We have been well-served with firewood for our log burner over the last fourteen months and Andreas would arrive at out house with one or two cubic metres of lemonwood, stack it all beautifully and at a good price. Imagine our surprise when I asked him for a delivery and he told me he was out of stock until September. In the end he managed a final cubic metre and we were set for the cold weather forecast.
To be on the safe side we decided to order wood from another source, only to be told they were out of stock as well. Our local pub, which has a log burner, were also told their local supplier was out of stock. It has been a long winter.
And so, eventually after some research, we found that the supplier of our log burner sold wood. It turns out that they sell “kiln dried” oak logs. Slightly more expensive but we determined we would not be cold. Delivery took a couple of hours and a large builder’s bag of oak arrived and was placed delicately on our drive.
You cannot believe our experience with this wood. It burned hotter and hotter (so much more than the seasoned lemonwood we had been so pleased with), it burned more slowly and - by the end of the evening - we had burned about half of what we normally use
So two things for those who follow our great adventure. Cypriot houses in winter are cold and damp, so install a good log burner. And buy kiln-dried wood ... and you will be as warm as toast. Roll on the summer.
Sunday 16 February 2020
Saturday 8 February 2020
Windchill ...
It has been ever so slightly chilly in the last few days, and it has actually been quite a cold winter so far. With overnight temperatures forecast to fall to 1°C this weekend we are not actually planning to go far. This morning when we woke up I got out of a warm bed (electric blanket on overnight setting, and with the heavy duvet on the bed) to do one or two things. Additional heat was supplied by Daisy, who had snuggled up between us and Honey (who thought lying on my feet was quite the thing to do). I came out of the bedroom and it was cold. As regular readers of this blog know, Cypriot houses tend to have poor or no insulation, and the marble tiles on the floor don’t make things any warmer.
A plan of action was required ... and it involved heating the house and snuggling down. Food and drink were plentiful, the Six Nations’ Rugby was on television and we had plenty of wood with which to feed the log burner. So an expedition out to the log pile was decreed, whilst Ann sorted out kindling and cleaned the filter on the “ash vac”. And then into action to clean up the log burner, lay the fire and set it alight. Fifteen minutes later we were feeling warmer and are set for the day.
Breakfast was sliced avocado (from the avocado grove at the end of our track), toast (we are quite the millennials, you know) with a poached egg on top. A protein feast if ever there was one, and ClassicFM on the radio, and it’s only 10.30 in the morning. With “freezing” weather forecast we shall stay in the bunker until the “All Clear” is sounded.
The world seems to have gone quite mad with the news that Coronavirus has emerged from China, and a few hundred people have died. Desperately sad, but I read in the New York Times recently that ten thousand people died last winter in the USA from influenza. So a sense of overkill seems to be prevalent at the moment. I know Spanish Flu killed fifty million people after the First World War but there is a world of difference from that disaster to this event.
As my 67th birthday accelerates towards me, the death of Kirk Douglas (aged 103) made me stop and think. I have always joked that I intend to live forever, but then I considered what life must be like when you are that age. A friend of ours years ago commented on the fact that there were so many elderly expats on Cyprus, and that he saw another one every time he looked in the mirror. Food for thought methinks.
A plan of action was required ... and it involved heating the house and snuggling down. Food and drink were plentiful, the Six Nations’ Rugby was on television and we had plenty of wood with which to feed the log burner. So an expedition out to the log pile was decreed, whilst Ann sorted out kindling and cleaned the filter on the “ash vac”. And then into action to clean up the log burner, lay the fire and set it alight. Fifteen minutes later we were feeling warmer and are set for the day.
Breakfast was sliced avocado (from the avocado grove at the end of our track), toast (we are quite the millennials, you know) with a poached egg on top. A protein feast if ever there was one, and ClassicFM on the radio, and it’s only 10.30 in the morning. With “freezing” weather forecast we shall stay in the bunker until the “All Clear” is sounded.
The world seems to have gone quite mad with the news that Coronavirus has emerged from China, and a few hundred people have died. Desperately sad, but I read in the New York Times recently that ten thousand people died last winter in the USA from influenza. So a sense of overkill seems to be prevalent at the moment. I know Spanish Flu killed fifty million people after the First World War but there is a world of difference from that disaster to this event.
As my 67th birthday accelerates towards me, the death of Kirk Douglas (aged 103) made me stop and think. I have always joked that I intend to live forever, but then I considered what life must be like when you are that age. A friend of ours years ago commented on the fact that there were so many elderly expats on Cyprus, and that he saw another one every time he looked in the mirror. Food for thought methinks.
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