pm |
You know, you should get a Guardian-burning stove – then at least Monbiot’s ceaseless whinging will serve a useful purpose.
May 16, 2009 at 5:20 am |
Next year, you should switch it of in the middle of a snowstorm or something, just to see what happens. Will it keep gurgling through until warmer weather beckons, or will it turn splutter its last in about three hours?
May 16, 2009 at 9:37 am |
Flighty – indeed, but that’s with hindsight
PB – hmmm, except the Guardian doesn’t really burn… you need a much more right-wing paper for a cracking blaze
Jo – you know what, I think I’ll pass on that one.