Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat

When we arrived last night, our BnB lady showed us the heater and its swanky controller, and said "You need to make sure the little sun is visible on the display, otherwise it won't work".

See, they can't isolate buildings worth a damn here. Single-paned windows, drafts everywhere, paper-thin walls. And why? As my brother put it last night, "They think they live on a tropical island". Which they don't. In no way, shape or form. Its spring here now, and last night it was around ten degrees, if that. I wore a hoodie and a beanie and was still cold. The beer helped, though. And the walking. All them hills, and we live at the very top of one.

Back to the heater. We got in last night, punched the correct buttons and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night, freezing. Luckily the duvet is about a mile thick, so I pulled it over me and went back to sleep. This procedure was repeated several times during the night.

This morning when my brother got up he pulled the control thingie from its place on the wall, squinted at it and said "Hey. This isn't a sun. Its a snow flake". Anyone surprised it was cold? Hooray for us.

We're supposed to be two fairly technical guys. Certain incidents involving microwave ovens spring to mind...