Disco nights

It’s cold here.  I am reliably informed by those with thermometers on their cars (our car’s been reading -4° since its brief encounter with a hedge during the January snows) that it has been -10° today (though the BBC dissents).  For those who still work in “old money” that’s 14°F.

The cold has lead to several discoveries today.  The first was that we cannot get into the garages in cold weather.  We don’t keep the cars in there, but we do keep our Christmas boxes in there.  Our advent calendars are in the Christmas boxes.  One door is frozen shut; the other the lock is jammed, perhaps should we manage the lock we’d discover that the door too is frozen.  I think it’s just the ground in front has lost its usual give and the frozen mud needs a bit of clearing.  Guess where the shovel is?

My most recent discovery was that the bidet is very warm.  Well, not the bidet, we couldn’t get to the bidet behind the boxes even if the need for a quick wash were to strike during the cooking, but the bidet room.  I keep finding random heat pockets around the house and they’re all in the oddest places.  The guest room is incredibly warm too.

And the cold has also given us our very own outdoor disco.  We seem to have two choices with our security lights outside – to have them on full time or to have them on the security setting.  As they are 500W bulbs, we prefer to have them on as little as possible.  But the cold must be affecting them.  We have been treated to a disco all afternoon and evening – on, off, on, off – not even Oriana has been known to flick switches for as often or as long.  Perhaps the bulbs will burn out and peace will be restored.