Old World Living

     It has been fascinating to experience the temperature drop to 48 degrees F and only at that point to have the landlords (husband and wife) decide to check whether the heater works. And then to discover it does not work and for the electrician to have to order parts for the individual radiators that exist in some (but not all) of the rooms, and then wait for a week until they come in and then the electrician can get the thing working. And then to learn that the landlord's plan is to heat the place from 5:30am-9am, and then from 6pm-10pm.
    Do I miss central heating?
    It is a different way of life, to have experienced a temperature difference from August to November from 100 to 45 decrees F, and just to have the windows open the whole time; to plan your day according to the weather, to wear a down coat inside several hours a day, to slog through mud every time it rains just to get to your car, and to have to get out of the car twice every time you want to go somewhere, once manually to open the gate and a second time to close it. It is wild to go to the store every single day to get fresh produce since you have no storage space; to be at the store and for there to be a whole isle of pasta, another isle of tomato sauce, a whole isle of parmesan and another of pancetta and prosciutto. . . and very little else in the whole store.
    I don't think I miss central heating. We open the windows most days if the sun is out, just to freshen things up even if it is cold. In the States, I always wish we could freshen up the house by opening the windows, but it's always too hot or too cold. So now, I can.
   

 My flower bed with cyclamen and roses

View from our living room window