Moving Day
As a gorgeous, clear, colorful fall comes to an end, I knew it was coming. And today's the day.
I'm moving my office.
That is, from the bedroom to the living room.
This is one of those things that I would never even THINK of doing in America.
But here, there comes a point every year in the late fall/early winter when it's simply too f***ing cold (and really, that's as polite as I can POSSIBLY be) on the two outer walls to keep my office here, in the corner of the large master bedroom. Since I work nights, when it's coldest, the sign that it's time to move is when my fingers literally seize up on the keyboard. In America, I'd just turn up the thermostat. Here, that's a wallet-crippling decision, especially with the dollar doing so miserably against the Euro, and fuel and electrical costs here being nearly three times what they are in the states.
The heat of the day's sunshine is no longer enough to offset the long, dark nights and the the wind hitting the stone walls eventually seeps through into a pervasive, bone-chilling cold. The living room has an indoor wall, and a fireplace. And the major difference here is that heating fuel to keep the radiators running is about seventeen times more expensive than firewood. So it simply doesn't make sense for me to heat this entire damn house at about 500 Euros a month with heating oil and radiators, when just moving my entire 'nest' into the living room for a few months and keeping a log on the fire is just as effective and less than a quarter of the cost, if a little more effort.
It's that Little House on the Prairie in me, I guess, or the hopeless romantic: I'm kind of a fire addict, anyway. Cuddling up in front of a hot radiator simply doesn't have the same ambiance.
My remaining needs are pretty simple: if I only had a cabana boy to chop and haul wood and a computer screen resistant to hot flying embers, I'd be all set...
I'm moving my office.
That is, from the bedroom to the living room.
This is one of those things that I would never even THINK of doing in America.
But here, there comes a point every year in the late fall/early winter when it's simply too f***ing cold (and really, that's as polite as I can POSSIBLY be) on the two outer walls to keep my office here, in the corner of the large master bedroom. Since I work nights, when it's coldest, the sign that it's time to move is when my fingers literally seize up on the keyboard. In America, I'd just turn up the thermostat. Here, that's a wallet-crippling decision, especially with the dollar doing so miserably against the Euro, and fuel and electrical costs here being nearly three times what they are in the states.
The heat of the day's sunshine is no longer enough to offset the long, dark nights and the the wind hitting the stone walls eventually seeps through into a pervasive, bone-chilling cold. The living room has an indoor wall, and a fireplace. And the major difference here is that heating fuel to keep the radiators running is about seventeen times more expensive than firewood. So it simply doesn't make sense for me to heat this entire damn house at about 500 Euros a month with heating oil and radiators, when just moving my entire 'nest' into the living room for a few months and keeping a log on the fire is just as effective and less than a quarter of the cost, if a little more effort.
It's that Little House on the Prairie in me, I guess, or the hopeless romantic: I'm kind of a fire addict, anyway. Cuddling up in front of a hot radiator simply doesn't have the same ambiance.
My remaining needs are pretty simple: if I only had a cabana boy to chop and haul wood and a computer screen resistant to hot flying embers, I'd be all set...
posted by Viaggiatore | 12/12/2006
1 Comments:
you forgot a bottle of wine and a special someone. But then you wouldn't be worried about keeping warm, OR the computer, I guess. I hope Santa brings you both!
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